on the ice
By JASON GILDER
Florida Hockey Life
Being a police ocer is a high-pressure job, but one South
Florida cop has taken her love of hockey to create a stress
relieving bond between her and other local ocers.
A police ocer for seven years, essica Lore is the creator of
South Florida’s Finest lub hockey team, a suad the eclusively
consists of police ocers from around the Tri-ounty area of
Miami-Dade ounty, roward ounty, and Palm each ounty.
The suad is made up of
approimately 0 players from
police departments throughout
the three counes.
The responsibilities that
come with being a cop are
signicantly large and bring lots
of stress to an officers’ daily
life. The oral Springs Police
Department ocer viewed the
idea of creang this team as a
way for cops in the area to bond
through their fondess of hockey
and to escape the pressures of
the job.
“A way for us to relieve that
stress or to bond with people
is through hockey,” Lore said.
“Even if it’s just for a few hours,
we all get to hang out and play
some puck.”
South Florida’s Finest lub
always bring their A game.
always plays on two specific
tournaments each year; the First
esponder’s ames which will be played in rlando, FL this une,
and the Public Safety Hockey Tournament that takes place every
anuary and is hosted by the rlando Fireghters Hockey Team.
The team also plays in charity games such as one that will
take place Mar. 10, 2018 in Tampa, FL, which will raise money
for Lawne Snyder oda’s hoice Service Animals. The non-prot
charity was started by Lawne Synder, a Tampa reghter, and the
organiaon raises funds for service dogs.
When Lore rst started with the SPD, she noced a
lot of cops in the department and throughout the tri-county
area freuently played hockey. Aer making the observaon,
she decided she wanted to create the team, but there were
challenges at the outset.
“Whenever we would try to do games and play in
tournaments, we could never get enough people to go, or the
people that would go, would be a dierent kind of mi of talent
level,” Lore said. “t was not very organied basically.”
Even deciding what jerseys the team would wear was a
struggle, as many team members did not have one of the same
uniform, but rather a mi of dierent hockey sweaters. However,
Lore got a greater sense of what the organiaon needed to run
an all-cop hockey team when talking with organiers of the South
Florida omberos, a team of South Florida reghters.
“ thought this is eactly what we need to be doing,” Lore
said. “We need to be on the same page and get on board, we
need to all get the same jerseys.”
The nave of oral
Springs, FL said it took a
couple years of convincing
to get everyone on the
same page with the
team concept, but says
the operation is much
steadier now.
“When we go to
tournaments now, we get
emails and know who’s
in and who is out. f can
make two teams, can
make an A-team and a
-team, and enter people
into the appropriate
divisions. Things are just a
lot smoother now,” Lore
said.
The sport of hockey
has always played a big
part in the life of the oral
Springs, FL native. From
playing roller hockey with
kids in her neighbourhood to her four-year college career, Lore
has been surrounded and fascinated by the sport.
When Lore was seven years old, she lived two houses down
from a family from anada, and the boy who was the same age
as Lore always played roller hockey whenever the other kids
started roller blading. Aer seeing her anadian neighbour play,
she was drawn into the sport, and so were the rest of the kids
on the block.
“Me and my brother thought it was cool, so we got some
roller skates and learned how to skate and started playing with
them,” Lore said. “Eventually, a lot of the other kids in the