Music blared from speakers outside the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ practice facility as children ran around with hockey sticks, hitting a ball into some nets. Pizza available nearby.
One scene unfolded a week later, just steps from Florida Panthers Stadium before Stanley Cup Final games, with young enthusiasts betting on an inflatable track under palm trees.
The final between Las Vegas and Florida highlighted ball hockey and curler in many U. S. markets, with or without professional teams, where ice is hard to find. Earlier this year, the NHL introduced a street hockey program aimed at breaking down barriers to the sport. , in order to arouse interest in the game, even at more informal levels.
“The influence of our teams goes south, and you see players recruited from California, Texas and Florida, and you see that influence,” said former player Andrew Ference, who runs the NHL Street program as part of his work with the league. “It’s a wonderful accomplishment that we have NHL players from those areas, but believe how many young kids are left behind. . . There are so many young people and families who will not have the ability to triumph over some of those barriers that are necessary in those cities. “
The diversity of barriers, from load and time commitments to the competitive nature of youth sports, and even many families feel they don’t belong in hockey. Sports stakeholders are looking for many avenues to break those barriers, and street hockey is one of the latest attempts.
Ference, who played more than 1,000 NHL games as a defender from 1999 to 2015 and won the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins, was fortunate to have outdoor ice at his disposal part of the year in Edmonton. Still, he believes many aspiring pros have spent more time betting street hockey in the halls and dead ends in their formative years.
“All I did as a kid was play ball hockey — I’d literally come home from school, pass out, play with my friends,” said Andrew Raycroft, the retired passer, who joined Ference at an NHL Street event in Boston last weekend. “It’s the simplest way to get into the game. True, the load of skates, sticks, ice time to live in the city, is difficult. But you can still love the game and play it. “
As Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “The more they play hockey in any form, the greater the expansion of the game. His oldest grandson, Matthew, is a New Jersey state champion with a net in his driveway and his 5-year-old 12-year-old grandson takes skating lessons.
Getting on the ice to skate is more complicated in some places.
According to Arena Guide, a site that tracks indoor and outdoor rinks in North America, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, Arizona and Oklahoma have just 41 combined, adding up to many giant arenas suitable for youth hockey. USA Hockey’s most recent annual report had just over 6,000 players in the six states combined, which is fewer than in North Carolina thanks to expansion fueled by the Hurricanes who have played there since 1997.
More rinks are being built in other NHL markets such as Dallas, Las Vegas and Tampa, which bodes well for the future, according to Bettman, who also noted how popular ball hockey has been for some time in North America.
For that reason, Ference said he and his colleagues are looking to reinvent what street hockey is, just adding more design to the old culture of knocking on doors to see if there are enough kids in the community for an impromptu game. But for a game based on a team attitude, with attention to detail and the field ingrained from an early age, it’s not about copying that.
“We don’t have to look to just take ice hockey and put it on the street; basically, take our skates off and take the exact same culture and put it on the street,” said Ference, now director of social impact, developing and fan progression for the NHL. Instead, let kids who stick to the program figure out what they need to look and feel: What kind of moves should they make on a getaway?What kind of music do they make?Do you need in the playlist? »
Basically, make hockey fun.
Ference said the league was inspired by basketball, skiing and AND1 video games to see what elements of interest, culture and creativity for other young people emerge from it. Basketball and winter sports have evolved accordingly, and video games allow kids to check out anything without exhausting yourself, interact with friends, and make mistakes more than on the ice in organized hockey.
The concept is to create a charming environment for flag football where tension is released and a new door to hockey is opened.
“I hope a lot of cross country athletes see it and see something cool and need to see something new,” Ference said. “They don’t dedicate their lives to it, but you can create a lot of casual fans and other people who have an intelligent interaction with hockey. They may not all be fans, however many of them will now be drawn to a game they wouldn’t have played in the past. past.
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AP sportswriter Jimmy Golen in Boston contributed to this report.
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