Hockey League taking Troy by storm
TROY - A new craze has hit Troy this year: The Troy Hockey League.
Taking place on Sunday nights at the Troy Skateland, the Troy Hockey League is a floor hockey league made up of Troy high school students that was organized by teachers, parents and local townspeople.
"The kids are really into it," Douglas Beck, a Troy teacher and one of the organizers, said. "They talk a lot about it. Other teachers have told me they hear the kids talk about."
It started several years ago as pick up games at the Troy Middle School between Beck and a few of his students.
"It kind of caught on," Beck said about the pick up games. "We would play a lot."
Then for a few years it died down - until this year.
"I started talking to a couple of these kids about hockey and pond hockey" Beck said, "I said 'we should get something going.'"
That's exactly what they did.
"The school was tough to work with so I talked to Charlie Earle about coming in (the Troy Skateland) here Saturday's to play pick up games" Beck said, "We played pick up games about two months and we kept getting more numbers."
That's when the idea of a league started to be thrown around. They managed to get four main sponsors to get them $150 for jerseys, plus other minor sponsors for other expenses. There was also an entrance fee of $50, which averages out to $5 a week to play.
Each team also has one adult.
"We have on grown up on each team as a role model" Beck said, "We sat down and tried to pick the fairest teams we could."
Also, they have a referee in Jeff Blank.
"He has a hockey background," Beck said of Blank, "he played semi-pro hockey."
Beck said Blank does a good job keeping everything under control.
"We had an organizational meeting where we talked about what we need and the penalties that would be called," Beck said, "The kids know that any real fighting and they're out of the league for the year. There have been some penalties for elbowing and there has been a shoving match or two but (Blank) does a great job."
The league is made up of a whole cross-section of students.
"We're excited about the mix of kids we've got" Beck said, "What I really like seeing is kids from different social groups interact."
There are 32 kids in the league with nine on each team including the one adult.
"We thought about 10 but no one really likes to sit" Beck said, "We wanted to have some subs but not too many. The kids are playing a lot."
And that's the one thing they wanted with this league. The main goal for the organizers is that kids have fun.
But that doesn't mean they're out there for a Sunday stroll.
"There is a high level of intensity" Beck said.
During the game subs can be heard directing and encouraging teammates while during the intermission the players talk is all about strategy.
And as the season has gone on, they've attracted an audience.
"For the past couple weeks we've had a pretty nice (crowd)," Beck said. "We get some parents, grandparents and girlfriends."
That has led to more kids asking to join.
"A lot more kids are asking to be involved now," Beck said. "We have a Web site that gets a bunch of hits and comments."
This has led to think about expanding outside of Troy for next year.
"We might even try to get other schools involved," Beck said. "It would be fun to expand it where you have kind of a town rivalry going. That could be really neat. We'll see where it ends up."
The games are from 6-8 p.m. every Sunday at the Troy Skateland.
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8 posted comments
It would just be field hockey, without the field..