As you’ll read, or have already read, in this week’s feature about Clint Walden, hockey is a pretty big deal in the North. That’s why Walden and others like him are migrating up to play the greatest game on ice — there’s a better chance to be noticed, leading to a better chance to make it into the pros.
However, we don’t need to look at that and infer that Florida is some kind of hockey wasteland, a place where you’d spot a unicorn in the stands before you’d ever see a D-1 scout taking notes. In fact, the sport is gaining momentum down here, and all you have to do to see this for yourself is look more closely.
Yes, Florida. The hotbed of football talent just so happens to have two NHL teams, more in the minors and the fourth-largest USA Hockey membership base in the country.
“Florida’s really growing,” area hockey coach Gordie Zimmermann says.” A lot of kids have gone up north thinking they had to go up north to be noticed, but there’s junior hockey, now, in the state, and these teams play teams from up north.”
Zimmermann would know. In addition to his duties as the coach of Wiregrass Ranch High School’s team, he was also instrumental in the development of the Brandon Ice Sports Forum — home to many of the area’s youth and high school hockey teams, as well as Tampa Bay Lightning practices. Having coached in Florida since the Forum’s inception in 1997, Zimmermann has seen the sport come a long way.
“There were only eight ice sheets in the state,” he says. “Now, there are 17 facilities with multiple sheets. A couple of three-plexes, a lot of duplexes and some single-sheets out there. There are 34 sheets of ice in the state now.”
He’s also the face of Z Mitch LLC, a development company hoping to bring a four-sheet complex to Wesley Chapel by next fall. If everything goes as planned in the permitting process, Zimmermann hopes the potentially-named Cypress Creek Ice and Sport Facility will help expand the Central Florida hockey scene.
“I have a situation now where it’s difficult for teams to get ice time, for teams to practice properly,” he says. “There’s not enough ice availability. That’s why we’re developing a new facility.”
Currently, there are four major facilities around this area that cater to hockey players, located in Brandon, Clearwater, Oldsmar and Bradenton. It’s not quite as populated as anywhere in Minnesota, where there’s practically a rink on every fourth or fifth street block, but it’s something.
Of course, as more youths become interested in playing here, more scouts want to check out this talent pool.
“There are quite a few scouts that come here,” Zimmermann says. “Hockey’s a small world and, when someone’s doing well, people hear about it quickly.”
Here’s one example: the Tampa Elite U16 team (on which Walden played last year) recently competed in a Tier 1 AAA showcase in hockey-friendly Wisconsin, placing second out of 12 teams. If anything’s going to show scouts that there are some kids down south who can play, it’s having the kids show their stuff outside of the state.
So, why are these kids still traveling up north to get noticed?
Simply put, Florida isn’t quite ready to be a hockey hotbed yet.
Compared to the sport’s deep roots in New Jersey, New York, Minnesota and other states, hockey culture in the Sunshine State was pretty much born yesterday. Barring a major supernatural event, I don’t think it will ever come close to football in popularity.
The Florida Panthers have historically struggled to sell tickets and stay relevant, and the Lightning — a team with one more Stanley Cup than my Buffalo Sabres — don’t have anywhere near the amount of visible fan support around the area as the lowly Bucs and Rays do. The same Tampa Bay Lightning team that, by many accounts, are the Eastern favorites (including mine) to make the Stanley Cup Finals this season.
Still, with the amount of support that hockey does have with the younger crowd down here, I think it’s only a matter of time before we really see hockey grab its share of the Florida sunshine’s spotlight. If you’re not convinced, then go see some games for yourself.