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Wharton High team is breaking in the ice
By MELIA BOWIE, Times Staff Writer
NEW TAMPA -- On the list of least likely sports in Florida, think ice hockey. Others do. But Bob Buccino has never been one for lists. Neither are his teammates on Wharton High School's fledgling ice hockey team, which is 2 years old and ranked second in the county. "It's something you wouldn't expect," admitted Buccino, assistant team captain of the Wildcats. Even the players joined the team on faith. "We just asked people around school," the 17-year-old senior said. "We had five or six guys (who played) roller hockey; a couple guys moved here. It was just luck. We basically started from just an idea." Although not a district-sanctioned sport because of its expense and Title 9 requirements, the team is sponsored as a club by Wharton and plays at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon. They compete against teams throughout the five-county Bay area. At the outset of their second season, the team boasts 18 players, two coaches and enough enthusiasm to exhaust the hardiest cheerleader. But there is more to ice hockey than just playing the game. Recruiting fans in a city that saw its last significant snowfall in 1977 isn't exactly, er, smooth skating. "People still say 'Ice hockey ... in Florida?' I probably hear that once or twice a week," confided hockey mom Carol Buccino, the founding force behind Wharton's team. "For me, that's a wonderful opportunity. I get to tell them that ice hockey is alive and growing." When it was founded in 1998, the Florida Scholastic Ice Hockey League had four teams. Today, there are 36 teams split into two geographic divisions in the league area, which stretches from Miami to Jacksonville. But recognition as a sport in the Sunshine State is still hard to come by. Some think "that it's for the kids that can't make the football team," team captain Connor Lyons said. It's more like the rough and tumble of football on speed skates. Yet the Hillsborough County School Board classifies the team as a club -- one in which members strap on sharp skates and 4 to 6 pounds of gear to battle for a puck. There are various reasons ice hockey is not district-sanctioned, but chief among them is cost, athletics director Vernon Korhn said. "(The district) would undertake responsibility for equipment, uniforms, supplies, coaches and their salaries, transportation and security. That's a lot of money when you talk about 22 schools," he said. Korhn explained that a new sport must be added to each school and that one hasn't been added since the late 1970s. First on the waiting list would be women's flag football, he said. It comes with a price tag exceeding $100,000. Ice hockey would entail finding rinks to rent, establishing a women's team and more, he said. So, there is no sanction. Not good news when equipment and league fees can run from $1,000 to $1,500 per player. It costs $200 an hour for ice time, so the team generally practices only once a week in a 20-game season. "We buy them letters for letter jackets," hockey dad Bob Lyons said of the parents. Parents also pool money to purchase a page in the school yearbook. Coach Chris Schorum, a Wharton High teacher, and assistant coach Tom Leechin volunteer their time, as does a team physician. When Wharton placed second in the county last year, the trophy went home with Mrs. Buccino instead of into a case at Wharton High. "There was a question about it going to the school since they don't support us," she said. But the novelty is wearing off. Although fans were few last year, enthusiasm was high and, as it turns out, contagious. Parents and players talked up their team. They passed out fliers at football games and tucked them on windshields. They wore their jackets and jerseys around campus. People noticed. This year, the school television station tapes the games. Cheerleaders trek out to the Ice Sports Forum after football games. Teachers and administrators wear T-shirts on campus. "We've got a pretty loyal following," said Lyons, an 18-year-old senior who hopes ice hockey will help send him to college. Crowds grew from dozens to a couple of hundred during the championship game last season. This season, the team is 2-1, losing its last game to George Jenkins High School in Lakeland but winning against H.B. Plant High School in Tampa and defending state champs Springstead High School in Spring Hill. A win or a loss, it's still a learning opportunity, said teammates, some of whom are just starting and others who have played for seven years. "When I lived in Canada, it was the sport there," said Philip Maitland, a 14-year-old sophomore. "There was ice everywhere, so you played hockey." If it weren't for the Wildcats, "I probably wouldn't play a sport (here)," he said. That is reason enough to keep going, Mrs. Buccino said. "It's a viable option for representing your school," she said. "We've so far exceeded anyone's thoughts, both in how the team has played and in the support of faculty and students. It's a beautiful thing." At a glanceWharton will play Jesuit at 8 tonight at the Ice Sports Forum, 10222 Elizabeth Place, Brandon. The season ends in March.
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