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Hot sport, wrong climate

High school hockey is becoming hip in Hillsborough, though few players go on to play for college teams.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published December 23, 2005

[Times photos: Brian Cassella]

Freedom High's bench takes in the action during its recent win against Plant High. Almost half of the county's high schools have hockey teams. However, the Florida High School Athletic Association does not fund hockey, and few of the state's youth players -- far from universities with hockey scholarships -- go on to play for college teams.

	Freedom High students Chris Drake and Lindsey Olsen watch the game against Plant High from behind the Freedom bench.

NEW TAMPA - Matt Dickinson could have been a heck of a swimmer in high school. From the time he was about 5 years old, he was a terror in the pool, and by junior high was kicking past many of his competitors in the breaststroke and freestyle events.

About age 9, he discovered hockey. Roller, at first, then ice. He fell in love with the speed, the nonstop action and the occasional padded crash with a stick-wielding opponent.

"I'm more of a physical type of person," said Dickinson, a junior at Freedom High and captain of the school's hockey team. "I bottle up all of my aggression all week and then let it all out on the ice."

Like most of his teammates, Dickinson became fully devoted to the sport in his teens, playing only lacrosse in the spring to stay in shape for hockey.

He loves the thrill of chasing a loose puck, scraping his skates against the ice and spinning the other way when the offense changes directions. He loves clashing with the other team's top forward and passing the puck to a teammate, then watching him make a nifty wrist shot or backhander into the goal.

He might have gotten a scholarship in swimming had he not dropped it in seventh grade, he said. He has a friend who recently signed with Auburn.

His own sport, hockey, is so un-Florida that Dickinson might not even get to play in college, except maybe on a club team. He traded a very Floridian sport, where high school talent is always on the radar, for one that has him playing far, far away from the scouts, whose teams are mostly in Canada and the northern United States.

Still, if Dickinson could go back to seventh grade, he wouldn't change a thing. The choice between the two paths wouldn't even be a close one.

"Swimming," he said, "was boring."

Recreational ice hockey has been fairly popular in Tampa Bay since the area got its own professional team, the Lightning, in 1992. But the idea of high schools having their own hockey teams was Fred Eaton's "baby," something he came up with about seven years ago.

"Everybody thought I was nuts," said Eaton, a longtime area trainer who coaches at Freedom and runs clinics in Brandon and Ellenton. "First we had four teams, and next we had eight, then 10, then 12."

Almost half of the county's high schools now have ice hockey teams, many of which draw players from the schools that don't have teams. Newsome High has so many players, it plays two teams (Newsome Blue and Newsome White). Wesley Chapel, Lakeland's George Jenkins and Spring Hill's Springstead add to the area's competition, as do seven Pinellas County teams.

Naturally, rivalries have started to form. Bloomingdale and Wharton used to face each other in the state playoffs every year, but lately, 2-year-old Freedom has emerged as a leader.

The Patriots are 10-0 and beat Wharton 4-0 earlier this season, adding fuel to an already close neighborhood rivalry. Wharton players have vowed to avenge the loss when the two play each other later this season.

The game's popularity has grown so much in the area, there has been talk of building an ice rink facility here, where not only kids will practice, but Lightning players, too. (Several Lightning players live in New Tampa.)

It's easy to see why the sport has grown, aside from the popularity of the Stanley Cup champions. Kids rarely lose interest in the sport once they get involved.

"I think once you've become indoctrinated, it's pretty much love it or hate it," said David Cole, director of fan development for the Lightning. "It's impossible to be a peripheral player.

"Kids love speed, they love action, they like to be creative. Hockey fosters all of those kinds of things."

Kendra Quinn is a Wesley Chapel High cheerleader, which seems like a good fit for the bubbly 15-year-old with long blond curls and braces. It's more of a stretch to picture the 5-foot-6, 100-pound teen as a left wing for the Wildcats.

Yet there she is at every practice and Friday night game, and she gets just as much playing time as the guys, she said. She started playing two years ago after watching her little brother play and now enjoys the camaraderie, power and speed of ice hockey, perhaps even more than cheering.

"Everyone (at school) knows I play at school, and they think it's cool," Quinn said. "But I'm just doing it for fun. I don't expect to play in college or anything like that."

The thing about hockey, especially at this level, is that skill and mental strategy often matter more than physical build. If you're a good skater, a quick shooter and a sharp passer, you could be one of the best players in the league.

Quinn considers herself one of the guys and even changes in the same locker room as her male teammates. She doesn't expect special treatment, nor does she want it. However, she's one of the few girls playing in the league's Central Division, so she can't help standing out on the ice.

"The pink gloves don't help," Quinn said.

Most of the parents who spend what seems like half of their lives shivering in an ice rink will say it's a small price to pay to watch their kids do something they love. Parents, too, become engrossed in the game, as do the siblings who must tag along.

"My youngest was 6 months old when we started bringing her here," said Rosanne Mennie, mother of Freedom senior defenseman Jamie Mennie.

"She's 12 now, and she's probably been in a rink every weekend of her life."

Hockey takes a financial toll, with parents often shelling out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars each year to pay for $200 skates, pricey pads and helmets and the rented ice time for practices. The Florida High School Athletic Association, which governs interscholastic high school sports such as football and volleyball, does not recognize or fund hockey.

It's no wonder some parents expect a payoff after pouring so much time, money and effort into the sport. However, few youth players from Florida have gone on to play college hockey or on reputable junior teams (often a first step for players out of high school). No player born and trained in Florida has ever gone on to play in the National Hockey League, according to Greg Inglis, director of news services for the NHL.

"It would be like football players all of a sudden coming out of Montreal," said Geoff Kwitko, father of two Freedom players and an assistant coach of the team.

As much as Kwitko would love to see Florida players start getting recognized by scouts from top junior and college teams, he has to be realistic. The competition in this state simply isn't the same as it is in Canada and northern parts of the United States.

"Parents come to me all the time and have visions of the NHL," he said. "I'd look at them and say, "You're out of your mind,' and they'd get mad at me. Now I don't say anything. I say, "Good luck, I hope he makes it."'

Freedom's Mennie has earned his reputation as one of the highest-scoring defensemen in his league. He has spent hours upon hours taking shots at a goal in his driveway and has been on rec and travel teams for as long as he can remember.

"Hockey kind of consumes my life," he said. "It's tough to imagine not playing."

It's a sport he has been devoted to ever since his parents took him skating at Lake Placid in New York as a tot, and he hasn't had much use for baseball or soccer.

Those sports are too slow, too methodical, too boring for Mennie. After playing hockey, it's hard to participate in any sport that involves standing around or watching balls roll out of bounds.

Last year, Mennie tore his spleen during a scrimmage, but he still couldn't stay away from the ice. He resumed play as soon as the doctor said it was okay, but he had to work hard to get back to where he was.

For as long as he can remember, Mennie has wanted only to be a better hockey player. It's hard for him to think about giving that up.

Come next fall, though, his priorities will have to change. It's a shift many Florida high school senior hockey players have had to make, especially if they choose to stay in Florida.

"I'm thinking about going to Florida State University," Mennie said. "I think they might have a club team."

And if they don't?

"I'll find some way to play," he said. "Either an adult league or something. Hockey will always be a part of my life in some capacity."

- Emily Nipps can be reached at 813 269-5313 or nipps@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 22, 2005, 09:27:09]