The High School Hockey League That Looks To Change The Narrative
Between the Hurricanes and the Checkers, professional hockey has certainly gained a following over the years. That popularity hasn’t really caught on at the high school level. There’s one league in charlotte is trying to change that. Students and coaches spoke out about how they attempt to change the sport’s reputation.
“It’s just lacrosse on ice and it is way harder than it looks like. Since the extreme ice center opened in 2006 they offered high school hockey. I personally was getting involved in the rink around 2008, and it was there wasn’t a lot of kids playing, you know, and there wasn’t a lot of teams.”
This labor of love that is paying off but every year there are more leagues, more teams, more kids. The skill level just keeps growing and the speed of the of the skaters is just amazing to watch. The plan is to make Charlotte a bigger hockey place.
“I’m originally from massena, new york, a very small town, uh, where hockey was king. He just kind of want to take that passion that you had and bring it down here to where i live now.”
The league allows for students from all over a chance to lace up, even students not in a brick and mortar school. There’s a chance to play against guys that you usually wouldn’t play against.
“You get to play with people that you usually wouldn’t play with. There are nine teams, with kids from different schools on the same lineup. There’s not too many hockey players at Catholic but there is enough for a full ice cougar club.”
The league is unique since you can recruit rising middle schoolers and seniors in their last semester, meaning they cant do everything allowed in the NHL.
“A few years ago, they took hitting out of the game in the high school league because it just it was pretty unfair to have a big, you know, maybe a six foot three senior, you know, hitting a young guy into the boards or something like that. It took hitting out of the game and it balanced things out and and now it’s more based on the skill.”
