Adam writes:
 
>Not sure where exactly you are referring to .... but, as of 1988, I can say for
>a fact that between Commack and Montauk Point there was exactly ONE (1) indoor
>rink suitable for organized hockey -- that was in Kings Park.  EVERY High
>school hockey "club" played their games there.  That meant, not a lot of ice
>time.
 
Actually, he pinpoints exactly where I was referring to, because I had
Commack Arena (once proud home to the "real" Ducks -- the L.I. variety of
the 70's :-) in mind in my post.  East of that was (and still is) Terra
Incognito as far as my hockey (and pretty much any other) knowledge went.
 
Also, the date in Adam's post is 1988, but I was specifically talking about
a spate of rinks built in the late 70's/early 80's, which were summarily
remodeled (lack of interest, First Reagan Term Recession Fires, Les
Islanders transformation into Night of the Skating Dead, etc...) as
skateboarding facilities, flea markets, and venues for very, very bad local
bands.  I think by 1988 the only "hitting" going on in those buildings was
either sexual or, more likely, narcotic.
 
 
>   Greg says he knew only 1 person that played hockey in his area.  Well, in my
>area, nearly every athletic teenage boy played hockey in some form.  Whether it
>be pickup games in the street (which we all played night and day, and
>challenged kids from other areas), or organized dek hockey -- which, from my
>observations, is the third most popular participation sport on Long Island
>after Little League and Soccer.
 
In my neck of the woods (well, it being L.I., my No Outlet of the
Subdivision) we all skated, had access to ponds, rinks (though there wasn't
much league ice time), etc., but nobody played anything approaching
organized hockey.  Although there were a few scattered leagues, it was a
rarity to hear any reference to kids under 16 playing in them.  There were
NO adult leagues, parents didn't know a puck from... whatever, etc.
Whenever you heard about anybody playing in a league, it was invariably in
Queens, Brooklyn, or *maybe* Nassau County.  The local businesses didn't
sponsor teams.  The bars had every kind of team known to man -- they even
had rugby games -- but no hockey.
 
 
 
>     Here's another fact.  My junior year of high school, the high school club
>hockey team won the Long Island championships for the first time.  It was the
>first time a parochial school didn't win it.  They went upstate for the state
>tournament and were smoked.
 
I hadn't even *heard* of H.S. hockey until I arrived in Ithaca.  There's no
way the percentage of L.I. High schools with a hockey team (let alone a
facility) approaches that of Boston.  Perhaps not even by a factor of ten.
 
 
 
>     In Philly, the situations are similar -- but what they're really lacking
>now is quality coaches.  That's another problem altogether.
 
It's related to the fact that kids don't turn into players alone -- they
need parents and coaches willing to put up with / help them with their
magnificent obsession.  In Boston, hockey is in the air ("is that what that
is?"); on L.I., it isn't even on the airwaves.
 
Hey, don't get me wrong, I love the game and hope it flourishes someday
among the sand dunes and shopping malls of my birthplace. But I think its
chances of doing so are, approximately, zippo.  Just my .02.
 
- GB
 
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