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RMRHL opens doors for inline players A
By Adam Dunivan
ndy and Tina Scinski have come a long ways from the parking lot of FunPlex - the place they started working to develop Colorado’s inline hockey scene back in 1997.
These days, you can find the pair working dili- gently at the RMR Arena in Littleton, home of the Rocky Mountain Roller Hockey League (RMRHL). The RMRHL is strictly recreational, and de- veloping knowledge of the sport at any age is the league’s primary goal. There are leagues for over- 30 beginners just as there are for children, and that’s something Andy Scinski hangs his hat on. He’s seen a remarkable change in his time with the RMRHL, that being the transition from a mostly youth organization to mostly adult. But they’re doing what they can to keep kids interest- ed and introduce inline hockey to as many young people as possible.
“We opened up in 2004 with about 40 youth teams and around 15 adult teams, and we’ve pretty much reversed that to run 56 adult teams and 10-14 youth teams,” Andy Scinski said. “I think why we’ve seen so many adult teams is basically all the kids who’ve come through have grown up and still want to play. My bronze league and my co-ed are my strongest; we’re very close to being full with the adult leagues.”
The league doesn’t offer travel teams, but Scin- ski said the Adult Gold, Adult Silver and Adult Bronze leagues are extremely competitive. All of the RMRHL leagues are in full swing right now, but there are plenty of off-season
The Littleton-based Rocky Mountain Roller Hockey League, which boasts over 50 adult teams, caters to virtually every age group and skill level.
only continue to thrive if children are drawn to it, and that’s why the league offers weekly learn-to- play sessions every Friday night.
“There’s no age limitation,” he said. “You want to play, you can come and play. We have skates and gear that the (NHL’s Colorado) Avalanche donated to us.
“We suit them up and get them out there. We’ve started to see some growth there. And a
events as well. Seasonal drop-in games are popular (goalies are free to play, and skaters only pay $8), and camps and clinics are run at various times throughout the year.
Scinski knows all too well that the sport can
lot of the learn-to-play kids are very young, like 3-4 years old. We’re excited about that because it means good things for the future.”
There’s also some exposure on a bigger scale. For the last four years, the RMRHL has helped host tryouts for the U.S. National Inline Team in June. The squad immediately leaves to compete in international competition, but the time at the arena is well spent.
“I wish I could do that every month,” Scinski said. “It’s a real honor for us to be able to host that. They’re really good with the kids, and on the last day they’re here they skate around with them, sign autographs - stuff like that. It’s just a really cool experience.”
Future endeavors with the Avalanche also seem to be forthcoming. Last summer, the Avs and Pepsi Center hosted an inline tournament - the RMRHL played a huge role in the setup pro- cess - and recently the NHL organization helped support a “Come Play Hockey” day that drew some positive interest. “They had Bernie, their mascot, come out and we used their social media along with ours, and we ended up with 100 brand-new kids who had never played the game before,” he said. “All age groups, from 3 to some 20-year-olds. “We’re definitely looking at future events with them. Now that they’ve got the floor, they’re very motivated to do some stuff over there (at Pepsi Center) with the inline community.” It’s a similar motivation to what the Scinskis had way back in that FunPlex parking lot so long ago.
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