Hockey a Family Affair at SDIA Building long, lasting relationships is paramount to the rink’s good fortunes down south


By Chris Bayee T


here might not be a greater adver- tisement for hockey to those who are unfamiliar with it than to be able to see the game up close.


That gave San Diego Ice Arena (SDIA) hockey director Craig Sterling and his staff an idea.


“During a public session on Sat- urday or Sunday, we might have 300 kids on the ice and their families at the rink,” Sterling said. “We always have a hockey game after. The kids and their families stay and watch it, then they want to play.”


Sterling and club president Joel


Henderson have ensured there are plenty of opportunities for them to do so.


“We’re about building relation- ships that last a long time,” Sterling said. “We have a very tight family at our rink. A lot of kids played with us as Mites, and now they’re Midgets and they work at the rink; they’re rink rats.


“Some of them even become coaches because they grow to love the game so much. It’s a pretty interesting philoso- phy of how the rink works.” And rest assured, the Mira Mesa rink itself is always at work. The seat on the Zamboni stays warm 18-20 hours per day.


The rink has travel teams - the Oil- ers - in Squirt A, Pee Wee A, Bantam A and B, Midget 16 AA and 18 AA. It also has B teams for Mites, Squirts and Pee Wees.


In addition, the house league has more than 150 children participating, the adult league includes 25 teams covering all age and skill levels, and there’s a women’s league. It also has seating for 1,200, which comes in handy when it hosts the California State Games and other large-scale tourna- ments.


Add it up and you have the longest- standing program in San Diego County, dating back more than 30 years, Hen- derson said.


“We always refer to ourselves as family-friendly,” Henderson said. “Other rinks tend to be much more for- mal, but here we’re about playing and having fun. It’s rare for people to want to get away from the rink.” Sterling and his staff are much more likely to work over a grill than get in a player’s grill. Keeping the atmosphere fun for families - whether through parties or cookouts - is a prior- ity.


As is keeping hockey as accessible as possible. The Winnipeg-bred Sterling is 6


Building long, lasting relationships is paramount to the rink’s good fortunes down south. Photo/©2011 James Woodward Photography


matter-of-fact about it: “Where I grew up in Canada, at my rink there was no politics; everyone played and they had fun.”


When Henderson, a professor in San Diego State’s School of Public Affairs, arrived from Michigan 30 years ago, his daughter, who uses a wheelchair, wanted to go back on the ice. In a totally California twist, his search for ice led him to a sheet of ice a wrist shot away from the food court at the UTC Mall in La Jolla. The rink had plenty of public skating, but no hockey at the time (Henderson estimated maybe 40 kids played countywide at that time after a rink had closed). While Henderson was teaching his 3-year-old son how to skate, someone told him about Mira Mesa’s hockey program. After the UTC rink changed hands, a Friday time slot opened from 5-6:30 p.m. and gave Henderson an idea. “I went to them and said, ‘Suppose I take that ice slot and start hockey training for kids? Let me do that,’ ” he requested.


“Before I knew it, I had 60 kids showing up. We charged $8 (it’s only


$10 now), and it was a lot cheaper than babysitting. We had to buy all the equipment. That began a development program that Craig continues to this day.


“It gave people a chance to try the game before they had to invest money.” Once they learned the basics, the kids wanted to play, and SDIA’s house league was born. From there, vari- ous versions of travel teams between SDIA, UTC, the Joan Kroc Center and Iceoplex in Escondido have existed over the years. The Kroc Center, Henderson noted, has focused its hockey attention on exposing the sport to those with less means.


“This is the way hockey started growing again - through introducing children and their families to the game in an affordable way,” Henderson said. Added Sterling: “We participate in USA Hockey’s OneGoal program. We have 50 sets of gear for kids ages 3-7, and they can use it free for 12-24 weeks. We let them come on Saturday morn- ings and try hockey for free for four weeks. If mom and dad want to go on the ice with them to try, they can. For


$12 per session, they get the gear and we give them free public skating ses- sions during the week so they can work on what they’ve learned.”


And the players are learning from a quality staff that includes two USA Hockey Level 5 coaches - Sterling and Tim Wright - and three more coaches with extensive professional playing ex- perience, including various incarnations of the San Diego Gulls. Sandy Fitzpatrick’s involvement in coaching dates back to the 1970s, shortly after he retired from the Gulls teams that were part of the old Western Hockey League, which served as a fore- runner to the NHL in the west. He also played for the New York Rangers and the expansion Minnesota North Stars in the 1960s.


“After his kids had moved on, I asked him to get back involved in coaching,” Henderson said. “I told him we have a bunch of kids who know how to skate and stickhandle, but they don’t know how to play the game. He understood that, and he’s stuck with it through thick and thin.


“Now his grandson has started in hockey.”


Brad Belland, a 1985 NHL Entry Draft choice of the Chicago Blackhawks who spent five of his eight pro seasons playing for the West Coast Hockey League version of the Gulls in the ’90s, also coaches.


Also coaching is one of the more popular Gulls, Martin St. Amour, a 1988 Montreal Canadiens draft choice who played 14 seasons of pro hockey, in- cluding time with the Ottawa Senators. St. Amour played eight seasons for the Gulls and twice scored 60 or more goals for them.


“Martin was another one who said, ‘I’m not coaching,’ and now he enjoys it,” Henderson said.


“All three are volunteers, and they know how to coach. Not only are they very good coaches, but they know how to do things that are age-appropriate.” Where the players want to go with the game is up to them, Sterling and Henderson said.


“I ask parents, ‘What do you want your kid to do? Be a hockey player or try to go to college and get a good job?” Hen- derson said. “Some are serious (about hockey) and they’ll look to other pro- grams or juniors; other parents will say, ‘I want my kid to play and have fun.’ “We have people in the adult league who are in their 60s and still having the time of their life.


“You can play for a long time.” At least that’s the hope in San


Diego.


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