Birmingham-area youth compete at the Pelham Ice Rink. Photos courtesy of BYHL.
The Pelham Ice Rink isn’t just home to people having a fun afternoon of ice skating. The Birmingham Youth Hockey League is based out of Pelham and has both travel and recreational leagues.
Hockey is poised for growth in the Birmingham area as the city of Pelham works to appoint a new Director of Hockey to market the sport. Although the Birmingham Bulls are no longer here, Auburn and Alabama have club teams that are inspiring kids to pick up a hockey stick and learn how to play the sport.
“I see it growing tremendously in the future,” said Mike McCarthy, a Boston native who played hockey in college and is now the Director of Coaching for the BYHL. “I went into a Chelsea school one day to a gym class with my hockey stick and just sat down and told them about it. They were ecstatic about playing hockey.”
BYHL President Tony Harlow agrees: “There’s no reason why this program can’t be the largest in the Southeast. Once we get a new director in here and new marketing, that will start to happen. It’s definitely going to double in size. I could foresee there being 1,000 kids in the program.”
The program currently has close to 150 kids and teenagers playing for it, with four travel teams that travel across the the region and travel to a national tournament annually.
“As a parent, I like hockey because no one sits on the sidelines the whole game,” Stacey Kerbler said. “Every level of ability gets to play. You watch a football game, and a ton of players never even see the field. With hockey, everybody plays every game.”
The Pelham Ice Rink, which was founded in 1996, is starting to host hockey events such as the Iron Cup, which is the annual game between Auburn and Alabama’s club teams. Last season, the game drew over 3,000 spectators. In the future, the rink will host the National Club Team Championships in 2015. It is one of three rinks in the state of Alabama.
“The Pelham rink is the nicest in the Southeast,” McCarthy said. “The new mayor has been very supportive of us, and people seem to be excited about events like the Iron Cup, especially the kids.”
Although many might see hockey as a rough boys sport, girls are also becoming interested. Title IX has sparked hockey programs at some colleges, and Birmingham has some girls starting to play. Kerbler’s daughter Sydnee Goyee, a 13-year-old Hoover resident, plays at the Pelham Ice Rink.
“It’s great to play something unique,” she said. “I love it when people find out I play hockey and the incredulous look on their face. They all ask where I play hockey in Birmingham. No one knows what a great facility we have in Pelham.”
The hockey season lasts from September to mid-March, meaning it conflicts with several more mainstream sports. Harlow said there might end up being a shorter season around Christmas break, and that summer leagues exist where teams play 3 on 3.
“I can’t tell you how many younger kids come to us and start playing hockey and love it,” Harlow said. “And I think why some kids love it is because they’re not Johnny Football, they’re not Johnny Baseball. Hockey is kind of their thing, no one else in their class really knows about it. They excel at it. It’s nice to see the kids that perhaps went to the point where they didn’t think they were athletic because they didn’t play football, come to this sport and find their home.”
