South Shore Kings forward Jack Luca (Milton, Mass.) competes in Tampa. (Joshua Boyd/USPHL.com)
When all hope of a 2020-21 winter hockey season seemed lost as junior leagues across the country began to either postpone or cancel their seasons, the United States Premier Hockey League didn’t give up. It’s a good thing it didn’t.
Just ask 19-year-old South Shore Kings (NCDC) center Ryan Bottrill, one of more than 850 junior hockey players participating in the USPHL Hub City in Tampa, Fla.
“We’re so lucky,” Bottrill said. “I think it’s a big shoutout to the league for what they’ve done, bringing us down to Florida and having us play all of these games, because we see all of these other leagues and all of these other teams keep getting canceled and keep getting delayed, and for us to be playing is just … we’re lucky.”
