The United States Premier Hockey League will have a new home to kick off 2021.
While American junior hockey leagues such as the USHL and NAHL have been trucking along with their seasons during the pandemic, it hasn’t been easy with outbreaks and postponements drastically disrupting schedules.
Last week, in response to the growing effects the surging coronavirus has had on the winter sports season, the USPHL announced its plans for “Hub City Tampa,” a bubble of sorts that will bring all 13 NCDC teams and select Premier and Elite teams to Florida to live in a centralized location for six weeks of isolated hockey.
While living at the Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, Fla., players will be restricted to traveling only between the resort and the rinks they are playing at.
All games and practices will take place at AdventHealth Ice Center, a four-sheet, state-of-the-art, full-service hockey facility just 10 minutes away from the resort.
Teams will play a total of 20 games, the first starting Jan. 4, with multiple on-ice practices, off-ice strength and conditioning workouts and video sessions mixed in.
For first-year commissioner Bob Turow, a lot went into turning the idea of creating a safe, isolated hub city into a reality. The first obstacle was finding a place to play.
“Like any other league, we were trying to figure out how we can safely get a season in this year and follow the government mandates, and it was becoming more and more difficult to do so in various parts of the country,” Turow told NEHJ Tuesday.
“So, we started looking at what options there were based on what the National Hockey League had done. We looked at a whole bunch of different places and narrowed it down to a couple, but Florida seemed like the place to be. We found out that we could do it, and then it all happened in the course of about a month.”
With the preliminary hurdle of how to safely house and feed the players sorted out, as well as securing adequate ice for games, the next obstacle wasn’t so cut and dried. Structuring players’ time away from the ice became the next most important thing, Turow, who made the plans alongside previous commissioner Richard Gallant, said.
“We don’t want people just coming down there and it just being a vacation. That’s not what it's about,” Turow said. “It’s about, A, the games, yes, getting our season in; B, the development; and C, education. We still have students in our league.”
The resort, which essentially will be taken over by the league for six weeks, has two fitness centers, multiple basketball and volleyball courts, a turf training field, three swimming pools, a pair of golf courses and a championship tennis complex. Safe to say, there will be plenty of distractions for the players away from the ice.
In response, the USPHL has set aside time for study halls, video analysis and the gyms, as well as several other off-ice activities and competitions between the teams.
“We almost want it to be kind of like the military, where you wake up at seven o’clock in the morning, you know exactly what you’re doing until it’s lights out at 10 o’clock, and then you do it all over again the next day,” Turow said. “So that’s what we're going through right now. It’s 24 hours of work that we’re packing into every day. I'm tired and the team's tired, but we'll get it done. It's going to be fun.”
As for COVID-19, all players must receive a negative test before entering the hub, Turow said. Beyond the first test, all USPHL safety protocols addressing the dissemination of the virus, including guidelines regarding travel, facility management and other hockey-related policies, will remain in effect, the league said.
In addition, the USPHL will have trained medical personnel onsite throughout the duration of the hub. If a positive test does arise, quarantining and contact tracing will go into effect to discern the extent of exposure and limit the potential spread.
Another plus to the hub city is that all games will be broadcast on the new USPHL/HockeyTV channel, which is set to be launched Jan. 1.
For the first time in months, players will have the opportunity to play consistent hockey in front of the watchful eyes of Division 1 collegiate coaches and scouts.
“The NCDC has made a marked improvement over the last couple of years,” said Boston College coach Jerry York in a statement released by the USPHL last week. “They have attracted a strong group of talented players, and the coaches do an excellent job with player development. My staff and I will continue to follow the teams when they play in Tampa and throughout the remainder of the season.”
“I am impressed and excited for the NCDC and the USPHL as they work toward the ‘Hub City’ in Tampa,” added Merrimack College coach Scott Borek. “I certainly can appreciate the effort and creativity of the league’s coaches and leadership as they try to bring hockey to the kids on their teams.”
With everything finally starting to come together, Turow, who will become the league’s official commissioner once Gallant’s tenure expires on Jan. 1, is just happy his players will finally have the chance to play some meaningful games.
“There’s not one player that I've heard from that isn't coming,” Turow said. “So, I know how excited they are, and it's our job as the league office to make sure that their expectations here are met when they arrive in Florida from start to finish.”
While it’s been a team effort to put all of the plans together, Turow pointed to his predecessor, Gallant, as the driving force behind getting everything off the ground.
“When you take a look at seven years ago when this league really started, and to think that right now it’s the largest hockey league there is in America,” Turow said. “It’s sea to sea and its border to border, and what Richard Gallant and the league leadership team have done there over these seven years is just incredible.
“The credit to the hub city really goes to Richard Gallant. It was his idea. We formed our team and we started spitballing ideas, and we crafted a plan, and it's been adjusted along the way, but without him, though, this thing doesn't happen.”
Less than three weeks out from when players and teams will converge at Hub City Tampa, excitement is building with each day as the final details get put into place.
“I'm 57 years old,” Turow added. “If you ask anybody who's 30, 40, 50, 60 years old what the highlight of their youth or junior career was, other than winning a championship, if people were fortunate enough to play in the Quebec PeeWee Tournament, that’s the first thing that will come out of their mouth. It’s massive.
“When you take a look 10, 20, 30 years from now and ask these kids that are going to be in that hub what the highlight of their career was, I'm telling you, it's going to be this hub. It’s going to be crazy good.”
Liam Flaherty can be reached at liam.flaherty@hockeyjournal.com and on Twitter @_LiamFlaherty.
