Dek hockey league deemed success with more growth expected
A longtime North Apollo facility is now the home of the area's newest dek hockey league.
The Valarena Roller Rink has added dek hockey to its list of recreational offerings, and with its first season coming to a close this month, the league's organizers hope to have the program grow in its future sessions.
A youth division and an adult division play at the Valarena, and the adult division will start another season in August.
The youth division will be put on hold because of the draw of roller hockey, ice hockey and other sports during the fall and winter, but it is scheduled to make a return in March.
“We're looking for people in every age group, and we're hoping to grow this by word of mouth,” league organizer Bill Fox said. “This first season has worked out well. It's a small arena. We play with no icing, just a blue line, and it's good run-and-gun hockey.”
Because of limited space on the Valarena floor, games are played 4-on-4 instead of the standard 5-on-5 for all but the youngest players. The result is more open play, a fast pace and a solid workout for the teams, who generally have 13 players, including the goalie.
“There's plenty of running and plenty of exercise. If you leave there without breaking a sweat, you aren't running,” said Jason McDermott, who plays in the adult division and coaches one of the youth teams at Valarena.
“We've had the roller hockey program there each winter, but they just started up the dek hockey. It's been a lot of fun, and the adult division has been pretty competitive. There have been a lot of close games and overtime games.”
There are five teams in the adult division, but Fox is hoping to expand to eight for the next session. Many of the players are locals coming from Apollo, Vandergrift and Leechburg, but some of the participants travel in from Kittanning, Murrysville and as far away as Pittsburgh, in the case of a few of McDermott's teammates.
“We're always looking for more players and coaches, and also knowledgeable people in the refereeing department,” McDermott said. “The owners of the rink have been real accomodating to us. They deserve a lot of credit.”
“This is something we hope will continue to grow. We've got a nice little league going,” Fox said. “It would be great to keep adding adult teams, and our hope is to get enough kids to turn out that we can have three or four age groups for them.”
Those interested in joining the Valarena dek hockey program can contact Fox at billyfox3376@yahoo.com or the Valarena at 724-478-3065.
