The Pinehurst Hockey Association (PHA) has yet to play a game, but excitement is building. Scheduled to start its inaugural season Nov. 1, the league is comprised of four teams, each with nine players. The season ends Feb. 7.
Featuring inline skaters, it will play games at Rassie Wicker Park in Pinehurst. Most of the contests take place on Saturdays, but three games are slated for Monday nights.
A product of a discussion in a chat group, the PHA needed 36 players for the first season. More than 50 people applied to play.
“Someone said we should start a league,” Wesley Page, a member of the chat group, said.
Being in its infancy, the PHA, to date, hasn’t given organizers official league positions.
“We don’t really have titles,” Page, who was a member of the Southern Pines Police Department for eight years, said. “It’s just four guys on a board.”
Although Page has lived in the area for more than a decade, he was unaware the outdoor rink at Rassie Wicker was used for hockey.
“I didn’t know people even played there,” he said. “It’s a legit rink. One side even has glass up.”
Page had some experience playing street hockey. After attending a Carolina Hurricanes game three years ago, he and his family were hooked.
“We’ve become a hockey family,” he said.
Formerly the Hartford Whalers, the Hurricanes moved to North Carolina in 1997. The NHL team made the Stanley Cup finals in 2002, but fell to the Detroit Red Wings in five games. Based in Raleigh, the Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers in seven games to win the Stanley Cup in 2006. Coached by Rod Brind’Amour, the squad has made the postseason every year since 2019.
Like the Hurricanes, the PHA seems to be lifting hockey’s profile in what had been a nontraditional market for the sport.
“The word-of-mouth is getting out there,” Page, an Army veteran, said. “People who haven’t played in a long time are coming out to the pickup games.”
Establishing a league in Moore County certainly has the potential to create more players and fans for a game that’s an institution in Canada.
“I hope it helps grow the hockey community,” Page said. “Hopefully, a lot more people hear about hockey and start playing it.”
Not surprisingly, the PHA has players who’ve moved to Moore County from places where pucks are part of the landscape.
“A lot of other players are from Pennsylvania,” Page said. “We also have a guy from Canada.”
While Page has spent nearly his entire life in North Carolina, his passion for the game matches that of someone from Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, or Boston, all cities with rabid fanbases. He particularly enjoys passing the puck to teammates in position to score.
There’s just one role on a team he’s not interested in performing.
“I’ll play wherever they need me,” he said. “Just not goalie.”
PHA clubs will have a goalie and four skaters playing at one time. Other players will rotate into the action.
“From what I know, it’s the first organized league in the county,” Page advised.
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Feature photo: Members of The Pinehurst Hockey Association. Photo contributed.
~Written by Sandhills Sentinel reporter Dave Lukow. Dave has been honored as both a lyricist and screenwriter. Among other publications he’s contributed to are the Buffalo News, JD Journal, Beckett Hockey, Seminole Player’s Life, Poker Pro, Walmart World, and All In.
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