MAITLAND, FLA – Ten summers ago, a series of hurricanes ravaged the state of Florida in one of the most horrendous storm seasons in years. Mother Nature’s wrath did however spawn something that to this day is a reminder that ice amongst the palm trees is a good thing.
This weekend, the RDV Sportplex is playing host to the eleventh annual Orlando Youth Hockey Association Martin Luther King hockey tournament. This year’s event is extra special because it is the opening act for the 2015 CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic being hosted by the Orlando Solar Bears.
“We’re sold out. We had to turn teams away,” OYHA President Louis DiPaolo said a couple of days before the tournament. “We could have easily put in ten or fifteen more teams but we don’t have the ice right now.”
Ten years ago, the MLK tournament did not exist. OYHA had just started its now popular Labor Day tournament the year before and then then unthinkable happened. Three hurricanes disrupted the lives of everyone in the state. Central Florida was inundated with wind and rain that caused havoc for weeks. The Labor Day tournament had to be put off.
Because tournaments are vital to funding scholarships for the program, the OYHA board decided to run a tournament in January of 2005 to replace the missed Labor Day event.
“Every tournament we have is a fundraiser for the club for scholarships and to keep the cost of hockey down. We had to start an MLK one just by default,” DiPaolo said. “We’ve done Labor Day for fifteen years and for the MLK this is our eleventh.”
That first MLK tournament was a big success and since then it has grown every year. This year’s edition has 50 teams, the largest number ever for an OYHA event. Teams from seven different states including Florida as well as squads from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Nova Scotia and Ontario have come to Orlando to play.
With so many teams and over 100 games to play, finding ice time can be tricky. Tournament director Jeff Ning, who DiPaolo credits the popularity of the tournament to because how organized it is, has expanded beyond the two rinks at RDV to schedule some games at The Ice Factory in Kissimmee. The Solar Bears have also helped with ice, bringing three games (Squirt A, Squirt AA and PeeWee A) down to the Amway Center on Saturday afternoon prior to the team’s game against Tulsa.
“It’s absolutely amazing. The kids are so excited to be able to play a legitimate game at the Amway Center right before the Solar Bears game,” DiPaolo said.
DiPaolo is also very proud of the fact that the families of players can see games even if they cannot come in for them. Tournament games are streamed live on DSPNLive.com – many of them with DiPaolo behind the microphone – and also recorded so that DVD copies can be purchased for later viewing and as a keepsake.
“We’re going to broadcast every game in its entirety on the Olympic rink [at RDV] including all of the championships on Championship Monday,” he said. “I’m waiting for permission be able to stream the three games at Amway on Saturday so that people all over the world can watch them too.”
The Solar Bears will also be out in force on Monday as players will be assisting with award presentations following the title games. On Tuesday, many of the local players have been invited to play in the street hockey game with the Bears players and league All-Stars downtown during FanFest.
DiPaolo said that he believes the tie-in with the Solar Bears and the All-Star game will have a lasting positive affect on the tournament.
“We sold out earlier than ever and we do have teams from other cities that have ECHL teams from Georgia, the Carolinas, etcetera,” DiPaolo said. “The fact now that we get to partner with the Solar Bears, hopefully the other teams in the Solar Bears’ league will be able to come down and play all the time.”
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