Something is Heating Up on the Ice

Like the passion and big hits of high school football? Then maybe you'll like another high school sport. High school hockey, with the high speed, high action, and high physicality you may just become a fan. Sure, in the state of Oklahoma football, basketball, and baseball are the primary sports. It's just the nature of the beast and for a sport like ice hockey it falls on the back burner. Yet at Oilers Ice Center there seems to be something growing in the cool air of the arena. Fervor for high school ice hockey is slowly growing as it is difficult to find a parking spot outside the center or a seat in the stands. The passion is already there as students pack the stands cheering on their classmates. It's the Tulsa High School Hockey League where high school students don their school colors and play for pride. "It's something that not a lot of people expect. But at Union it's starting to get pretty big and we might pull a lot of fans,"Union team captain and senior Tyler Bynum said about playing hockey in Oklahoma. The league is not affiliated to the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Athletic Association or the schools. But there is still school pride for the players and for the students for the schools that attend to root on their team. With three teams that have almost all their players from the school their name holds. Those schools are Broken Arrow, Jenks, and Union. The fourth team is the Comets consisting of students from all over the Green Country area. Attend a Jenks-Union game at the Oilers Ice Center and it's quick to notice that there is still passion to win. "The Union-Jenks thing, I don't care if it's badminton or under water fire prevention but as long as it's Jenks and Union it's an interesting dynamic. You can't find a parking space, it's pretty amazing," said Union head coach and Oilers Ice Center General Manager Alec Hines. The league is constantly growing and it starts with the pee-wee and youth leagues. Those leagues have grown 15-20% in just the last year. With that growth one would expect the passion to be embedded in those kids and as they become high school age the league will grow. The Oiler Ice Center will be expanding with another rink in the very near future. With that addition will be more ice time which will allow the program to grow even more. Hines believes the High School league will eventually have to expand to have a Bixby or Owasso team to give an example. The coaching for the teams isn't just somebody's dad that watched Wayne Gretzky play and Barry Melrose on ESPN. No every single high school head coach has played or coached with the Tulsa Oilers at one time. Hines played for the Oilers as did Broken Arrow head coach Tom Karalis. One of the positives for those playing in the league or that might be interested is that they can get on the ice and play no matter what their skill level. It's a hodge-podge of talent in this league that is more focused on development of players and their passion for the game. Some of the players are also on a travel team that plays against teams from Texas. While other players may have started the season just barely able to skate and that is what makes the Tulsa High School Hockey League a cool deal. A lot of the players may not have grown up playing the game but had a friend that did. It was that friend that got them interested and now they get to play on the same team against the rival school. Bynum explained getting to play with Union on the jersey "its fun having played hockey all my life I haven't been associated with school but now I get to be." It's an opportunity that some at bigger schools can't say. That they started or got significant playing time on a varsity level of athletics for their school team. Sure it's a sport that not many know about or associate to Oklahoma but Ice Hockey is starting to make noise in the local high school sports scene.