SALT LAKE CITY — In just a few months, the Utah Hockey Club has significantly increased public awareness of the sport in the Beehive State. But in truth, hockey has been alive and well in the state for quite a while.
However, youth hockey interest has taken off in the past three months.
"Last year, we had one 8U program. This year we have two, we have four 10U programs, two 12U programs," said Steve Picano, hockey program coordinator for Salt Lake County.
"The NHL team coming from Phoenix to Salt Lake City is exciting. It's building," Picano added. "And I think that it's only going to increase in the next couple of years. It's going to build even more and more."
Youth hockey in Salt Lake County is only at the recreational level, but boys and girls ages 6-to-14 can participate at three different county ice facilities.
For Picano, watching his native Boston Bruins play in Salt Lake is a big win with the NHL coming to town. But the even bigger win is seeing the effect on the kids of what he calls the coolest sport on Earth.
"It's the hardest sport to play, too," he said. "Why? Well, you're on an eighth of an inch of a blade, you have a stick, you're trying to skate hard, you're going after a loose puck.
"You're trying to put the puck in a four-by-six net, but it's 24 square feet. It's hard."
Thirteen-year-old Daisey Doutre is not your typical youth hockey player. One of four in her family to play the game, her mother drives from Logan to Salt Lake every time Daisey or her brother or sister have practice or a game. This week it was three times.
"It started with my husband wanting to play hockey," said Sara Doutre, Daisey’s mother. "So he started learning. And then he slowly got our kids into it. So all three of them play now."
"Mostly, I just play hockey because it's full of positivity and fun," Daisey said.
Daisey has been playing since she was seven. Because of hearing loss, she wears cochlear implants on the ice.
"We found out about a hockey camp for kids who are deaf, and it's a training camp for the Deaf Olympics. And so she is on that training team for the USA Deaf Hockey team,” said Doutre.
When asked how being deaf affects her daughter's play, Sara explained, "It doesn't if she remembers to change her batteries. Sometimes the helmet will knock them off, and she’ll miss some instruction. I don’t think it affects it that much."
And what about communicating with her teammates out on the ice?
"Well, it's a little bit of a problem," Daisey claimed. "Yeah, only a little."
The teen finds that reading her teammates' body language and their faces helps make up for most of what she doesn’t hear.
As for Picano, he cherishes teaching hockey to young players.
Asked about personality characteristics that hockey players learn that you don't see in other sports, Picano said, "How to be a great teammate, how to be not selfish, that I think is a big one. It doesn’t matter who scores, who gets an assist, who does what, you have to work as a unit."
"I think playing hockey has taught all three of them, but especially my two girls, that they can do hard things," added Doutre. "They're also learning to be tough. I think it's a tougher sport than some other sports.
"It's a lot of focus. They come home exhausted from practice, for sure.”
And what has Daisey learned about herself by playing hockey?
"That I can be a little bit competitive. Well, actually a lot," Daisey said.
Circling back to something Sara Doutre said about being tough: "Hockey teaches teens that life is hard and you have to pick yourself back up again. So when you get rejected by your friends, don’t make a team, or aren't invited to a dance, hockey teaches you that it isn’t the end of the world and that you can do hard things."
Some great lessons to be learned.
