HRYHA HISTORY
The Hampton Roads Youth Hockey Association, the original youth hockey organization in Hampton Roads, was formed in the early 80's. While very small to start, the originators slowly built the association and skated where they could find ice. In the late 80's, according to local lore, five families ponied up their houses to get a mortgage and convert the building at 4915 Broad St into an ice rink. It had previously been a roller rink and earlier some some of storage building.
Much of this history had been passed down by members and there was some question about how valid it was. One day, during the recent remodeling project, one of the original members of that group stopped by the rink and validated the story. It was a great afternoon of having him describe what they went through to establish youth hockey in the area. He was also very helpful in describing what we would find as we melted the ice and started to excavate. For example, we did not know that there were two asphalt floors under the ice surface. We thought there was only one under the sand and that knowledge helped us is preparing differently. He told us about the old boards and plexiglass that they had purchased used as well as the old ice mat system. One big mistake he acknowledged is not putting in a heating system under the ice surface to prevent permafrost under the ice-which we discovered during the renovation.
Below is the latest update about HRYHA provided by an old member:
HRYHA before Iceland:
Youth hockey in the area started in Hampton VA where the kids played at the Coliseum. Youth hockey was happening during the years starting in 1971 with Virginia Red Wings, Hampton Gulls (coached by John Brophy of Admirals fame and basis of Reggie Dunlop), Hampton Aces 78-81, and finally, after no ice in 1981-82, the Hampton Roads Gulls began play in October 1982.
The Hampton Roads Gulls were the last of the Hampton Coliseum minor league teams. They played in ACHL beginning in the fall of 1982 and folded sometime in late January 1983. Hockey had a lot of stops and starts in Hampton and this made the logistics of youth hockey difficult. After a season with no ice, HYRHA was skating in Hampton in the fall of 1982 and the season was chaotic. There was a big push to get the kids back on the ice that fall.
In the meantime, there was a group of folks from HRYHA who were growing tired of the challenges of playing hockey out of a multi use facility and not knowing if the season of the semi pro team would survive to keep the ice in place till April. They (HRYHA) purchased Aragona Roller Rink sometime in 1981-1982.
EDITORIAL NOTE: HRYHA, or an entity of the same name, was chartered well prior to Iceland's opening. There were several kids that were playing in Hampton in the 70s that were still playing at Iceland in 1983. I played with HRYHA out of Hampton Coliseum beginning in the fall of 1982 and it was called HRYHA. When Iceland opened in January 1983, there was a significant group of parents from the Peninsula that would drive over to Va Beach for all the practices and games.
Iceland:
The rink on Broad St opened in January 1983. There were 2 very small dressing rooms. No showers. They added a third and then a fourth dressing room in the mid-80s.
The stories of the cooling system are true, permafrost, etc. Some of the equipment and boards came from a rink in Hamden, Connecticut (I believe). The trash barrels around the rink said "Hamden Ice Forum".
1983-1984 was a good year for the rink with the Olympics and 1980 fresh in peoples minds. Public skating would sell out regularly.
Tom Petit and Lorne Rombough (retired Canadian semi pro hockey players) were the first managers. Tom drove the Zamboni at the Scope for Admirals games for many years. He was in his late 40s or 50s when he began managing Iceland, but still a most elegant skater. When these guys ran the rink, many men's league players would skate without helmets. A fellow by the name of Gary took over around 1986. He was hard working, and always present. The rink was in financial difficulty around the time he took over. He inherited a mismanaged situation according to my father. In addition to HRYHA buying the rink, which was the big financial investment, there was a group of parents who put up collateral to keep the rink open in those early years. This occurred around 1986. There was a lean on the rink and these parents prevented foreclosure.
HRYHA Competition:
During this time there were 1-2 youth teams from pee wee to midget. HRYHA played out of the mid Atlantic League, but played a lot of games against teams in the Capital Beltway league. Home weekends would be Sat eve/Sunday morning format. Every away game required a hotel. The weekends would be a minimum of two games with as many as four.
Parents and players would go as far as greater Philadelphia for games (places like Voorhees, NJ, Wilmington, DE, West Chester, PA).
HRYHA playoffs were in the mid-Atlantic league which changed slightly from year to year:
Winston Salem, NC, Hillsborough, NC, Roanoke, VA were constant
Ft Bragg/Goldsboro, NC, was fleeting
Raleigh, NC came in 1987 or 1988
Charlotte moved to Southern league in 1985
Knoxville, Charlotte, Huntsville, Atlanta in Southern league was a superior league to mid-Atlantic
HRYHA would play Capital Beltway Southern and Mid-Atlantic in the Tier II AHAUS tournaments.
HRYHA always/often won the mid Atlantic tournament. Teams would go to 1 or 2 other tournaments and try to host one at Iceland, usually at the end of the season.
HRYHA sent teams to the Baltimore tournament every Thanksgiving. Johnny Unitas was always there as he was involved in Baltimore Youth Hockey. Tug McGraw (former Phillies pitcher) was involved in Wilmington, DE hockey. He would come to Iceland and he would arrange for multiple game weekends/tournaments in Wilmington, DE for HRYHA.
In a typical season, we played about 20 games in the mid-Atlantic league (including play off tournament). We played about 16 more games (home and away) against Capital Beltway teams and 4-6 games against teams from the Philadelphia region and or Southern region.
HRYHA was always good at hosting more home games than away games, especially early and late season when folks would be psyched to come to Va Beach in Sept-October or March-May. Iceland saw teams come as far as Pittsburgh, South Jersey, Philadelphia, Staten Island, Knoxville, Charlotte, and Atlanta. HRYHA saw competition from Rhode Island, Conn., Mass, NY, and Huntsville in tournaments.
Events:
Iceland hosted the Tier II AHAUS (now USA Hockey) tournament for the Southeast region in 1986. HRYHA Bantams were beaten soundly by top ranked Wheaton (Cabin John/Montgomery Co) MD in the opening game. Bruce Rader of WAVY TV 10 covered the game on the 6pm and 11pm news.
Iceland hosted an event with a group of former accomplished hockey players who had become Catholic priests from Canada called the Flying Fathers: Playing and Praying that was a bit of Harlem Globetrotters on skates. They were good players. People thought it was really funny. They skated against a a collection of guys who were former minor leaguers who had stayed in the area and played men's league at Iceland. During the game, a puck came into the bleachers and struck an older woman on the head. An ambulance came and took her out during the game. Thankfully, no last rights were performed.
There was a figure skating event that brought some stars of the era to Iceland.
HRYHA Fundraising:
To supplement the cost hockey, HRYHA had the 2nd largest bingo operation in the commonwealth of Virginia. Picture parents, Bantams and Midgets selling bingo cards in smoke filed rooms. You had to be 14 to work the hall. It was eye opening to the Bantams and Midgets. Without Bingo, it would not have survived.
Who were these people?:
The eighties had a lot of exogenous events that helped hockey in the area. The department of defense build up brought a big influx of civilians and military families many from the Northern US and Canada. Also the opening of a Volvo plant in Chesapeake provided a sprinkle of Swedish talent. Teams had Swedes, kids from Minnesota, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Canada. Some of the coaches were: Air Force Colonel who played Division 1 Colorado College from Weymouth, MA, Captain in Royal Canadian Navy from Vancouver, BC, Navy Ensign who played at University of Maine, Naval Academy Grad from Michigan, dads from Fort Erie, Ontario, Oswego, NY, Auburn, MA, etc.
There were lots of men's league teams, especially when the ships were in. The USS Enterprise, USS Coral Sea and Navy Seals were examples of hockey teams from specific sections of the Navy. The Jolly Frog and Squires Club always had the two best teams until 1992 (there is a whole other story there).
My last year in HYRHA was 1988-89. I know every age group had at least 1 team. In 83-84 and 84-85 there were two pee wee and two bantam teams. In 1989, the Admirals began play in at the Norfolk Scope. They would practice at Iceland. I remember there was a lot of enthusiasm for hockey with the new team.
I went to College of William & Mary in the fall of 1989, and played on the club team there. Although we would come down to Iceland to skate in the men's league, my knowledge of the details of HRYHA became increasingly limited. I last skated at Iceland in August of 1993.
HRYHA grew under the original leadership but started to decline in the late 90's. Membership fell dramatically to the point that there was only about 30 youth players at Iceland. In the late 90's, the Association started to slowly rebound. With the addition of Chilled Ponds in Chesapeake and IcePlex in Newport News, the youth hockey population started to grow but not fast enough to support 3 separate house organizations. In 1999, the three groups formed up the SVYHL (Southern Virginia Youth Hockey league) and house games were played between the three groups. Around 2002, Chilled Ponds took a different direction and that left HRYHA and PYHA (Peninsula Youth Hockey Association). The league was reformed into the EVHL and continues today with house games played between both groups and Select teams formed up with players from both association.
In the past HRYHA has had both Travel and House programs. Years ago, the decision was to forego Travel and focus on the developmental House program. HRYHA adheres to the USA Hockey ADM model which promotes skill development and training.