Two Youth Division
Champions Crowned
in New Recreational
Tournament
Florida Hospital Center Ice deems
inaugural rec tourney a success with plans
to add adult and girls divisions
By Steve Lee
Ever since its grand opening in January
of 2017, Florida Hospital Center Ice has
made quite a name for itself on the local, state
and national hockey scenes.
Billed as the largest facility of its kind in the
southeastern United States, FHCI has hosted
elite youth and women’s programs and even
has served as a training site for National
Hockey League players.
One thing missing, however, was a youth
recreational series. In November, FHCI hosted
its inaugural tournament for that level of play.
The Hope Countdown Hockey Tournament
went over so well that organizers planned for
another rec tourney in late December, which
will include adult and girls teams.
“We’re really trying to do something great for
these kids,” said Gordie Zimmermann, the
facility’s co- managing general partner, who
grew up playing hockey in Canada. “We’re
kicking this off and trying to do it annually;
trying to make it bigger and better.”
In all, seven co-ed teams played in the
November rec tourney. Two divisions were
represented with the Ice Wolves defeating the
Ice Dogs 6-3 for the Under-12 title and the Ice
Wolves narrowly edging the Ellenton Eels 1-0
for the Under-14 championship. All but the Eels
play out of FHCI.
Tournament director Victoria Santello, who
also coaches figure skating and works in
administration at FHCI, echoed that sentiment.
“I thought it was awesome,” said Santello,
a longtime figure skater and 2017 graduate of
Steinbrenner High School.
“To see that those kids had
a chance to be competitive;
you could just tell they were
having the time of their
lives. We had a light show,
we were announcing and
all the parents and the kids
loved it.”
Making the rec tourney even more memorable
was a partnership with Metropolitan Ministries.
A food drive generated five barrels of nonperishable
food for the non-profit organization.
While the U12 final was competitive, the U14
clinching game came down to the wire. Preston
Pohnel scored the lone goal for the Ice Wolves
with 9:15 remaining in the third period to back
the solid shutout effort of goaltender Tom
Jaques.
Photos provided by: Victoria Santello
“The U14 division (final) was so close. It
almost came down to our tiebreakers,” said
Santello, noting that a tiebreaking format was
in place if needed.
As for the U12 final, Andrew Karch led the Ice
Wolves with five points on a hat trick and a
pair of assists. Mike Lutes assisted on one
of Karch’s goal as well as a score by Cayden
Faircloth. Memphis Binkley and Max Kaatze
also scored with Jason Abdullah and Jade
Jenkins each adding an assist.
The Ice Dogs got a pair of goals from Adrian
Rios and another from Natalie Andelova. Rios
assisted on Andelova’s goal and was set up
for one of his goals by his brother, Isaac Rios.
“They had a blast,” Zimmermann
said. “We had a lot of feedback
from it. They really enjoyed it.”
U12 Andrew Karch and Delaney Michael
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