Michigan Roller Hockey Association and Amateur Athletic Union leading charge

Detroit has been called Hockeytown for some time now and the popularity of ice hockey in the region backs the moniker up, but those involved with a sport living in ice hockey’s shadow would like the title to encompass the popularity of their sport as well.

After a boom time in the late 1990’s the growth of inline hockey in Michigan hit a plateau. Now high school inline hockey players, coaches and parents are battling to make their sport’s presence known across the state.

Recent years of hard work are starting to pay off as more high school aged kids are realizing the advantages of playing inline hockey.  It took over three years, but Howell’s inline team is now recognized as a varsity sport.  After getting five players to a past tryout, interest in the program has skyrocketed after it got varsity status. 

Photos by Michael Knoll/924productions.com

Participation in high school inline leagues has grown the past few years and the fact that some schools have recently granted varsity status to their teams has helped even more.

“The popularity of high school inline hockey has just now started to take hold,” Howell varsity inline coach Dave Kuhlman said. “A lot of factors are now transitioning kids from ice into inline hockey: The cost – inline probably costs one-third of ice hockey; inline is more of a finesse game so it suits players with skill. And from a medical standpoint, it’s less injury-prone.”

High school players also are excited about playing inline with, and in front of, the peers they see every day at school.

That’s the best thing, being able to play with your friends from school,” said Andrew Pargoff, who plays for the Walled Lake Northern High School team. “It’s just like traditional varsity programs at school.”

Inline hockey is also growing at the college level and colleges are offering some scholarship assistance to play. Eastern Michigan has four paid scholarships and both Michigan and Michigan State have two.

Need for MHSAA sanctioning

Still, high school inline advocates believe that while there are increasingly more players eager to play for their high school the lack of sanctioning by the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) is stunting the development of inline hockey at the high school level.

In some cases, high school players have the excitement of playing for their school and earning a varsity letter.  Other schools will allow players to wear the school name and colors but don’t recognize them as a varsity sport.  Still others don’t allow players to maintain any tie with the school.

“It just depends on the school district,” said U.S. Blades Ken Helms, who runs a middle school and high school league at his Rochester Hills facility that includes teams from Auburn Hills, Rochester and Lake Orion.  “Some give club team letters and others won’t allow any affiliation at all.”

Howell High School is one of only four schools sanctioned by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) that recognizes the sport of inline hockey by allowing their players to letter. The other three are Novi, Hartland and Rockford.

Howell and Novi are in their first year of recognition by their schools and are reaping the rewards in the form of player interest.

“Last year the Novi team was running as a club team,” said AAU Inline Hockey Sports Director Amy Carroll. “This year, when lettering occurred, over 40 kids tried out for varsity. Lettering is important to kids, it gives the kids a focus.”

Carroll urges parents to get involved with getting inline hockey lettered at their high school, but says to proceed with caution.

“What parents need to consider when trying to get inline hockey recognized is if the school will be reliable for the team and if there will be longevity in terms of fielding a team each year that follows,” Carroll said. “If the team disappears within a few years, there’s humiliation with the school.”

Getting high schools to recognize inline hockey as a sport is a significant step to take before the MHSAA will consider sanctioning the sport.  That recognition is just what inline supporter’s want.

With leagues already running all over the state, and increased AAU involvement, high school inline should continue to grow in popularity.

 “We want inline hockey to be recognized like all the other MHSAA sports,” said Hartland coach Gerry Lutomski. “On a scale of 1-10, a 10 is how important it is to me.”

AAU steps up

AAU has been an integral part in pushing for high school and MHSAA recognition. The organization has given high school teams a set standard of rules to comply with, as well as insurance coverage, allowing leagues to form. This year is the first time AAU has dictated the spring as its official high school inline hockey season.

There are currently six facilities participating under the AAU sanction in Michigan with leagues. Total Roller Hockey (TRH) in Wixom is one of these facilities. It has a varsity league of 10 teams and a junior varsity league of 12 teams.

TRH is looking to be a model facility in terms of providing for high school leagues.

“Our high school league is really on the rise,” said TRH manager Dave Zarem, who also serves as an assistant coach for Novi. “The league is a huge undertaking for Total Roller Hockey and we’re making sure to have all the teams on file and have a code of conduct. As a facility, we’re proud to be a leader in having teams play in a safe, fun and competitive environment.”

Walled Lake Western and Howell are at the top of the TRH high school spring league. After two games, both are undefeated.

 “Walled Lake Western is known as the powerhouse team in this league,” Kuhlman said. “It’s probably the team we (Howell) respect the most, but also a team we’re looking to beat.”

Novi is looking to do some damage in the league, despite having an early loss against Western.

“We have pretty high expectations,” Novi coach John Smith said. “I know these kids pretty well and we have a lot of talent and probably the biggest bench at 12 players.”

On the west side of Michigan, Rockford High School’s varsity A1 team is having a successful year. During their winter season they went 10-1-1 and were regular season champions.

Rockford wants to get the word out about inline hockey on the west side of the state. Right now, they play against teams in the Grand Rapids area, but they frequently travel to the Detroit area looking for a higher level of competition.

“Rockford and Cedar Springs are really trying to make the sport of inline hockey grow in the Grand Rapids area,” Rockford manager Lauri Swain said. “There are many people working together to make this happen, but it’s hard.”

Rockford will be making the trip east to Wixom on May 19 with over 60 AAU sanctioned teams for the AAU’s High School Inline Hockey State Championships at Total Roller Hockey on May 19-21. The top teams of the tournament receive a bid to the AAU High School National Championships in St. Louis, MO in June. In addition there will also be $10,000 in scholarship money given away at the National Tournament.

High School at MRHA’s Dumars Fieldhouse

While AAU has come to the forefront to promote high school inline hockey, the Michigan Roller Hockey Association’s high school program at Shelby Township’s Joe Dumars Fieldhouse’s has been thriving for years.
Run by the MRHA and sanctioned by USA Hockey Inline, the Dumars Fieldhouse high school league started with about six high school teams on the east side of metro Detroit and has expanded quickly.

Part of the draw comes from the fact that inline players who might not get a chance to play football or basketball at the high school level can compete for their school in front of peers and family in a competitive environment.

“The high school leagues at MRHA have been growing the past couple of years and we continue to get new schools involved every season,” said MRHA manager Matt Koleski. “We have about 50 high school team. We, without a doubt, have the largest and most competitive high school leagues in the country let alone Michigan.”

Sterling Heights Stevenson is at the top of the Varsity Platinum league at Joe Dumars with an 8-3-0-0 record.  In July, Stevenson will be teaming up with the other Utica high schools to form a team to compete in the Tournament of Roller Hockey Series (TORHS) National Tournament at the Taylor Sportsplex.

High school teams like Stevenson, who play out of the Dumars Fieldhouse, are not sanctioned by AAU, are not able to play in AAU sanctioned facilities and won’t be able to compete at the AAU State Tournament.

More growth to come

The different sanctioning means teams are playing by different sets of rules, and has been a obstacle in unifying high school teams across the state under one set of rules. And without that unification, inline hockey won’t be recognized by the MHSAA.

“High school inline hockey is a facility-driven program and it’s hard for the sport to be recognized if everyone’s not playing by the same rules,” Carroll said. “Unfortunately, it’s all volunteer with the facilities now and they would need to agree to have the same rules.”

Despite the different sanctions, high school inline hockey is a sport on the rise. High school inline gives younger players something to look forward to and will enable them to continue playing the sport they love while representing their school.

“The best response from the AAU program is from seventh and eighth graders who say, ‘You mean I can play in high school?’” Carroll said.
And that kind of interest will keep the sport growing all over the state.

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