USA Hockey is the national governing body for the sport of hockey in the United States. The Colorado Springs, Colo.-based organization sets rules, determines age brackets, approves league directors and officials through seven district administrators, and selects and manages national teams in a variety of age and competitive levels up to and including the Olympics. The NHL and USA Hockey have a long history of working together to promote hockey in the United States.

"Above and beyond that, when we see membership increase at the local level, it's primarily an increase in access to ice in that area. If kids have a chance to play hockey, they'll play it, which speaks to the inherent fun of the sport. If a rink goes up, we're going to see registrations increase." Menke said.

The South Florida Golden Wolves: Back Row Left-Right: Jeff Grade (Coach), Toby Heaslip, David Boehm, Kevin Piepsney, Walter Piepsney (Coach), Brandon George, Milton Lyles, Ryan Kelly, Scott Sandler (Head Coach). Front Row Left - Right: Pacho Grzeszczak, Tommy DeMaio, Zac Feiden, Cody McKinney, Jon England, Logan Sandler and Malcolm Lyles.

Rick Gardella says "amen" to that.

"Our problem is too few ice surfaces so our costs are very high," Gardella said. He's the president of the South Florida Golden Wolves. "We pay $250 to $275 for an hour of ice time. You know, young kids want to play every sport and hockey's the most expensive. It costs at least $2,500 for every kid on a travel team. We're trying to do other programs, including building our house leagues."

Make no mistake about it, new rinks are going up in the cities where the NHL has located in recent years, sometimes with the help of the NHL team. Dallas has built six rinks in their area. Private investors have also identified hockey rinks as profit centers.

Jeff Halpern of the Washington Capitals might be said to be in the vanguard of southern American hockey players. Halpern was born in Potomac, Md., began in hockey clinics at age four and within a few years was a member of the Little Capitals, a travel-team organization with ties to the Washington Capitals of the NHL. Halpern went on to play New England prep-school hockey, then played juniors in the Ontario Hockey League before attending Princeton University, continuing the southern theme by attending the southernmost college in the East Coast Athletic Conference. Halpern led Princeton to the 1998 ECAC Tournament championship, when he was named tourney MVP.

Jim Dowd and Matt Herr from New Jersey and Mike Richter from the Philadelphia suburbs have also pushed the NHL scouting boundaries further south.

The Los Angeles Kings joined the NHL in 1967. While they're not a recent expansion team, they were, if you'll pardon the expression, the League's ice-breakers in a southern market and the NHL and its other teams have learned from the Kings' experience.

"We do a lot," said Kurt Schwartzkopf, Kings vice-president of sales and marketing. "We sponsor the Junior Kings program, a group of kids playing on 17 teams, ranging from Mite BB to Midget AAA."

USA Hockey divides youth players into seven age categories, usually using a player's calendar year of birth at the start of the season: Initiation Program, under 7-years-old; Mites, 7-8; Squirts, 9-10; Pee Wees, 11-12; Bantams, 13-14, Midgets, 15-18; and Juniors, 18-20. Travel teams can also be divided within age brackets, AAA to BB; that is, AAA is the highest quality hockey and BB typically populated by beginning hockey players. Also, many rinks operate less competitive "house-league" teams that utilize USA Hockey regulations.

In many hockey-mad communities, making the Junior (Insert your favorite Club here) team is the ultimate goal. The Junior Devils are a formidable foe in South Mountain Arena in West Orange, N.J. Getting selected by the Junior Flyers or Little Capitals is a feather in any young man's cap. The Kings have worked to build that kind of goal-oriented structure in Southern California hockey.

"We give the teams free use of the Kings trademark," Schwartzkopf said. "It's our way of branding travel teams into the public eye and to those who play hockey. Of those 17 teams, seven are travel teams. We provide and pay for their jerseys and socks. We outfit the kids because it's nice to be represented by a good hockey team that you can be proud of. Over the years, the kids who have participated in the program have made us proud many times and in many ways."

The Kings also run a house league at HealthSouth Training Center in El Segundo.

"All the teams are known as the Kings: The Blue Kings, the Orange Kings, etc.," Schwartzkopf said. "That's the starter level. Some kids get really good and get moved up. They can keep moving up through the organization and aspire to the Junior Kings."

The Kings also fund hockey scholarships because costs can prove a hardship for some families. Season-ticket holder Peter Copses, a partner in the private equity firm Apollo Management in Los Angeles, is a major benefactor of the scholarship program.

"If we have a good player who has good grades, he can apply for a scholarship to help absorb the costs of a travel program," Schwartzkopf said.

The local high-school hockey league also operates out of HealthSouth. Like many American hockey leagues, it is not an intramural program but a "club-hockey" league, legally separated from the schools whose names appear on their jerseys.

"We try to be the conduit through which kids can put together a league," Schwartzkopf said. "For lack of a better word, we serve as the league administrator. We also use the Oxnard Ice Arena in scheduling the 16- team league. We reserve the Staples Center for the all-star game and championship, so it's a major destination."

The Kings also operate summer camps coached by broadcaster and former Kings star Jim Fox. About 130 players attended last summer's camps. DiMaio, who has relatives in Los Angeles, attended a couple of years ago.

Jeff Halpern was born in Potomac, Md., began in hockey clinics at age four and within a few years was a member of the Little Capitals, a travel-team organization with ties to the Washington Capitals of the NHL.

The Kings don't stop there. They also operate two NHL programs, the Streets Program and the Skate YMCA program as well as Kings inline tournaments.

"We also have the Kings Chariot, a 24-foot customized moving-truck mobile unit with a cooled-air rink that takes hockey to the streets," Schwartzkopf said. "It goes to community centers, churches, parks and schools for Free street-hockey clinics that are often accompanied by player appearances and giveaways."

Most NHL clubs make some time available through youth leagues or their own initiatives.

"We reserve three-hour ice slots for teams that buy a block of tickets," Schwartzkopf said. "When kids come to the Staples Center and play on the same ice as the Kings, it really builds their level of interest."

The Phoenix Coyotes quickly realized that working with area youth programs was a major initiative.

"We have always been involved and this year we hired a hockey-programs coordinator because we realized it was a fulltime job," said Amy Roberts, the Coyotes manager of fan development. "Ben Weber's job is to develop and maintain solid relationships with Arizona Hockey Associations and rinks. Ben is serving as a non-voting member of the Arizona Amateur Hockey Association board. He'll be running hockey camps, clinics, tournaments and he'll be involved in the NHL Street Program."

"We've had adult-hockey games, high-school hockey games, police vs. firefighters hockey games and the Arizona State University Women's Hockey team in their big rivalry with the University of Arizona," said the Coyotes' Weber. "That was a big night with college fight songs and it drew very well. In February, the Women's Hockey Association of Arizona will play a game after one of our games."

High-school hockey is growing in Arizona and Weber maintains relations with about 30 teams.

"We honor the player of the month, varsity and JV coaches and goaltenders by introducing them at Coyotes games and presenting them with an award," Weber said. "We'll have the All-Star game and playoffs in March."

The Coyotes will hold adult-hockey clinics this month. Former NHL greats Charlie Simmer and Bob Essensa will host a group of 45 adults in a 90-minute clinic. On Feb. 23, the America West Arena will host a youth-hockey tournament. The Coyotes will host the Calgary Flames that night.

"We have a substantial grass-roots approach," said Atlanta Thrashers Director of Media Relations Tom Hughes. "We created a HITS -- Hockey In The Streets -- clinic where we have 8-to-10 people working part- time going to schools, recreation centers and established youth-hockey leagues and putting on free clinics throughout the year. We also have the Thrashers Street Dashers, the Nike street-hockey program. We set that up in the CNN Center, next door to Philips Arena, which has a large atrium. It works well as an indoor hockey rink with portable dashers. So, we have a street-hockey attraction before every Thrashers game."

Before every game, the Thrashers select an area youth-hockey player to join the pros along the blue line for the playing of the National Anthem. The player's name and picture are included in the game program. The Thrashers also hold exhibitions between periods. Afterwards, the kids get to meet one of the Thrashers who is not playing that night and get autographs.

Sometimes, adult-hockey games take place after Thrashers games and fans are invited to stay and watch.

The Nashville Predators hosted a high-school hockey tournament in 1999 between the available teams: Memphis and Nashville. This year, with the guidance of the Predators Manager of Amateur Hockey Marc Spigel, the tournament will include over 30 teams from Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis.

"We like to think the exposure to that state championship contributed to the growth," Spigel said.

The Predators also have a traveling trailer with a portable rink. Like most Southern teams, the Predators run a hockey camp in the summer. Scheduled for the first week in July, the camp will host 8-to-14 year olds, most of whom are novices."

"We have a decent hockey presence in Tennessee but there's plenty of room to grow," Spigel said. "Our objective is to provide exposure to the sport and our athletes and attract more kids to hockey."

Attracting youth to hockey is about as hard as attracting bears to honey, you just have to make it available. Keeping them interested and integrating sport into its proper place in youth development is also a focus. Many NHL-affiliated programs require participants to maintain good grades. Of course, there's no substitute for good parenting.

"I thought the experience in Philadelphia was the most wonderful thing that a child could experience," said DiMaio's mother, Debra Harper. "But I told him that even though he was a National Champion, he still had to keep his room clean."