Nectow was confident he can do his part to ensure every child has a chance to participate, even if his or her family couldn't afford the equipment. Since Pure Hockey was doing the fitting for half of NHL teams' Learn to Play programs in its stores, Nectow thought they could add value to what they were best at: helping children get the right equipment.
His interest piqued by Learn To Play and the Declaration of Principles, Nectow approached NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly with the concept and was referred to Robert Knesaurek, NHL Group Vice President, Learn to Play initiative, and the people involved with Learn To Play.
"The concept is phenomenal," Nectow said. "I felt if we could add one little piece of help between the equipment and the fittings, that would be some real added value to make the experience with everybody much better, from the teams to the participants to the NHL to the Players' Association. I think that's what they bought into."
To Knesaurek, the partnership is a strong one because of Pure Hockey's presence in the marketplace and ability to provide a first-class experience.
"We have a tendency to go out and think we need to invent something," Knesaurek said. "Then you discover there are experts out there that have the same course of action and values that you do.
"We need to bring all these people around the table that have expertise in our game. Instead of trying to reinvent something, allow these experts … why wouldn't we use the expertise of someone already in the market who has cache already? There's a great saying: Alone you run fast, together you run further. If we can get more people that have genuine interest of growing this game around the table, we're going to be successful well into the future."
Nectow remains determined to help find ways to further accelerate the game's rapid growth.
"I don't believe that any kid who wants to play that can't afford to should be left out," Nectow said. "For me to be able to say we're helping X tens of thousands of kids a year try the game to see if they like it, where in the past they couldn't because they felt it was too expensive, we're doing some good stuff. I think it's really consistent with the Declaration of Principles."
