NHL STREET aiming to help hockey ‘take root and thrive’ in Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The Puerto Rico Ice Hockey Association has carried the flag of the U.S. territory while marching in Puerto Rican day parades in New York, Chicago and other cities.

Now they’re looking to firmly plant the flag and grow hockey on the island of nearly 3.2 million people and beyond as part of the first NHL STREET tournament in Latin America and the Caribbean on Saturday.

Players will gather at Parque Dr. José Celso Barbosa and compete for fun and bragging rights in the NHL STREET event, the highlight of Fiesta de Hockey, a three-day PRIHA celebration of the sport, that began on Thursday.

“This is big-time,” said Lee M.J. Elias, who coaches Puerto Rico’s national teams. “NHL STREET is the quintessential growth program for the league. Them doing this and then supporting this shows not just their support of what we’re trying to build, but international support as well.”

Jeff Scott, NHL group vice president, community development & industry growth, said the NHL STREET in San Juan event is a milestone for Puerto Rico and the hockey community.

“The real opportunity is establishing hockey as a sport that can take root and thrive in communities where it traditionally hasn't existed,” Scott said. “Puerto Rico has the chance to become a model for how ball hockey can drive participation growth throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. If we can demonstrate that sustainable hockey communities can be built in San Juan, we believe many other cities across the region will see what's possible and want to be part of that growth.”

NHL STREET is the NHL’s official Youth Street Hockey League that brings new style, energy and gameplay to the sport of hockey. The North America-wide program aims to create an affordable, neighborhood-based model that gives kids everywhere an opportunity to learn and play.

Designed for children ages 6 to 16 years old, NHL STREET makes youth athletes feel like the pros when they suit up in authentic uniforms to play in high-energy contests.

In partnership with RCX Sports, NHL STREET has more than 100 active leagues in 28 U.S. states and eight Canadian provinces. Equipment for the programs is provided by Franklin, an NHL partner. BODYARMOR Sports Drink supports each program with squeeze bottles and sports towels.

The San Juan event and NHL STREET are supported by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association, through the Industry Growth Fund. The fund was created as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2013 to support and accelerate the development of League and Club initiatives and projects that promote long-term fan development and increase participation in hockey at all levels.

Rob Knesaurek, NHL senior vice president, youth development and industry growth, congratulated PRIHA for its work on NHL STREET, Fiesta de Hockey and its efforts to expand hockey’s reach.

“Fiesta de Hockey represents everything that makes our sport special -- community, passion, inclusion, and a shared love of the game,” Knesaurek said. “From NHL STREET programming to local league development and school-based hockey initiatives, the work being done in Puerto Rico is creating new pathways for participation and inspiring the next generation of players.

“Growing the game means meeting communities where they are, and we are proud to support efforts that expand hockey’s reach and make the sport more accessible for everyone,” Knesaurek added.

NHL STREET in San Juan is PRIHA’s latest in its drive to establish men’s and women’s ice hockey programs that include islands-trained players that can someday compete in International Ice Hockey Federation world championships and the Winter Olympics.
Founded in 2020 with Puerto Rican heritage players from across North America, PRIHA has achieved success on ice. Its men’s and women’s teams have won championships at the Amerigol LATAM Cup, an annual tournament played in Coral Springs, Florida.

Puerto Rico became an IIHF associate member on September 29, 2022. Its women’s team won the 2025 IIHF Women’s 3X3 Series in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November after capturing the silver medal in the inaugural tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2024.

Puerto Rico’s men won the 2025 Development Cup, a six-team IIHF-sanctioned tournament for its associate member nations that was held in Canillo, Andorra, in April. They were undefeated (5-0-0) against the host nation, Brazil, Greece, Liechtenstein and Portugal.

But the emphasis for PRIHA and its president Scott Vargas is to methodically build and cultivate local hockey talent and to secure support and funding for construction of an ice rink on the island.

The Aguadilla Ice Skating Arena, which opened in 2005 and was the only ice skating facility in the Caribbean, was damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and never reopened.

The Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Argelot in San Juan, where the New York Rangers defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2 in the first and only NHL game played in the Caribbean, on Sept. 23, 2006, has ice-making ability but is a large multiuse arena.

PRIHA opened an indoor dek/inline hockey facility earlier this year and launched Liga Boricua, an inline hockey league.

“That is our headquarters, the rink that we built there, right?” said Vargas, a Tampa, Florida, native who played NCAA Division III hockey at Finlandia University in Hancock, Michigan, from 2012-15. “What we wanted to do is make sure that we were able to interact with the broader community.”

In 2025, PRIHA established “Palos en Manos,” a floor hockey program at three schools on the island. Each school received 20 sticks, 20 balls and two goals.

They also received a floor and street hockey curriculum by PRIHA and assigned a liaison from the organization to answer hockey-related questions.

“The whole purpose of PRIHA is to grow Puerto Rico hockey, and there's only one way to do it, and that’s by growing the game on the island,” Elias said.

“With our goals of building an ice rink on the island and qualifying for the world championships, the island is the source,” he added. “So it's of vital importance to make sure that the island is not just experiencing the game, but being involved in the game and growing the game.”