NHL STREET's 1st visit to Puerto Rico 'awesome' experience

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Anthony Falcon felt like a kid, the 36-year-old doing something he dreamed of doing but never had the chance.

To play hockey in Puerto Rico.

Falcon was among more than 75 kids and adults who participated in the NHL STREET tournament in San Juan on Saturday, the first held in the Caribbean and Latin America.

“It was awesome,” said Falcon, who tried hockey for the first time Saturday. “I’ve been a fan since I was a kid -- thank you ‘Mighty Ducks,’ quack, quack, quack. I was trying to get equipment before when I went to the States, but it was really hard to find someone to help me with street hockey. Here, I had the opportunity.”

Games and instruction were under the guidance of members of Puerto Rico Ice Hockey Association (PRIHA), who turned a cement rink at Parque Dr. José Celso Barbosa that was built for bicycle polo into two NHL STREET rinks and ran sessions for youth followed by a run with adults.

Falcon, wearing a black Chicago Blackhawks baseball cap and a Tampa Bay Lightning NHL STREET shirt, participated in all the sessions under a blazing summer sun.

Afterward, he signed up for the inline hockey league PRIHA began earlier this year when it opened a dek/inline hockey facility in San Juan.

“Puerto Rico is perfect, we have the climate for it, we can do field hockey, NHL STREET, roller,” Falcon said. “It’s just a matter of getting people to it.”

PRIHA president Scott Vargas said the NHL STREET tournament was the perfect way for the organization to close its Fiesta de Hockey, a three-day event to celebrate and promote hockey on the U.S. island territory of nearly 3.2 million people.

It’s part of PRIHA’s mission to produce island-grown hockey talent. The organization is striving toward Puerto Rico someday getting an ice skating facility that would allow the island to eventually compete in International Ice Hockey Federation world championships and the Winter Olympics. Puerto Rico has been an IIHF associate member since September 29, 2022.

“We've had great success this week, growing the fandom of the game and also getting participation,” said Vargas, a Tampa, Florida, native who played NCAA Division III hockey at Finlandia University in Hancock, Michigan, from 2012-15. “We got some new people sign up already for the inline league, which was part of the goal. This is part of a much longer plan. This was the first time we’re doing NHL STREET. I think we have an intention to grow hockey in schools, grow hockey in many formats. And street, floor, dek hockey, what ever you want to call it, is part of it.”

NHL STREET is the NHL’s official Youth Street Hockey League, designed for children ages 6 to 16. The North America-wide program aims to create an affordable, neighborhood-based model that gives kids everywhere an opportunity to learn and play.
In partnership with RCX Sports, NHL STREET has more than 100 active leagues in 28 U.S. states and eight Canadian provinces.

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.

“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,” said Rob Knesaurek, NHL senior vice president, youth development and industry growth.