Ice hockey comes to Daniel Island
Daniel Islanders have a rooting interest in high school ice hockey, thanks to Bishop England’s club team. The Battling Bishops opened their South Carolina Scholastic Hockey Association season Dec. 16 with a 12-1 loss to the Lexington 5 Fusion. Bishop England’s next game is this Friday against the Goose Creek Gators at Carolina Ice Palace. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. Bishop England had a 1-7-2 record last year when it first joined the SCSHA. The Bishops’ club hockey program began in 2002. Coach Kurt Staley and Assistant Coach Joe Spitz lead the 2006 team. The roster includes Scott Khimani, goalie; A.J. Fitzsimmons, defense; Adam Tanner, forward; Brian Cobb, forward; Jay Couche, forward; John Bresnihan, forward; John Cobb, forward; George Seblonka, forward; Andres Thebes, forward; Matt Lee, defense; Dalton McDonald, forward; Michael Ging, defense and James Tauscher, forward. This is the SCSHA’s fifth season. Originally comprised of six Charleston-area teams, the league now boasts 11 teams from across the state, including two in Columbia, and one each in Greenville and Florence. League officials say that the skill and intensity has increased yearly and they envision that the club teams will become sanctioned as fully sanctioned varsity sports in the near future. Lowcountry youth hockey coincided with the birth of the South Carolina Stingrays, according to Wayne Stella, manager of the Carolina Ice Palace. "We started local youth hockey shortly after the North Charleston Coliseum opened in 1993," he said. "Being the original Zamboni Driver at the Coliseum, I was one of the original youth hockey coaches when we started the league that was sponsored by North Charleston Parks and Recreation. We had 125 kids. We now have over 300 kids, both boys and girls, playing hockey. There are over 350 adults playing hockey in our leagues as well. We have 26 teams in four divisions including an Over 35 division where I play. That is the same number of adult players playing hockey as the city of Charleston has adults playing soccer." Stella said there are also 200 or so skaters involved in the Ice Palace’s figure skating programs.