Patrick Alfonso isn’t your typical high school athlete.
The Strawberry Crest freshman takes classes at the Dover school and plays tennis for the Chargers in the spring.
But during the fall and summer, he is a Durant Cougar.
“When I’m out selling T-shirts, I’ll hear things like, ‘You go to Strawberry Crest. Why are you selling shirts for Durant?’ Alfonso, a forward with the Durant ice hockey team, said. “I hear it a lot from my friends and kids at my school.”
The current Durant Cougars hockey team will enter its third season this fall. They will play their second game of the spring/summer season, a training season for the fall, at 9:45 p.m. Friday, against Freedom, at the Ice Sports Forum, in Brandon.
A previous Durant team dismantled in 2003, after players graduated and numbers depleted. That team had success, winning the 2000-01 state championship.
Current head coach Eric Redden has been able to keep a steady group of players from the three Plant City area high schools.
FULFILLING A NEED
In fall 2010, a decision was made to bring hockey players together from Eastern Hillsborough County to form a high school club team. Players from Plant City, Durant and Strawberry Crest came together and played their first season in the spring of 2011, under the Durant Cougars name.
Before that, players at Durant were playing with the club team at George Jenkins High, in Lakeland. When Redden’s sons, Blake Redden and Reece Dinofsky, became freshmen at Durant, they told their dad they wanted to form a team at their school.
“They told me they wanted to play for Durant and felt that they had enough kids to make a team and asked if I would coach them,” Redden said. “I had been coaching at the recreation level, so I said, ‘Yes, as long as we can get enough players.’”
Between the three schools, Redden has been able to keep a roster of about 20 players for the spring/summer and fall seasons. Because of other sports and summer vacations, players from other area club teams play as Cougars during the spring/summer season to fill out the roster.
“Every year, I’m worried that we might not have enough players, and now, we’re getting to the point where we have more than enough,” he said. “That’s the biggest challenge, but we’ve been able to do it.”
COLD SPORT, HOT STATE
As one could imagine, a high school hockey team in Florida faces unique challenges.
“Especially in Florida, there are so many other things that kids do,” Redden said. “Football and baseball are king down here, and lacrosse is even big. There are other things they can do, so when you have kids that excel in multiple sports, what’s going to take precedence down in Florida? It’s not the cold-weather sports, especially when the parents have to pay the bill.”
Durant football player Zach Whitney is an example of this. Whitney played with the team in its first year after the Durant football season was over but did not play last year to focus on football, Redden said.
For some, including Durant junior Blake Seaman, hockey is their main sport. Seaman has played for 11 years and began playing with the Cougars as an eighth-grader, when teammate Nick Nappi convinced him to join. This fall will be his third season with Durant.
“They needed defensemen, so I figured I would try it out,” Seaman said. “I’ve enjoyed it.”
Seaman and Alfonso said many of the kids at their schools don’t even know the team exists, but they spread the word every chance they get.
“I try to get all my friends to come out to the games, because they’re free, and high school kids love free stuff,” Seaman said. “We try to sell the shirts and get the word out as much as possible. It’s been getting better now that I’m going into my third year. When kids come out, they usually like it, because I mean, it’s an ice rink in Florida.”
COST OF A CLUB TEAM
Hockey can be an expensive sport anywhere in the United States, but especially in warm-weather areas, where rinks and ice time are at a premium.
The Cougars call the Ice Sports Forum, in Brandon, their home rink, but with the demand and cost of ice time, they only practice once a week during the season.
“It can be tough, sometimes, especially this week, where we practiced Monday and have the whole week off, until we play Friday night,” Alfonso said.
As a club sport, the team only receives the nickname and school colors from Durant. Hockey is not a sanctioned FHSAA sport and therefore receives no funding from the school district or state. Parents and fundraising initiatives raise money for the ice time, travel, uniforms and equipment.
From a coaching standpoint, having just one hour of ice time a week for practice is difficult, but Redden and his staff try to make use of every second.
“It doesn’t matter how good of a coach you are, if a kid is a certain skill level, you do everything you can in that one hour,” he said. “Our main priority is to make sure the boys have fun and play the game the right way.”
After winning just two games their first fall season, the Cougars went 6-10-3 last fall.
Contact Matt Mauney at mmauney@plantcityobserver.com..” >http://vadimmarinin.ru/bistrie-dengi-v-dolg-onlayn.php