Faux ice nice for unique hockey clinic in Barbados
Kids’ skill level surprises Panthers
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The Florida Panthers claimed an unusual distinction this week when they hosted the first ice hockey clinic in the Caribbean.
Ordinarily, activities involving ice in Barbados are associated with chilling a drink. In this case, the Panthers contingent that traveled to the island demonstrated basic hockey skills to a youth group at Icetopia Skating Rink in Wildey, Barbados, on Wednesday.
But that skating rink, which opened last September, doesn’t utilize actual ice, as in frozen water.
The surface at Icetopia is referred to as synthetic ice, a slick, high-tech plastic that is designed to be traversed with conventional skates. So, no need for a Zamboni or temperature control that would be difficult and expensive to maintain in the tropics.
“It’s a little bit different skating on,” defenseman Alex Petrovic said in a video interview provided by the team. “But some of the kids that come here regularly are actually really good at skating on it. It took myself a couple minutes to get used to it, but it’s been a lot of fun.”
Faux ice hockey in the Caribbean was the vision of Italian artist Paolo Carraro, who got the idea to open Icetopia after seeing a rink near a beach in Italy. It has a scaled-down surface, 60 by 35 feet.
Carraro has spoken of following the example of Jamaica’s success in bobsledding in building toward an Olympic hockey venture in Barbados.
That would be an ambitious and long-shot undertaking, but the Panthers saw some promise in the raw talent on display during the clinic.
“There’s some really good skaters out there. I’m really surprised,” said former Panthers forward Shawn Thornton, now the team’s vice president of business operations. “I had one girl doing trick passes with me.”
This was the Panthers’ sixth venture in community outreach in the Caribbean. They conducted ball hockey clinics in previous years at Barbados (2016), Dominican Republic (2015), Bahamas (2014) and Puerto Rico (2013, 2012).
“I still can’t really wrap my mind around the concept of it,” rookie defenseman Ian McCoshen said. “We’re in the Caribbean and they have a synthetic ice rink here. It’s pretty surreal.
“We’ve got some locals that were willing and challenging themselves to play hockey for the first time. There’s a few that can skate and have some skill.”
Certainly, a notable undertaking to discuss later over boat drinks — provided there was actual ice to be found.
cldavis@sun-sentinel.com, Twitter @CraigDavisRuns