ESTERO, Fla. -- Just south of Fort Myers where the Boston Red Sox train, former Rhode Island state Sen. Bill Castro is shaking his head in wonder.
We're heading into a Florida Everblades game at modern TECO Arena -- TECO stands for Tampa Electric Co. -- and Castro, who was ticket manager for the old Providence Reds, muses, "Palm trees and 75-degree weather and hockey -- it seems strange."
But it makes sense to fans who repeatedly fill the 7,181 seats at games for the local entry in the East Coast Hockey League, a notch below the American Hockey League where Providence's Bruins play.
"I find it very entertaining," says George Carnevale Sr., 60, a retired firefighter, here with his son, George Jr., 37, who is in the computer business. They used to be from Lowell, Mass. -- notice their AHL Lowell Lock Monsters jerseys -- but now live in Florida.
Indeed, Bill MacKay, the Everblades director of merchandise, says, "Everybody in Florida is from somewhere else, basically, and a lot of people here are from the northern cities, traditional hockey cities."
That tall fellow in the second row behind one of the goals is Sox pitcher Derek Lowe, who grew up near Detroit and now makes his home in Fort Myers. An Everblades season-ticket holder, Lowe tells me he can't skate but finds hockey "a great spectator sport" and "the most physical sport there is." He adds, "You've got to respect someone who does something you can't do, and that's why I love the game."
Many fans this evening are in shorts. But don't kid yourself, TECO is as cool as any other ice palace, and MacKay estimates the team sells 1,000 hockey jerseys a year at $90 each.
He says the team logo, featuring an alligator, is very popular. Besides other souvenirs such as T-shirts and trinkets, the pro shop here stocks gear -- hockey equipment, figure skating costumes, and so on -- to cater to the young and old who patronize the two recreational rinks that also are part of the complex. Yes, the tag on that pair of goalie pads really says $1,119.99, something to think about if your kid wants to take up that position.
This evening the Everblades, who are in their fourth season and are affiliated with the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, play the South Carolina Stingrays. Other marvelous ECHL team names include the Macon Whoopee and the New Orleans Brass.
The noise at TECO from the pounding rock music transcends the racket at P-Bruins games. Each time there is the slightest pause in play, two 8-year-old boys in front of Castro and me leap to their feet and dance. I love it when a girl in front of them finally announces, "You guys are jerks."
But the finest moment occurs on the ice. When the score remains tied (in this case, 4-4) after regulation play and an overtime, the ECHL doesn't leave it there the way the AHL and NHL do. Instead, the teams stage a shootout, alternately taking what amounts to 5 penalty shots apiece. A penalty shot -- a player is allowed to take the puck at mid-ice and sweep in on the goalie -- is said to be the most exciting moment in hockey. But during the course of an AHL or NHL game -- or season -- you hardly ever see one awarded. It usually happens only when a player is tripped from behind and robbed of a breakaway scoring chance.
To see a flurry of them in a game-deciding shootout, as here against the Stingrays, is fabulous. The Everblades win the shootout, the game, and the wild cheers of the crowd. Attention AHL and NHL: please copy.
M. Charles Bakst, The Journal's political columnist, can be reached by e-mail at mbakst@projo.com
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