Devin Harmon, 13, of Lindale, and Blake Krumm, 21, of Tyler, wait for Chris Kirk, 23, of Kilgore, to drop the puck at the start of a drop-in roller hockey game at Kilgore Skateland Jan. 21, 2016. Harmon is only a seventh grader but plays drop-in games with adults because of his advanced skill level. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

KILGORE – Kilgore Skateland has become the new home for East Texas hockey players to lace up their roller skates and hit some pucks. 

Each Thursday and Sunday night, adult skaters have the option to play drop-in roller hockey for $5 a night. 

It all started in February 2015, when Terry Houk and his wife, Cheryl Houk, noticed a new Facebook page called Tyler Hockey. Tyler once had its own skating rink complete with youth league roller hockey teams and hundreds of participants, but the rink was sold in the late 2000s, and hockey disappeared from the East Texas sports landscape – replaced by soccer, lacrosse and other after-school activities. The Tyler Hockey Facebook page attempted to reconnect former players and find a new place to play. 

“When we had youth hockey in Tyler, it was huge,” Joe Weems, 26, of Tyler, said. “I was on a travel club team. I got my letterman in hockey from Robert E. Lee High School. I went away to college, and when I came back hockey was gone.” 

The Houks are looking to bring youth hockey back to East Texas. In February, they ran a successful six-week session for children ages 6 to 12. They hope the return of the Shreveport Mudbugs, a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier II Junior league team in the North American Hockey League, will help build momentum to get children interested in hockey. 

“It’s hard to get kids playing hockey, because there are so many other activities like Boy Scouts and karate and video games. We have them coming, but then football season starts or soccer starts and the kids go back to another sport, so it’s been hard,” Houk said.

The choice to play hockey was easy, though, for Lindale seventh-grader Devin Harmon. The grandson of a self-described die-hard Dallas Stars fan, 13-year-old Harmon spent many hours watching ice hockey on television with his grandfather, Bob Harmon, and grandmother, Anna Harmon.

Devin Harmon learned to play hockey from watching videos online and practicing in his driveway with friends and neighbors. When Skateland starting offering hockey lessons, he joined. Right away, it was obvious he was too advanced to play youth hockey, so Harmon started playing drop-in games with Weems and other adults. 

Now, the teenager has even bigger skates to fill. He and his grandparents uprooted their lives and moved to give Harmon more opportunities – ice hockey in Oklahoma. 

Bob Harmon took his grandson to Tulsa this winter to be evaluated by the Tulsa Oilers youth hockey program. He was guaranteed a spot to play if they agreed to move. They did.

Devin Harmon is a little nervous about the transition from roller hockey to ice hockey, but he also is very excited. Two weeks after arriving in the Tulsa area, many of his personal items were still packed away in boxes – but not his hockey skates and stick. Those were promptly put to use in the new driveway. 

“He’s dedicated. He’s stuck with it since he’s been 5 years old; he’s a lifer,” Bob Harmon said.

For more information on youth hockey and adult hockey, contact Kilgore Skateland, 903-984-3729.

 

IF YOU GO

Adult drop-in hockey

When: 7-9:30 p.m. Thursday and 6-8 p.m. Sunday

Address: Kilgore Skateland, 2803 N Longview St., Kilgore

Cost:  $5

For information: 903-984-3729