March 8, 2002
By Greg Thompson, Tour Dragon 91
Long Island Roller Hockey, Some Earlier Years
| Greg Thompson takes a short look back at Long Island, New York roller hockey.
Long Island is the fourth largest island in the United States and the largest outside Alaska and Hawaii. Only 1,723 sq miles, but still Long Island definitely fields some of the greatest roller hockey players in the country.
In the beginning of roller hockey on the Island, there were only outdoor rinks where you could play. The western portion of Long Island, called Nassau County, is basically the home of the Mission Snipers. Tthey originally played outdoors at a rink named Valley Stream Roller Hockey League.
On the other end of the Island, Suffolk County, there was another great outdoor facility called Face-Off Hockey, home of the Face Off Flyers. Some other great players from the Island also played out of there. Of course, there have been a few other outdoor rinks, but these two, in my opinion have made the greatest impact and have helped to made Long Island what it is today in the sport of roller hockey.
Unexpectedly, in 1996, the Flyers broke awayt from Face Off and affiliated with Rapid Fire Arena, a well known Suffolk County rink. Also, n the Snipers started practicing at another indoor rink, Newbridge Arena. At about the same time, there were many indoor rinks being built throughout the Island that caused some of the popular outdoor rinks to go out of business. Today, more and more rinks are being built.
Though there are many excellent teams from Long Island, there are a few that actually have major bragging rights. Organizations such as the Mission Snipers, lead by coach Tim McManus and Tour Smoke, coached by Tim Wells, are the only two who can have the true bragging rights of Long Island. Sure there are a few teams that have won NARCh Gold and deserve credit, such as the LI Stars and the Plaza Predators, but Platinum is a totally different game. Of course there are some really underachieving organizations, such as the Tour Dragons. But the Smoke and Snipers are the true champions from Long Island. And in their own way, we can’t forget Bauer Cyclones either!
The person that started Long Island off with his 7 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze medals was the one and only Tim McManus and the Mission Snipers. And other teams that also represented Long Island in the beginning years were the LI Chiefs and Kryptonic Stingers. In years past, teams such as the Rapid Fire Dragons, Kuzak Bulldogs, Sabres, NYC Nightmare, Rhinos, and Craf-Tech Crunch started getting into the picture. Some of these teams did disband, but they were the start of it all.
As of right now, the top organizations on the Island consist of the Mission Snipers, Tour Smoke, Tour Dragons, Quadra Black Ice, Long Island Royals, and Hyper Road Runners.
We’re getting close to 2002, let’s see who steps up for Long Island. We’ve got the players and the teams, keep an eye on us.
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