Before he took over as commissioner of the Sharks Ice at San Jose Adult Hockey League (SIAHL), Dean Tait had become accustomed to managing large teams of people during a 24-year career in technology. That background has certainly come in handy.
SIAHL includes more than 3,500 adult players skating for more than 170 teams. The no-checking, coed league features 15 different divisions.
While running the adult league, Tait was coming across parents whose children were hockey players. These men and women likely could skate and had stickhandled or played ball hockey with their children. They often were passionate about the sport but didn’t know how to get more involved.
“How do we get them on the ice in our beginner division?” Tait thought. “So, we started this ‘[Adult] Hockey 101′ program.”
The league offers two of the novice programs annually with about 30 adults in each 12-week session. Tait guessed that 15-20 of those men and women are usually parents of young players.
The weekly classes focus on fundamental skills such as skating, puck handling/passing, shooting and player positioning. These new players also receive “chalk talks” that deal with such subjects ranging from how USA Hockey works, adult rules and how to register for league play and pay fees.
At the end of each program, players receive jerseys and will enter the SIAHL’s lowest division as a team at the start of the next season.
As Tait pointed out, the intent is to promote league growth, and for its players to have fun and learn to respect each other. He just wants to give San Jose the best possible adult league.
“When you walk in, you can’t just keep things the same,” said Tait, adding that he wanted to support what works and fix what doesn’t. “We’re always looking for ways to improve.
“Hockey 101 was part of it. They gain a greater appreciation of our sport.”
Tait learned the sport while growing up in Montreal and Edmonton, and he still hasn’t hung up his skates.
“I still play three nights a week,” said Tait, who has skated in the SIAHL for 15 years. “I’m 60 years old. I’ve been playing my whole life.”
As Tait pointed out, San Jose has experienced explosive growth. From 1970 to 2020, the city’s population went from 445,000 to 1 million. He added that the local hockey scene is global in nature.
If you walk into the locker room at Sharks Ice, you’re likely to meet players from such places as Boston, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Russia and Czechia, Tate said.
While many of the adult league players tend to be in their 30s or 40s, Tait said he’s not the only older guy in the SIAHL. There’s a fellow league player who’s 55 years old and began playing hockey in a mall when he was 6.
When Tait left his tech career in 2018, he strengthened his ties to hockey by buying Hockey Shots Photography.
“I’ve always been a photographer,” said Tait, adding that though he worked in tech to make a living, photography was long his real passion.
In addition to youth hockey, Tait has shot still photos and videos of the San Jose Sharks, the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda and women’s professional hockey’s Isobel Cup.
Though he loves what he does, Tait routinely works seven days a week, 12 hours a day. San Jose is lucky to have someone so dedicated.
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
Source: usahockey.com