WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. – Sydney Parkhurst could feel the envy in her veins inside Amalie Arena when the Tampa Bay Lighting scored, or she saw the Zamboni creating a fresh sheet of ice.
At the time, Parkhurst was working as a bartender at Lightning games in 2021 and the former lifelong hockey player and Division III softball player had figured her days of playing competitive hockey and sports were long gone.
However, Parkhurst, who started playing hockey at 7 years old while growing up in Rhode Island, missed the thrill of finding the back of the net and the camaraderie of being a part of a locker room. She had tried playing in some recreational men’s leagues in Florida, but nothing seemed to ever be the right fit.
That changed two years later when she learned about the Florida Women’s Hockey League through a friend she met at a women’s hockey clinic.
“I missed just being in the game and skating, and also the competitiveness,” Parkhurst said after playing with the Sirens Thursday at the 2025 USA Hockey-the Long Drink Adult Women’s National Championships. “I played my whole life, and it was weird to not have it anymore. A lot of people who have sports in their life, especially in college, once they get out of college they think, ‘What do I do with my life?’ You almost feel like you don’t have a purpose.
“When I stopped playing softball, it was in the middle of COVID, and it sucked to stop and drop everything. That was a super huge loss for me. I (had since) wanted something to connect to my childhood a little bit and keep playing hockey.”
Parkhurst is one of a record 700 players from 46 teams across the country participating this week at women’s nationals at AdventHealth Center Ice.
The 25-year-old from has been playing with the Sirens for over a year now, and this is her first trip to nationals.
“It's awesome to see the competition and people from all over the country, and it’s high stakes, which is cool,” Parkhurst said. “I moved to Florida not expecting a hockey city at all and I was very surprised when I came here. In the FWHL, we get to travel all over Florida and it’s almost like traveling when you were little and get a hotel with your team. It’s perfect.
Parkhurst then paused and added in laughter, “There are no parents, and it’s just friends.”
Parkhurst, who is adopted, found a community through hockey and sports as a kid in Rhode Island. Parkhurst begged her parents to sign her up for hockey after she brought home a book from the library about how to play hockey.
Her parents finally caved, and Parkhurst began her journey with Brown Youth Hockey and she was eventually named the MVP of the Rhode Island Interscholastic Division I Girls Hockey Championship as East Bay Co-op won the 2018 state title. She later played a season of club hockey at Norwich University.
“I am half black, my hair is super, super curly and I didn’t really look like anyone in my town,” Parkhurst recalled. “When I found sports, that is what I could connect to. When I started playing, I didn’t have to be different. I could just be part of the team and play. That is how I felt less different.”
Now that Parkhurst is back in the game she loves, she encourages others to pick up their own hockey sticks – even if it is for the first time or following a long hiatus like she went through.
“Keep on playing,” Parkhurst concluded. “There’s never an age limit for this sport. It will always be fun. I know girls who just started playing four years ago and those who have been playing since they were very little, and they are 30+.
“There is no age limit to play hockey.”
Source: usahockey.com