Youth Hockey Skates Into Valley At Mirabeau Point’s Ice House

Mike Sherman grew up in Minnesota, where youth hockey is big. The local coach believes that growth in the sport can happen here.

“I’d say right now the sky’s the limit,” said Sherman. “We’re at the fringe of this whole area taking off in hockey.”

Spokane, he said, is limited only by its lack of available ice time. The Eagles Ice-A-Rena in north Spokane and Riverfront Park have been the primary venues for youth hockey.

That is something the Deer Park contractor and his partner, Dean Gorman, plan to rectify.

Gorman has taken a sabbatical from his job as a real estate broker to run the Ice House at Mirabeau Point, which is operating a temporary rink at the old Walk in the Wild Zoo site.

“I’m from the Valley and it seemed like the logical place to go,” Gorman said.

They also have formed the Inland Empire Amateur Hockey Association in competition with local USA Hockey affiliate, the Spokane Americans Youth Hockey Association.

“It’s the first time the Valley has had a youth hockey association,” said Gorman. “We did it basically because hockey is growing so fast. There is a huge population base in this area. More and more youngsters want to play. They need an avenue.”

Gorman added that the Spokane Valley and Post Falls/Coeur d’Alene corridor is probably the largest population base that wasn’t served by a USA Hockey organization.

“A lot of Valley kids never had the opportunity to play because of location,” said Sherman.

When they build a new rink at Mirabeau with two sheets of ice, which is tentatively planned for next summer, it can meet the need.

Three USA Hockey representative teams, including Sherman’s state championship team have switched from the Spokane Americans to Inland Empire Amateur Hockey and are practicing at the Ice House.

“From our point,” said Spokane Americans spokesman Keith Denigan, “we encourage and support growth. And having more sheets of ice available is good news for everybody.”

Sherman’s team, which includes Valley youngsters Brett Gorman, Gideon Stotts, Cedric Sykes, Colin Reed, James Lytton and Wade Hendrickson, will play at the Pee Wee A level for 11- and 12-year-olds.

Last year his team won the Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association Squirt tournament as part of the Americans’ sweep of regional honors.

It compiled a 64-17-5 record with four championships in seven finals appearances in 10 tournaments.

Greg Sherman, Mike’s brother, coaches a Pee Wee B team and Eric Galey coaches a Mite team for players age 8 and younger.

Another reason for the new hockey association, said Sherman, was philosophical, something Denigan declined to discuss.

“Where I came from, the system, Mite age through high school, was pretty aggressive by Spokane standards,” Sherman said.

He believes that the representative traveling teams are only as strong as an in-house program for developmental players, and practice time for them in Spokane is minimal.

“You have to have house kids to develop any kind of program,” said Sherman. “And you have to have a program in which they can develop.”

Gorman said the Ice House is a solution.

“We felt we could build a whole new base of kids into hockey by developing our own program,” said Gorman.

The first house program has signed up 100 youngsters for eight teams. They’ll participate in a 10-week training session followed by a 14-week competitive season.

Hockey is one of the faster growing sports in the United States, said Sherman. Given Spokane’s population base, it can accomodate far more than the 600 or so youth hockey players in town.

“Our long-range goal is not just to develop hockey for the most talented,” he said, “but to broaden the base so more get to enjoy it. Hockey is a very, very fun game.”

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