Hockey's roots as a game played commonly up North puts kids from the South at a disadvantage, in terms of number of ice rinks.

Unfortunately, with the Houston Aeros moving in 2013, the participation in the sport has declined.

The Aeros did a great job of creating interest with the youth of Houston by getting them to games and going out in the community and interacting with kids on and off the rink.

“Once a kid is exposed to the awesome game most are hooked,” Dorsey McLeroy said, who worked for the Houston Aeros for 15 years.

McLeroy learned that there is a large hockey fan population that is made up of those that migrated to Houston, along with the locals that are yearning for coverage of their sport.

His son Tyler has played hockey all his life in Houston.

However, hockey is not a University Interscholastic League sanctioned sport and thus doesn't have the support of state funding and direct school support.

If the UIL sanctioned the sport, it could have the potential to grow tremendously.

“Hockey is not a cheap sport and needs to be supported,” Dorsey McLeroy said.

Sport on the rise

TC Lewis, the GM at the The Willowbrook Aerodrome Ice Skating Complex, caters to all of the youth, is a driving force behind hockey in Houston.

A member of USA hockey, Lewis travels with the organization and comes up with creative ice lessons, leagues in an effort to increase the number of players in the area.

Lewis promotes hockey across the city and has seen increases in the younger kids’ teams that hopefully will translate into more athletes at the older levels.

With the new ownership of the Houston Rockets, McLeroy and other locals are hopeful that professional hockey will return and do what the Dallas Stars did in growing the sport and bringing mentors and role models to the DFW communities.

“The Stars in Dallas did this with the number of rinks opening up and the opportunities afforded the kids in the Metroplex,” Dorsey McLeroy said.

Students at Langham Creek, Cy Creek and Cy Fair play under the Fair/Creek name as a blended team under the Interscholastic Hockey League, which has been in existence for 20 years. There’s also Cy Woods.

The ISHL is the top league in the city of Houston.

The Fair/Creek and Cy Woods teams allow CFISD athletes to work and play together. Same for Klein, which pulls from all over the area including Klein ISD, Spring ISD and Tomball ISD.

Some teams in the ISHL are a one team-named school such as Klein, The Woodlands, Cy Woods, Seven Lakes, Taylor and Ridge Point.

Others that don't have a full squad play under a blended name such as Fair/Creek, Pearland/Friendswood and Memorial West.

The teams that make up the ISHL are all competitive and can at any time beat the other.

Teams consist of, as any varsity team, freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. As well as travel team players.

Star-studded teams

It is highly recommended that hockey players in Texas join and play with travel teams to be able to take their game to the next level.

“The reason is the increased ice times and professionalism of the coaches involved,” Dorsey McLeroy said.

Travel teams are like all-star teams in that they are selected from tryouts and the best players are put together to create a super team.

The Houston Wild are one of the only travel team clubs in the city, as the Houston Hitmen folded around four years ago.

However, the Wild are not the only youth travel hockey association in Houston. The Houston Hurricanes also have youth travel hockey teams.

The Wild and Hurricanes are not affiliated, although teams from both associations play in the Dallas Stars Travel Hockey League.

Many weeks, athletes will play four games on a weekend either in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Odessa or Oklahoma against the best talent in the state.

This year, the Houston Wild team had the best players from all of over city in nine ISHL high school teams.

They included Fair/Creek, Klein, Cy Woods, Woodlands, Ridge Point, Seven Lakes, Pearland/Friendswood, Memorial West and Taylor.

On to the next level

Several Wild players are leaving to go play at colleges this year including Tyler McLeroy (Langham Creek-Fair/Creek), East Texas Baptist University commit, Randy and Hunter Miller (Taylor), Dallas Baptist Univ. commits, Noah Ledbetter (The Woodlands), Dallas Baptist Univ. commit, and Armand Jivraj (Klein), Texas commit.

Six players went to play college hockey last year, including to Texas, Texas A&M, Michigan and Mississippi.

In addition, there are local in-state tournaments and fly-away out of state tournaments that travel teams get to compete with on a national level, plus many attend local clinics at the local rinks.

The Aerodrome, for example, hosts many power skating and body checking clinics as well as national camps such as Planet Hockey camps in the summers.

There are many tie-ins between Canadian cities and Houston that there is a larger hockey fan base than most average Houstonian's realize.

The city of Houston could use another pro team, that will by its mere presence support the sport at all levels.

“We truly need a professional team back in Houston to help the sport grow faster,” Dorsey McLeroy said.

alvaro.montano@chron.com