March 27, 2009

By Skip Vaughn
Special to USAHockey.com

USA Hockey president Ron DeGregorio has seen a tremendous growth in hockey in the past 30 years. He isn’t concerned that the sport’s popularity has leveled off.

“It’s revitalizing our thinking on what we need to do again to bring more players or potential players to the rink,” he said on March 14 while attending the Southeastern District championships in Huntsville, Ala.

USA Hockey, the national governing body for hockey across the United States, has nearly 600,000 members. This includes players, referees and coaches. In 1970, there were fewer than 100,000 members.

“We’ve had the last couple or three years a flattening of our growth. The challenges of the economy frankly will have an impact,” DeGregorio said. “It could be, in my view, good for the game, so we can rethink the options. It requires us to provide more options and more programs that address how much involvement families or players want in the game.

“There’s not a need to immerse yourself in hockey to be successful at an early age. Hockey is a late developmental sport. Kids can learn to play hockey without traveling a long way. And there’s still time for development as long as they’re doing other things to improve one’s athleticism. Hockey is a great way to improve your athleticism regardless of which sport you choose to pursue. I’m excited about the programs we’re working on.”

DeGregorio was elected president in 2003 and is completing his second three-year term. Established in 1937, USA Hockey serves as the sport’s national governing body as selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee under the National Sports Act.

“I always say hockey is for everybody—whether they’re male or female, young or old, able-bodied or disabled. Disabled hockey includes sled hockey, special hockey and standing amputee. And we’re also involved with the hearing-impaired hockey,” DeGregorio said. “We have about 60,000 females. We arguably have one of the best female teams and organizations in the world, besides Canada. Canada probably leads as far as development. And we’re proud of those strides.”

The Boston native was a goaltender on Team USA in 1970-71. At age 62, he still plays the sport and hopes to return to action next season after fully recovering from shoulder surgery last November. He resides in Salem, N.H., where he has a financial services business, PenFacs, which he started in 1979. He and his wife, Susan, have four children—sons Erik, 38, Mark, 29, and daughters Kim, 26, and Kara, 24.

“My goals are basically to continue to make this sport a more popular sport,” DeGregorio said. “It’s a great activity for young and old, males and females, for life.”

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.