The Cape Fear Youth Hockey Association serves a distinct sort of community.

Cape Fear is the hockey home for children of United States Army servicemen and servicewomen at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. As families from throughout the country reside at the military base, there are many who are searching to either continue their children in hockey or get them started.

Today, the Cape Fear Youth Hockey Association is booming with players, especially in its 8U program, but that wasn’t always the case. Numbers lagged just a few years ago. But with implementation of USA Hockey’s American Development Model and a helping hand from the Carolina Hurricanes and a non-profit called Defending the Blue Line, the association has grown quickly.

“We went from where we didn’t really have an established program, and we didn’t have many kids in there, to a much better situation now,” said Adam Mandeville, Cape Fear Youth Hockey Association 8U director. “We were able to get some coaches together. We went from four coaches to 13 coaches. We pretty much were able to double or triple the number of kids in our program.”

The military community is a major undercurrent in that success. There are now 50-plus players in Cape Fear’s 8U program and the diverse backgrounds of the families also make for a distinctive hockey environment.

“It’s pretty unique, since we have kids from all over the country in our program,” Mandeville said. “We have coaches from all over the country, too.”

Defending the Blue Line, a non-profit organization started by retired 1st Sgt. Shane Hudella, has been a significant contributor to the association. The organization donates equipment and funding to enable military children to play hockey.

“Defending the Blue Line, they have consistently provided grants to our program and military community,” said Mike Adams, Cape Fear’s program director. “We’re a military rink. We’re one of two army posts that have full-time rinks. That said, 90 percent of our hockey population is military. Without the grants from the Blue Line, direct grants to the individual families or the equipment grants to the program to give us a bank of equipment to draw from when we expose the younger kids to play, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

The NHL’s Hurricanes have played a role in assisting Cape Fear. The association was able to purchase rink dividers with financial donations from the Hurricanes, and the dividers have allowed Cape Fear to operate a thriving 8U house league.

While Cape Fear does lose some players when military families move, the association has found most youth players are staying with hockey once they get into it.

“What we have seen in our program, is that we don’t have a high (dropout) attrition rate,” Adams said. “I attribute that to the size of the program and the passion of the kids. I’m coaching a squirt team and a bantam team this year. The majority of the bantam team I had as squirts. The majority of my squirt team I had as 8U players.”

As the players have stuck with hockey, their development has been especially noticeable, which Mandeville credits to the ADM.

“It’s been great,” Mandeville said. “It’s tough to put into the words. I’m from the northeast, where hockey is the main sport. To see us bringing hockey to an area that’s not familiar with it, people that aren’t too familiar with the sport, it’s really cool to see. It’s great to see a kid who can barely stand up on skates and see how they’ve improved all year. They’re moving around and handling the puck. It puts a big smile on your face.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.