‘This Is Hockey’ series highlights growth of game in Latin America, Caribbean

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Owen Haiek watched perhaps the most important goal of his hockey career on a giant silver screen Wednesday and smiled.

“It was amazing,” Haiek said.  

Haiek was referring to his double-overtime, game-winning goal that gave Argentina a 3-2 win against Greece Heritage HC and the 2023 Amerigol LATAM Cup men’s Division I championship.

He was also talking about seeing that golden goal as part of “This Is Hockey,” a seven-part NHL Productions documentary series that will air later this season and highlight efforts to grow the sport in Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories.

Players from Argentina’s men’s and women’s teams watched a screening of the episode about the growth of the sport in the soccer-mad South American country at the Paragon Theater here on the first day of the 2024 LATAM Cup Tournament.

“It’s incredible, the editing, the work,” said Haiek, a forward who captained the Division I men’s team. “Hopefully viewers will take away what we feel for hockey in Argentina, what we feel as players and how we grow it. They see all the effort we put into it.”

Teams representing Brazil and Colombia will see the episodes about their countries during the LATAM Cup tournament, which runs through Sunday at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs and the Baptist Health IcePlex, the practice facility of the 2024 Stanley Cup champions.

The NHL, NHL Players Association through the Industy Growth Fund, and the Panthers are sponsors of the tournament.

The idea for the series, funded through the IGF, originated with Collin Kornfeind, senior producer/editor for NHL Productions, and Donny Khan, NHL Senior Director of Hockey Development & Strategic Collaboration.

They had attended or covered the LATAM Cup several times since it was founded in 2018 by Juan Carlos Otero, and were impressed by the passion and pride of players from the so-called non-traditional hockey markets.

Kornfeind and Khan traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Mexico to film and let players and organizers explain their love for the sport.

“The tournament showcases that hockey is being played all over the world,” Khan said. "I think this is an authentic way for us to make an authentic connection that the NHL is truly interested in expanding our fanbase and that we welcome people who love the game, no matter where you are. We had this idea to better make that connection by going to some of the countries where some of these teams that play in the LATAM Cup are coming from.”

Each country and territory aspires to become players on the international hockey stage and dreams of someday competing in International Ice Hockey Federation world championships and even the Winter Olympics.

But each faces unique challenges to achieve those dreams, ranging from climate to lack of rinks to the cost of getting equipment to their homelands.

But that hasn’t dampened the dream or the desire as evidenced by the ever-growing LATAM Cup. This year’s tournament includes 52 men’s, women’s and youth teams and more than 1,100 players representing 17 countries and territories including those featured in the documentary series.

Argentina is one of the more fortunate nations. It has one outdoor rink in Ushuaia, a resort town at the southernmost tip of South America that’s nicknamed “El Fin del Mundo” or “End of the World.”

But it’s nearly 1,500 miles from the capital city, Buenos Aires, and ice is available there for only about three months during the year. An indoor rink is in the process of being built in Buenos Aires.

Dicky Haiek, Owen’s father, coach and founder of the Argentine Association of Ice and In-Line Hockey, said the pending rink and the “This Is Hockey” documentary series will help raise the profile of the sport in his country.

“We have a program with the IIHF to introduce kids from school at the rink and in Ushuaia too,” he said. “I think with the help of the IIHF, our government, this (documentary series), it would be the base of the pyramid. And you know, if you have a big base, you have good players at the top of the pyramid.”