Golden Knights, NHL, ESPN to build ball hockey rink in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS --Jack Eichel said he has fond memories of playing ball hockey as a kid in North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, about 25 miles northwest of Boston.

"I grew up playing street hockey a lot," the Vegas Golden Knights center said. ""I had ball hockey courts available to me so me and my friends spent a lot of time on it."
Eichel and Vegas teammate Keegan Kolesar joined NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to announce that the Golden Knights, the NHL and ESPN have committed to build a new ball hockey rink in Las Vegas as a legacy to the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend.
The rink will be built in a community that currently has no ball hockey facility to best serve nearby elementary school boys and girls and increase access to the game.
"It's a good opportunity to expand the game and bring people to it, whether that's ice hockey or ball hockey," said Eichel, acquired by Vegas in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 4. "You start to play ball hockey or street hockey, I think you develop the love for the game and go from there."

Just a short distance from where Eichel was speaking, boys and girls from nearby Matt Kelly Elementary school were stick-handling and taking shots during a ball hockey clinic on a rink inside the 2022 Truly Hard Seltzer NHL Fan Fair.
The rink and clinic offered a glimpse into NHL STREET, the League's new era in street and ball hockey programming, focused on increasing opportunities for boys and girls to play hockey.
"From building character to teaching values and creating unbreakable bonds, ESPN understands the impact the power of sports can create for an individual community," said Kevin Martinez, ESPN vice president of Corporate Citizenship. "We are thrilled to team up with the NHL and the Golden Knights to kick off the NHL STREET initiative in the Las Vegas community. This is only the start of how we can expand hockey for youth in underrepresented and diverse communities that deserve more access and crave more opportunities to participate in this wonderful game."
Kim Frank, president of the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation, said the team has witnessed the importance of building rinks to help grow the game and the ball hockey rink will enable the Golden Knights "to engage even more in an area that reflects the diversity of the Las Vegas Valley."
Kim Davis, NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Social Impact, Growth Initiatives and Legislative Affairs, agreed.
"Projects like this, that aim to embed hockey into non-traditional hockey neighborhoods, not only offers children new opportunities to play, but invites them to co-create the future of the sport."
Kolesar said he's looking forward to becoming more involved in the ball hockey effort in Las Vegas.
"I'm here to show my support, I think it's fun to always give back," the forward said. "I'm real excited to give back to the kids here."