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What Is Hockey In Latin America

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Hockey in Latin America; the two concepts are not usually associated with each other, but hockey is a somewhat popular sport with local children and families. Hockey is not a recent addition to the sports industry in Latin America. While Latin America is not a region well-known for its hockey games, hockey is a sport that is gaining popularity with local families and children. The Falkland Islands, with a population of 2932 people according to the Hockey House in 2015, is the smallest hockey nation in the world. In a country lacking even one ice rink to practice on, the Falkland Islands hockey team has made history by winning their first game to ever play despite never playing or practicing on the ice before. The Falkland Islands plans on sending some players to Chile twice a year to practice hockey in an arena until the Falkland Islands are able to build an ice rink. Unlike the Falkland Islands, which lacks an ice rink and is somewhat new to the sport, the Puerto Rican Ice Hockey Federation was founded in 2004, but hockey has been in the country for a few more years than that. Around 40 years ago, Puerto Rico had an ice rink known as the Reina de Heilo in San Juan. Unfortunately, the Reina de Heilo shut down in 1978, but the country of Puerto Rico was …show more content…

Ice hockey didn’t even exist in Costa Rica until 1996. A Canada native, Bruce Callow, helped hockey become a known sport in Costa Rica by making a plastic, makeshift hockey rink in the middle of the food court of the Real Cariari Shopping Center. "The rink was long and thin, and the pucks would sometimes fly off into the food court while people were eating," he told the Tico Times. The Real Cariari Shopping Center is home to the only ice skating rink in Central America. Bruce Callow was a major help in Costa Rica; he started hockey programs on synthetic ice in an amusement park in Belen and an abandoned warehouse in Santa

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