Throwback Photos and a Sneak Peak of Other Things

Hockey is a great game and has a history that is just as great, but lost deep inside that history are moments, places, and people seemingly lost, forgotten or simply overlooked. I hope that in time this becomes a place for some of those buried deep inside facets of the game I've loved for almost as long as I can remember.

Which brings us here. "Throwback Photos" not a great name for a segment and when I come up with a better one I will definitely change it but I suppose it will do the job for now. Our first "Throwback Photo" is an absolute gem and it touches on a bit of research I've been doing recently into the the sport of Roller/Inline Hockey.

First though some background.

Like more than a few people I've known I had to stop playing ice hockey when I was a child because of the cost, but I never lost my love for the game and after a few years pinning for a sheet of ice (often while sitting on the bench of my little league games...get it pinning...) I convinced my parents to let me give inline hockey a shot, but at the time my idea of the sport's history involved RHI (Roller Hockey International) the league that began play in the early 90's and included teams like the Anaheim Bullfrogs, Atlanta Fire Antz, Los Angeles Blades, and Vancouver Voodoo. When in fact the game of roller hockey, in one form or another, goes back into the late 1920's (before that it was common to see it refereed to as "ROLLER POLO" ) and has over time include teams like the Albany Lawmakers, Newburgh Arrows, Hartford Indians, and Pittsfield Hillies.

The caption of today's photo reads:

"Jack Knappenberger, 16-year-old Sinking Springs High School Student, is goalie for the Sinking Springs Skatarena Destroyers who meet the Florham Park, N.J., Stars in an Atlantic Roller Hockey League match at the Skatarena tonight.  Knappenberger has been skating for three years."
-Reading Eagle Jan 27, 1951

How sweet is that. Sinking Springs (PA) entered the ARHL that season and competed against Bayonne (N.J.), Florham Park (N.J)., Twin City (Elizabeth N.J), Paterson (N.J.), and Mt. Vernon (N.Y).

The Destroyers inaugural campaign In the Atlantic Roller Hockey League was extremely successful, and climaxed with the club winning the Edwards Challenge Trophy, defeating the defending league champion Bayonne Barons in a three game series. Sadly for the young man in the above photo Sinking Springs used goaltender Frank Spare for most of the playoffs and all of the final three game series.