Jackson hockey hits the streets: Kids form club to play their favorite sport

When the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup on June 12, 2019, they did more than just end the third-longest championship drought in NHL history.

They also inspired Jackson teenager Brock Compton to pick up a stick and get into hockey.

At first, Compton and his friend Jonathan Rosenquist simply played on the street by themselves with their own sticks, pucks and nets. The coronavirus pandemic limited their ability to play with other people.

In 2022, however, they began thinking bigger and worked with a few friends to create their own street hockey program. Thus Jackson Street Hockey was born.

"It's something to do. It's something fun and you make new friends even if you aren't playing," Rosenquist said.

Most of the Jackson Street Hockey crew are high school students, so one of their goals is to help grow the game among residents and younger students so the club can live on after they graduate. To help raise awareness, they manage social media accounts and sell stickers and jerseys.Christopher Borro

The street hockey team has amassed around 40 regular players and numerous friends and relatives who come out to cheer them on. Rosenquist's father even designed a logo that players wear on red-and-black custom jerseys.

"We had a sponsorship to get a bunch of new sticks; our community is great with donating and stuff. We sold jerseys (and) stickers, so we do stuff to sustain us and help spread it," Rosenquist said.

The kids advertise in other ways as well. They post flyers and write their social media accounts on school whiteboards. Members promote the team among their families and friends.

A "hockey council" — Compton, Rosenquist and their friends Marcus Cutsinger, Ava Proffer and Zane Zahner — manage social media, sell merchandise and have the privilege of wearing the captain's "C" on their jerseys.

They do all this through a group chat instead of meeting in person.

The hockey council also determines the dates and locations of games. These are usually on Sunday, and often at any available blacktop or even the streets in front of players' houses.

Rules of the game

Sunshine Koehler first heard about the club in April 2022 when a large group of her friends decided to check it out.

"I showed up, I didn't play, it was really windy and we were all just having a good time. Eventually we all started doing it on a weekly basis and I kept coming out," Koehler said.

Since she has a job, she can't attend every game day, but she still plays whenever she is able. Club members described her as one of the hardest-hitting people on the team.

"They're my best friends and I want to support them any way I can," she said.

The club provides what support it can, including sticks, pucks and nets. Players bring their jerseys from home, as well as skates and helmets. It is not a requirement to use roller blades but if a player chooses to do so they have to wear extra protective gear.

There is minimal contact, but in such a fast-paced game, things can happen. Memories are made with every broken piece of equipment or puck that goes missing off the rink. Even the sticks that break can be treasured items.

"I remember when I broke my first stick and it was hanging on by a thread," player Thomas Hays said. "Marcus (Cutsinger) was like, 'It's a rite of passage. You've got to break that.' I go over, slam it against the ground a couple times, send up sparks."

Most everyone who breaks a stick keeps it as a memento. Zyler Surface, formerly a goalie and now more of a skater, patched his first broken stick up and gave it to his little sister, who sometimes plays with him.

As a true pick-up hockey game, teams are never set in stone. Players drop by whichever weeks they're available; goals, saves and assists are tallied for fun, not competition.

With three 10-minute periods, club members can get through usually three or four games a day.

High school students aren't the only ones participating. Members of a men's roller hockey league sometime join in and are supportive of the young boys and girls becoming more invested in the sport.

Players said being so accepted by adults has helped boost their own confidence and communication skills.

Leaving a legacy

Most of the Jackson Street Hockey players are in high school. Of the younger children who do participate, many are younger siblings of existing players.

The team provides equipment, but what they do not always have is a set place to play. That's why they are looking to the City of Jackson to help build a blacktop rink at a city park.

"It would be nice to leave a legacy," said Angela Compton, Brock Compton's mother. "It would be nice to have something at the park that would be for the next generation of kids."

Her pitch to the Jackson Park Board includes repurposing old tennis courts at the Jackson City Park, adding asphalt or concrete and building walls so people could play hockey on them.

She suggested adding tiles to make rinks capable of hosting ice skating in colder months where food trucks could sell hot chocolate and other items.

Participants don't need previous hockey experience or even roller-skating skills to get involved in Jackson Street Hockey. Like Brock Compton said, quoting the NHL inclusion initiative, "Hockey is for everyone."

Players come from Jackson, Cape Girardeau and beyond. Some former players were foreign exchange students who current members said now proudly wear their jerseys in other countries. Angela Compton said some of the most avid people to get involved were her neighbors from India, who had never heard of the sport before watching her son and his friends play.

All told, the club has amassed some 300 followers on its @jackson_street_hockey Instagram page. Members plan on growing the game one kid at a time.

Koehler mentioned how, in the Midwest, there are often smaller communities where young people don't have many options for bonding and entertainment. The Jackson Street Hockey club is providing that for the region.

"As we're all getting older, getting busier, hockey is always something we can come back to and still agree that we all enjoy," she said. "No matter what, we're always going to have hockey."