SOMERS POINT — City Council and Somers Point Street Hockey are working together to replace and upgrade the north court at The Pit off Marks Road.
On Sept. 12, City Council approved a request for proposals to replace the boards and surface of the court with a new dasher board system and sport court deck surface.
Nick Wagner, a city police officer who was vice president of the league when the initiative began almost 10 years ago, said even the newer south court is outdated. He said all of the major facilities, including Mays Landing and Egg Harbor Township locally, have the dasher boards and decking.
“The sport has evolved from street hockey to deck hockey,” Wagner said.
Most modern facilities have replaced the old steel/wood combination and the all-wood dasher board for the metal framed systems. Hockey rink dasher boards make up the bottom part of the metal framed rink enclosures and are now made using high-density polyethylene, while the rink shielding that extends above the dasher boards for increased protection consists of either acrylic or tempered glass.
“It’s really what the sport is going to instead of being on asphalt,” former league president Ken Berardis said. “It makes it a faster game.”
According to Sportcourt.com, the decking system helps reduce the wear and tear on athletes’ bodies and their equipment caused by playing on asphalt and concrete.
“Our modular flooring was specially designed to handle your most aggressive turns, hockey stops and slides, providing a smooth, fast, fun surface for all the hockey action you can handle,” the site states. “The surface’s tight seams handle high-torque slides and cuts, and the flat surface keeps the ball or puck moving well.”
Russell Babb, another former league president, was instrumental in getting the south court moved from the parking lot to the former tennis court area, opening up a lot of parking and centralizing the hockey facilities.
When Berardis took over as president, he and Wagner made it a priority to raise funds for the upgrade project.
“That was my baby,” Berardis said, showing pride that it looks to be finally coming to fruition.
Berardis, the new principal of Jordan Road School, played hockey in the city as a boy and teen and started coaching during high school.
He said street hockey is unique in that there is no pressure for earning a scholarship or playing on travel teams.
“It’s the one sport where kids can just have fun with their friends,” Berardis said. “Just go play.”
That’s why, he said, a city with fewer than 700 children has 250 to 300 of them playing street hockey. Even his two sons, who are in their late teens, continue to play in the freshman league for 16- to 20-year-olds that he coordinates.
Berardis said the cost of the dasher boards is $50,000 to $60,000 and decking $40,000 to $50,000.
“It’s not a cheap project,” Berardis acknowledged, adding the league already has raised about half of the funds. “It’s for the kids of this community.”
He said the goal is to have the project done before the winter season, which begins just after Thanksgiving.
The project will involve demolition of the existing court, something Berardis said likely would entail volunteers and some help from the city.
“Dads, let’s get out there and break this down,” was how Berardis characterized the effort.
He said a company he has been working with for pricing erects such courts along the East Coast and can finish the project in as little as two days, once the site is cleared.
Fall is the ideal time to build a court, “since the weather is least impactful,” Berardis said, noting the atmosphere is cooler, dryer and without drastic temperature changes.
– STORY and PHOTOS by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
