Arkansas may not be the first place you would look for hockey. The fastest game on ice lags far behind perennial favorites like football, basketball and baseball, as far as popularity is concerned. There are no professional ice hockey teams in the Natural State, and just two full-time rinks: one in Springdale and one in Little Rock.
There are only 359 Arkansas hockey players registered with USA Hockey for the 2017-18 season. Texas, for comparison, hosts 12,909 registered players. Only Mississippi and Hawaii have fewer registered players this season than Arkansas. The state is one of 11 states that have never produced an NHL player in the 101 year history of the league.
So when 11-year-old Conor Mulligan stepped onto the ice with Carl Gunnarsson at the Scottrade Center, home of the St. Louis Blues, he may well have been the first Siloam Springs resident to set foot on the ice for an NHL match, even if it was just for a warm-up lap.
Conor's Mother, Elizabeth Mulligan, entered a contest with the Mid Missouri Hockey Organization and won a spot for him to skate with the St. Louis Blues in their home opener on Saturday, Oct. 7.
"It was fun that I got to go skate with a player," Conor said.
The Mulligan family originally lived in Las Vegas, Nev., before moving to Siloam Springs four years ago. Conor said in that time, he had grown to enjoy the hockey community, and he's gotten to know everyone playing in the area. As an avid Blues fan, Conor said he loved the chance to get to skate with the players.
"But a lot of other people here who are Chicago fans wouldn't have enjoyed it," Conor said.
In Las Vegas, where Conor has grown up for most of his life so far, there are two hockey rinks and over 100 kids in Conor's age division, known as "mites." Elizabeth said she wasn't sure if there would even be hockey in Arkansas when she began the moving process.
"To be honest, that was one of the first phone calls when we moved from Las Vegas," Elizabeth said.
Elizabeth described hockey in Las Vegas as serious and militaristic, with kids spending seasons just learning to skate before being allowed to put on any pads. In watching her children play games in other arenas, including some in St. Louis, Elizabeth found that coaches and parents encouraged violence and poor sportsmanship. But at the Jones Center in Springdale, she found something different.
"Here it is a passion," Elizabeth said. "Hockey is a very, very passionate sport to begin with."
"There are fewer kids here, but it's less militant and more fun," said one of Conor's coaches, Lance Macmaster. "We play serious hockey, but we have fun."
Macmaster is one of a group of all-volunteer coaches that teach and train a few dozen young hockey players in the Jones Center. The kids travel and play other teams in the region.
"He's a great kid," said Macmaster. "He's a kid that's really come along the last few years."
Macmaster is another transplant that has found a new hockey family in Northwest Arkansas. Born and raised in Maine, Macmaster didn't think he could continue to play hockey after he took a job with Walmart.
"I figured I'd be hanging my skates up," Macmaster said.
Three years later, Macmaster and his son are still playing. Macmaster, whose son is a goalie on Conor's team, plays in the men's league and with a group that plays at 5:30 in the morning on Saturdays, before the figure skaters take the ice.
"We have a hockey gang, you could say," Macmaster said.
"Primarily, we're thrilled that there's hockey in Arkansas."
General News on 10/25/2017