NC hockey league has kept kids on the ice for 44 years. This might be the Hogs’ last play.

Andrew Lerner and his son Ezra watched their first professional hockey game from the stands this month because of their experience with the Hillsborough Hogs, the Orange County resident said.

His son has made friends and is part of a community after two years on the youth recreation team, Lerner told the Orange County commissioners. Their family is now part of a more than 40-year hockey legacy.

“I believe that the Hogs can be beneficial to any future children wanting to play hockey,” 11-year-old Ezra said. “It has allowed me to pursue whatever I wanted.”

But the Hogs — also known as Triangle Youth Hockey of North Carolina — may not have a home rink next year because of an impasse with the private management company that operates the county-owned SportsPlex in Hillsborough.

There’s got to be a solution, Lerner told the commissioners on March 7. The Hogs are a legacy that “can’t easily be replaced,” he said.

The county is still getting information and trying to answer residents’ questions, Deputy County Manager Travis Myren said last week. The county commissioners could discuss the issue at a future meeting, Chair Jamezetta Bedford said.

Commissioner Earl McKee said Tuesday he is “very concerned about what is going on” and has asked the board to start looking at other options.

Demand for ice fills Triangle rinks

Hockey had almost no North Carolina following when Triangle Youth Hockey of North Carolina launched its first travel team — then called the Sharks — at the Daniel Boone rink in Hillsborough.

Forty-four years later, ice time is scarce, and the Sharks are now the Hillsborough Hogs, offering house, or recreation, programs, clinics and games against teams from Raleigh to Winston-Salem. The travel program ended about 10 years ago.

The Hogs have built a “culture,” helping children at all skill and economic levels play hockey through discounts, financial aid and fundraisers, supporters said. A “donation shed” provides second-hand gear. Over 50 volunteers, including 30 USA Hockey-certified coaches, worked to register 178 players this year, scheduling and running practices and games.

They want the commissioners to talk with Recreation Factory Partners, which operates the SportsPlex, Triangle Youth Hockey President Tom Deis said.

Factory Recreation Partners wants to manage player registration, player and coach assignments, and practice plans and scheduling for the Hogs, the company’s CEO, John Stock, said in a letter to the commissioners.

McKee called that plan “objectionable.”

“I find that distasteful, because it essentially moves this in-house. It displaces an organization that has evidently been very successful from all accounts I’ve heard,” McKee said, as Bedford warned he was about to be “out of order.”

Deis and others say management is trying to push the Hogs out, after rejecting suggestions from Triangle Youth Hockey in February that would free up ice time by cutting one practice night a week, the number of Hogs teams, and consolidating programs for young players.

SportsPlex officials agreed with some of the suggestions, but said others would further harm their ability to serve more local children.

What Recreation Factory Partners said

SportsPlex General Manager Andrew Stock, John Stock’s son, said in an interview the issues date back about 10 years, when Triangle Youth Hockey partnered with the Polar House Hockey League in Wake County to give kids more competition play.

The Hogs initially played more home games at the Polar Ice rinks but faced growing demand there and had to play more games at the SportsPlex, in order to keep the partnership, Stock said. That created scheduling issues for SportsPlex programs, a problem that grew with a surge in youth hockey following the pandemic, he said.

The SportsPlex canceled some public skate hours and adjusted youth hockey start times last year “to save the youth recreation season,” Stock said. The SportsPlex now needs full control over ice schedules, similar to how other Triangle area rinks operate, he said.

“It’s well documented in all sorts of channels how there is an ice shortage in North Carolina, which is awesome, because it speaks volume about how hockey and figure skating and just interest in ice sports is growing, but it’s a challenge,” Stock said.

Recreation Factory Partners wants to see the Hillsborough Hogs continue, and Triangle Youth Hockey can still have an advisory board role, John Stock said. The county pays Recreation Factory Partners a fixed monthly fee to manage the SportsPlex, so there is no way to increase the company’s profits, he said.

The Hogs would get the same amount of ice time under the new structure, John Stock said, adding that he was “dismayed” by the misinformation surrounding efforts “to improve the house hockey experience.”

“We are hopeful that once a new program is launched that families will see the improvement and value,” he said.

What the Hillsborough Hogs said

Deis and others criticized how Recreation Factory Partners handled the pending change, saying it’s the same plan proposed two years ago, but no one has sought community input or provided details about the new program.

If “they feel that they can provide a good program that is better and more cost effective ... then that’s fine,” Deis said, “but the fact that they have done it in such a bold method, they have really alienated themselves against the local hockey community.”

Hogs coaches and parents said they think the real motivation is bringing in programs that make more money for management, noting the SportsPlex-run Carolina Thunder travel team added in 2023. Management has also started planning this year for a SportsPlex-run recreation league that could replace the Hogs.

New programs won’t ease the demand for ice time, but Deis said they could leave out kids who can least afford to play, and the Hogs could lose a Carolina Hurricanes scholarship grant that helps those kids if it no longer qualifies as a nonprofit. He also raised a potential conflict of interest for Carolina Thunder coach Kevin Kamenski, who is also SportsPlex ice rink director and assistant general manager.

Stock denied the conflict. He directed ice rink operations before Kamenski took over and still supervises the program, he said. The travel hockey league gives advanced players an opportunity that didn’t exist for regional competition, he said.

The county’s contract with Recreation Factory Partners was amended last year to require the SportsPlex to provide recreation and travel youth hockey leagues or access for nonprofit leagues.

What does the county’s SportsPlex contract say?

▪ The county pays Recreation Factory Partners a fixed monthly rate — $16,197 as of July 1, 2024 — plus a small amount for reimbursable expenses, such as vehicles, gas and mobile devices, to manage the SportsPlex. A 2012 contract amendment set an annual 3% increase.

▪ The county made changes in 2023 to protect house-level youth hockey programs after receiving complaints about ice rink access. The changes require programs to primarily benefit county residents “at reasonable costs” and also requires the SportsPlex to offer both recreation and travel youth sports leagues.

▪ The county can end the Recreation Factory Partners contract with 120 days written notice.

What is the future for the Hillsborough Hogs?

Deis doesn’t think the SportsPlex plan will work, because the facility is understaffed, with two full-time coaches and about a dozen volunteers. There are plans to hire more staff, but Deis said a 200-player program needs at least 30 coaches.

Rising costs will also force some players to drop out, he said.

The Hogs are unlikely to find another rink before registration starts in June, he said, especially since every rink in the area is facing the same challenges. New rinks in Chapel Hill and Raleigh won’t be available for two years.

Staying at the SportsPlex now is “going to make for a very uncomfortable season,” Deis said, but “I’m ... doing it for the kids.”

NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com