USPHL – The United States Premier Hockey League is proud to announce its plans to bring teams from across its coast-to-coast footprint – the largest in all of North American Junior Hockey – to Tampa, Florida, for a Hub City concept with the health and wellness of players and staff as a top priority. The USPHL is partnering with Saddlebrook Resort (“Saddlebrook”), a multi-dimensional Tampa Resort and Conference Center, and AdventHealth Center Ice, a state-of-the-art 4-sheet, full-service ice hockey facility, to provide our teams a dedicated environment to execute our high-performance training and competition model and provide our players a tremendous opportunity to showcase their talents to all the professional and collegiate programs in the country.
Saddlebrook and AdventHealth Center Ice provide the USPHL Coaches and Staff all the necessary facilities to execute the USPHL Player Development Model in a contained, safe environment. Each week, USPHL Teams will have multiple on-ice practices, continue their off-ice strength and conditioning regiments, and have team and one-on-one video analysis. Dedicated space will be provided for all online/virtual students to ensure uninterrupted learning. Equally important, the Hub City Event will provide players a competitive 20-game schedule not currently available to them due to ever-changing travel restrictions across the country. All games will be carried on the new USPHL/HockeyTV channel set to be launched on January 1st.
The USPHL will be creating a bubble. Something that most thought was an unthinkable future for any Junior Hockey League given the costs and commitment that it would involve. We saw it with the NHL in the 2019-20 Playoffs, and we are now seeing it happening in Junior Hockey. The United States Premier Hockey League will be hosting this “bubble” in Tampa, Florida and have multiple on-ice practices, off-ice strength and conditioning, and video analysis. It is a great opportunity for players and we are excited to see if any other leagues in the US or Canada pick up the “bubble” concept.
