Hurlburt Airmen hit ice

  • Published
  • By Jamie Haig
  • 1st SOW Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  It's difficult to conceive, Hurlburt Field Airmen playing ice hockey in Florida.

Yet, many members of Team Hurlburt are also members of minor league ice hockey teams in the Northwest Florida Hockey League which plays October to April in the Pensacola Civic Center.

Seven Airmen are members of the Islanders, one of four NFHL teams. Of the 18-man Islanders roster, 10 members are military.

"It's just a bunch of great guys playing hockey together, getting out the day's frustrations," said Dan Settergren, Air Force Special Operations Command.

The team averages almost two games a week against one of the other teams on the four-team league, for approximately 30 games a season.

Dan Pylate, 1st Special Operations Wing and John Dalmo, 9th Special Operations Squadron, are two members with hockey history.

"We both played hockey at our first duty station and while we were stationed in Europe," Pylate said.

The Islanders played Monday night against the Stallions in a back and forth challenge for the win 5 - 4.

The Stallions scored the first goal in the first two minutes of the game but the Islanders offset that goal with one of their own by Chris Anderson, 6th Special Operations Squadron. As the teams battled with the puck from one end of the ice to the other, the Islanders knocked another one into the net.

But the Stallions kept at it and evened up the game at the end of the first period.

Right out of the gate in the third period, Islanders' Dustin Rousseau snuck one past the goalie, Josh Tolk, from Eglin Air Force Base, bringing the score to 3-2 Islanders. With only eight minutes left in the period, the Islanders scuffled back and forth with the Stallions goalie unsuccessfully.

But 30 seconds later, they were back when Rousseau snuck a shot past the goalie, making it 4 - 2 Islanders.

Charging down the ice, the Stallions slammed the puck home, changing the score to 4-3. They kept after the Islanders, but goalie Greg Torres stopped the Stallions from scoring. By the end of the second period, the Stallions prevailed and evened up the game 4-4.

Three minutes into the third period, the Stallions scored but it was called no-goal by the referee.

But half-way through the last period, the Islanders came back to crash one into the net setting the final score.