San Antonio routes Abilene in Tournament Debut
West Texas Shootout Hockey Invitational Tournament Game 2: Abilene Bombers vs San Antonio Iguanas
By Benjamin Martin
San Angelo TX — The hockey player with number sixteen on his back raced across the rink, cupping the puck side to side with his stick blade as he went. The wheels on his skates rolled furiously as the white and green jersey rippled in the wind. His gaze tightened on the red crossbars behind the opposing goalie as he bore down into the crease. He drew the puck back and fired it home, the clink could be heard as the puck deflected off the back of the crossbar into the net. The horn sounded the goal, and a wave of applause roared from the San Antonio section of the crowd. The first goal of the game had been scored, and the San Antonio Iguanas led the Abilene Bombers by a score of one to nothing.
But the skater who wore number sixteen on his jersey heard none of it, not the sound of the puck, not the sound of the roaring crowd, not the adulation of his teammates.
Brian Van Vlymen had been born deaf. 32 years later, he had grown up into the international language of hockey and become arguably the best roller hockey player in the city of San Antonio. In the tryouts for the USA Ice Hockey Deaflympic team he made it all the way to the final cut, nearly making the team as a Texan! He and his wife of 12 years Jennifer Alvarado are very active in the deaf community all around central Texas. The active couple strive to help not only hockey grow, but also to bring insight and coaching to the next generation of deaf hockey players through the AHIHA, the American Hearing-Impaired Hockey Association.
Roller hockey in the city of San Antonio has blossomed in the face of adversity. In spite of being the 7th largest city in the United States, as well as the home to a thriving ice hockey community and hockey team, there is no public roller hockey rink within city limits. San Antonio Roller Hockey club must play their games on a repurposed tennis court surrounded with highway traffic barricades and fences. If that wasn’t a difficult enough challenge to player participation in roller hockey, the ice hockey community continually takes players away from roller hockey into the larger and more expensive ice hockey league in the city.
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The challenge of keeping hockey based in San Antonio became an even more difficult proposition following the announcement that the San Antonio Rampage — the minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Blues — will be moving to Las Vegas for the 2020–21 season, effectively ending professional ice hockey in the second largest city in the state of Texas.
Anthony Smith is the director of San Antonio Roller Hockey, and he takes these challenges head on in an effort to bring hockey to a wider audience not only in San Antonio, but across central and south Texas at large. Anthony has been in continuous negotiations with the City of San Antonio to acquire a roller hockey rink in a public space, but it has not been a fruitful effort to this point. The city of Kyle Texas, 45 minutes north of San Antonio, is building a brand-new roller hockey rink as part of a Make-A-Wish initiative. While the drive may not be ideal, it opens the door for more expanded hockey family for the largest metropolitan area in South Texas.
Until then, San Antonio has built a multi-team league to have intermural competition between players of all ages that not only brings more exciting game style play on a weekly basis, but also lays the foundation for better tournament play as the team travels across Texas to compete against other clubs. This came to fruition as the team has finished 2nd place in last years West Texas Showdown in San Angelo, as well as a 1st place finish in the Rio Grande Valley tournament in McAllen Texas last September.
For the second game in the 2019 tournament, San Antonio rolled for both halves as they routed the younger and less experienced Abilene squad with 4 goals from Brian Van Vlymen , 4 goals from Brandon Conder, and 2 goals from Gary Burdge to make the final score 10–0 San Antonio Iguanas over the Abilene Bombers.
San Antonio made a statement in their first match of the tournament that they were there to avenge their early exit in last year’s tournament, their eyes fixed squarely on this year’s Sanley Cup.🏒
Benjamin Martin is the Director of San Angelo Hockey club as well as an amateur journalist, professional hockey fan, and sub-par defender who is a complete liability in the rink.
During these turbulent times the recap of the 2019 West Texas Shootout hockey tournament will be republished on a daily basis to bring a little hockey excitement back into our lives as we wait for life to start again.
