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Sports

Bloomingdale Hockey Club Kicks Ice

Meet the biggest ice skating secret in the Bay Area, the Bloomingdale High School Hockey Club

Among the professional hockey players that normally grace the ice at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum, the Bloomingdale Ice Bulls are also making their mark on the continually growing hockey community.

In Hillsborough County, it is known that football is king. Someone, however, forgot to the mention this to the 20 kids who lace up every week to play ice hockey.

In existence since 1996, the Bloomingdale Hockey Club may be the best-kept secret in high school athletics. The actual club is not affiliated with Bloomingdale High School per county guidelines. However, they adopted the name from the area in which they draw their talent. Players from Bloomingdale, Spoto and Riverview high schools make up the hockey club.

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Leading the young players is Coach Mike Falbo, who is the longest-tenured hockey coach in Hillsborough County. Falbo, a Buffalo native, has more than 22 years of playing and coaching experience. He is also the only coach to lead a varsity hockey club to a perfect season. His 2003-04 squad posted a perfect 21 - 0 - 0 record,  record that still stands in Hillsborough County today.

The team meets for practice once per week with about an hour of ice time. Hockey is not a pressing issue at the high school level. Each team is self-funded and depends on donations and sponsorships from corporate and professional businesses. Coach Falbo and his staff hope that more sponsors will come aboard in the future to help bring what many consider a Northern sport some much needed popularity.

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The Bloomindale Ice Bulls practice and play their home ganes at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum. Currently, the team has posted a 10-3-0 record and is in second place in the Central Division in the Florida High School Hockey Association.

You can catch the Ice Bulls' next home game on Friday, Jan. 14 versus Steinbrenner at 6 p.m. Admission is free.

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