Jamaican Hockey Team Targeting the Winter Olympics

Back in 2012, Jamaica became the first Caribbean nation to have an ice hockey team added as an associate member of the IIHF. In order to become a full-time member, the country must add an ice-rink and a development program. The team is trying to make history like the country’s bobsleigh team did back in 1988, when they participated in the Olympics for the first time. Their goal is to play in the Winter Olympics in the next 20 years.

The Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation's (JOIHF) first try-outs in Toronto, Canada, was a big success. There were over 20 athletes that tried out. Hockey players came from several areas within Toronto and the United States, and there was even one athlete that paid his own travel cost to come from Sweden to try-out.

Graeme Townsend, Canadian Ice Hockey Hall of Famer, led the try-outs. Townsend is a former skating coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the first Jamaican to play in the National Hockey League. He played 45 games in his short NHL career. The Jamaican head coach recently gave an interview to Sportsnet about the state of the program and the goals they wish to reach: