3-on-3 Hockey League Is On It’s Way

A few years back a 3-on-3 basketball league hit the court to some success and now the world of hockey will be joining them next summer. Today it was announced that the 3ICE league will hit the ground running, starting June 20th.

Much like the PLL, this will be a barnstorming league that travels and makes stops in different cities, with their being no true “home teams.” The league has narrowed down the US cities to Boston, Buffalo, Nashville, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Columbus. Potential Canadian host cities are Quebec and Toronto with the rest of the locations being minor league hockey hubs (Hershey, Grand Rapids and Providence). The vote as to which areas will see 3ICE action are allegedly going to be announced around US Thanksgiving.

Not much else has been released about the league itself, like who will be suiting up to play (the basketball league was comprised of former NBA players), but six coaches have been announced with two more being needed to fill the benches of the eight team league. Grant Fuhr, Brian Trottier, Guy Carbonneau, Joe Mullen, Larry Murphy and Angela Ruggerio are the six that have been tabbed to run a team for the summer of 2021.

The success or failure of a venture like this clearly depends on many factors, but the timing of announcing a league like this is strange. The coronavirus pandemic has made attending sporting events very difficult and a young league like this could struggle, especially if the virus doesn’t dissipate. Couple that with the potential that the NHL playoffs could run into the summer and it creates an interesting set of obstacles for a league trying to get on it’s feet.

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by Mark Parkinson