Greeley Diesel

The Professional Inline Hockey Association (PIHA) would like to announce a new semiprofessional team this year, the Greeley Diesel. Last year, Greeley was successful in introducing a new professional team, the Greeley Crusaders. The team did so well, it has been decided to continue the Crusaders as well as initiate the Diesel into the league. The Crusaders team was launched by Phillip Hartman and Tim Brey who worked in conjunction with CJ Yoder. This year, Phillip has shared some of the responsibility of the team with his sister. Phillip and Tim will continue managing both teams and his sister will assist in managing the Diesel.

Greeley is a city in northern Colorado. It is the only remaining city north of Denver that has indoor inline hockey leagues. There are currently 2 recreational leagues that play at the Greeley Family Funplex. Neither of these teams would be possible if the recreational leagues didn’t exist.  

Unfortunately, inline hockey is a dying sport. When most people think about hockey, they think about ice hockey. Which is great! Ice hockey is incredibly fun but this demonstrates a general lack of mindfulness of inline hockey. Several rinks have closed in Colorado over the past few years due to a lack of involvement and awareness of the sport and where to play it. The goal of these two teams is to help this amazingly fun sport grow instead of decline. We would like to increase the involvement of the younger generation as there is currently a gap between current players and potential players. Youth leagues for inline are nonexistent in Northern Colorado at this time. If the Crusaders and Diesel are successful in the next few years, the dream is to assist in developing youth leagues by providing volunteers for coaching and sponsors.

We are very excited about this new team and to see how well it does in this coming season! 

SEE WHAT IS NEW AT NOON TOMORROW!