High atop Southern Ice Arena, in Franklin, Tenn. sits a large room with huge panes of glass overlooking the two ice rinks below.

While many hockey facilities across the country may have second levels on which to view the action on the rinks, most days the room at Southern Ice is dark and deserted. Were it not for the half-finished renovation in another section of the room upstairs, one would wonder if anyone goes up there at all.

However, one late April weekend, the room was unusually abuzz with activity, with more than a dozen people taking great interest in the hockey being played on the ice.

That’s because the rink was hosting the 2005 USA Hockey Southeastern District Festival Tryout.

Hundreds of hockey players that were selected for the festival converged on the two rinks, trying to impress the evaluators from above, and hoping to become one of the handful of players selected to the national camps in the summer.

The camps are supposed to represent the best players from every district. Choosing the right players can difficult, especially when favoritism is introduced into the equation.

To help eliminate that problem, Southeast District directors Knud Aagaard-Svendsen and Mike Mulhall brought in 11 "professional hockey people" who are not directly involved with particular teams in the district to judge the players, who range from birth years 1988 through 1991.

"We have brought in general managers of ECHL teams, head coaches of ECHL teams, coaches from colleges, coaches from junior teams, and USA Hockey staff for the judging. All of them are from outside of the district, which takes politics out of the selection."

Aagaard added that the players are rated before being split into teams, to make them as balanced as possible.

"Of course, rating systems are not an exact science," he says.

This kind of setup may or may not be similar to other evaluation camps, but there is one aspect of the tryout that is somewhat unusual.

Nobody is keeping score.

While the players are put on separate teams, and play a minimum of three games over the weekend, evaluators are strictly concerned with individual performance, not team performance.

The format of the tryout ensures that every player involved would get a fair shot at being seen by evaluators. The three games on Friday and Saturday would consist of two 25-minute run time periods, with the two goaltenders on each team splitting the two periods.

In addition, at the end of each period, goaltenders would have to face off against breakaways, allowing evaluators to see the individual skill on both sides of the puck.

In this case, it really isn’t about whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.

The top 40 players in each age group (24 forwards, 12 defensemen, and 4 goalies) as ranked by the evaluators advance to play in the Blue/Gray games on Sunday, where the players again change teams and numbers.

By the end of the weekend, a small handful of 61 lucky youth hockey players rose above and beyond the others, and earned their way to USA Hockey’s national development camps later in the summer.

National Camps

The annual summer USA Hockey National Select camps bring together 240 of the best players per age group from each region of the country for six-day development sessions.

These camps have been going on for a number of years.

Ken Martel, who is the player personnel director for USA Hockey, explains:

"The camps have existed in some shape, form, or fashion since 1980. At that time, only four teams competed at a midget national camp for 15- and 16-year-olds, and I was one of the players selected."

Since then, Martel says the development program has expanded to include 12 teams for each of the four age groups, but three other camps specifically for girls ages 14, 15-16, and 17-18.

Once the players are selected, USA Hockey picks up a large part of the players’ tab, absorbing the cost of room, board, referees, coaches, and ice time. The cost for those who make it is $90.

"It’s a huge expense for USA Hockey, but it’s a great experience for the kids."

"My job is to scout the best players in the country for the 17 and under and 18 and under teams. These festivals do a great job of bringing in the top players," Martel adds.

He says that since his job is to find players from all around the country, these camps make his job much easier.

Camps like this one have been instrumental in finding such recent hockey studs like Phil Kessel, who shattered records at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program by finishing with 93 goals and 159 points in his career with them, breaking current Boston Bruins center Andy Hilbert’s record of 153.

Keeping with the format at the regional tryout camps, the national camps likewise intermix players among the different teams, which Martel says is also part of the whole point.

"Camps like this help bring kids together, and let them know it’s a big hockey world," he says.

Martel also adds that many of the kids build lasting relationships at the camps, and continue to trade e-mails and instant messages long after the camps end.

Southeastern Growth

Two factors have combined to make the Southeast District the fastest-growing in all of USA Hockey.

First, the huge population increase in the Southeast in recent years is largely due to the millions of people that have moved from traditional hockey markets and that want to continue playing their sport in the South.

Also, the creation and/or move of several new NHL and other pro hockey teams has generated a new interest in hockey in the "non-traditional" Southeast.

Mike Mulhall, the director of player development for the Southeast District, says that in the last 10 years, enrollment with USA Hockey has doubled, and that most of that growth is at the youth level, particularly in the Southeast.

"Geography is no longer a determining factor in skill," Martel adds.

He notes that the recent World Jr. champion USA team had a player from North Carolina and a player from California on it, two non-traditional markets that almost certainly would not have contributed players a few years ago.

"Brett Sterling, a Hobey Baker finalist and first-team All-American is also from California."

He continues: "These kids are starting to make an impact on the world stage," noting the success of forward Blake Geoffrion, a product of the Nashville area.

Still, the only Southeast district alumnus currently in the NHL is forward Jeff Halpern of the Washington Capitals, who was born and raised in Maryland.

However, Martel says there are more on the way.

"It just takes time."

The biggest hurdle that slows down the growth is the sheer size of the district and the difficulty of scheduling convenient tournaments for everyone.

"We also don’t get the true Southern athletes yet," Aagaard says, noting that most youngsters in the South are exposed to football, baseball, and basketball before they may try hockey.

Still, this is how it starts, Martel says.

Pointing to the evaluation staff that continue to work hard at Southern Ice, Mulhall says, "These are the people who get stuff done."

He is also quick to point out that the evaluators are volunteering their time.

"It’s their way of generously giving back to USA Hockey," he says.

Mulhall also says so much work goes into the regional tryouts and national camps that it has almost become a year-round process.

Still, he says even those that work for many long hours understand why they’re doing it.

"It’s a labor of love," he says.

The development camps will kick off with the Select 16 Festival, held in Rochester, New York, beginning on June 25, and running until July 1. The next six-day Festival will host the Select 17 group, and will run from July 9-15 at St. Cloud, Minn. The following day, the Select 14 Development Camp begins back in Rochester, before the series of camps concludes the week of July 30 at St. Cloud with the Select 15 Development Camp.

For a complete list of the players that were selected in this year’s evaluation, as well as past choices, go to www.sedistrict.org.