Da Beauty League, a 4-on-4 summer hockey league in Minnesota, will feature a few familiar faces to Philadelphia Flyers fans. Bobby Brink, Ryan Poehling, and Noah Cates were announced as participants for one of the four teams in the off-season event. Da Beauty League’s season runs from July 10 through August 28 featuring rosters for men’s and women’s ice hockey action.
Games will be contested on Wednesday nights starting at 6 pm EST with additional games scheduled for 7:15 pm and 8:15 pm. There will be one Monday night showdown on 08/26 for the daBL John Scott Semi-Finals with games starting at 6 pm and 8 pm. The daBL Finals will occur two nights later (08/28) on the previously scheduled Wednesday night programming at 6 and 8 pm.
Flyers Forwards & Alumni Participating in daBL
Three Philadelphia Flyers players under contract will be playing in contests at Braemar Arena in Edina, Minnesota. Florida Panther defenseman Nate Schmidt selected Noah Cates and Ryan Poehling for the TRIA squad, while Vancouver blueliner Derek Forbort chose Bobby Brink for his team.
Former Flyers James van Riemsdyk and Jackson Cates were selected by Team Anderson and Team TRIA, respectively. Non-Philadelphia adjacent NHL talent including Jake Guentzel, Calen Addison, and Jason Zucker will also see the frozen floor over the next few weeks in Da Beauty League.
In total, there are four male teams and two female teams that will play games each week.
OffSeason Ice Hockey Passion Project
Da Beauty League was founded in Minnesota in 2015 as an opportunity for NHL and other league players to come together for on-ice off-season work. NHL teams are able to host prospects for skills training like the 2024 Flyers Development camp last week. However, after those few early career opportunities, players are left to train on their own during the offseason. It is not uncommon to hear athletes say there is nothing like game action which is what daBL attempts to provide in a relaxed setting during the long summer months.
The summer hockey action, or da rules, is adjusted from typical NHL regulations with some fun twists thrown in. There are two, 23:00 minutes halves of 4-on-4 action with overtime (if necessary). Overtime is a crazy race between the teams for the first to score three goals in a breakaway setting 1-v-1 with the goaltender like you would see in the normal OT skills competition… except the players race to the bench to get replaced once following their shot in the sprint for three lamplighters.
In what will surely be greatest business deals ever made, a pizza chain headquartered in Minnesota, Bernatello’s Pizza Inc., sponsored Za Hot Puck, a “2-minute window where goals count as double”. Each team gets one Za Hot Puck chance to cash in per game with goals counting double for both teams during the selected opportunity.
The rules and regulations are intended to be more casual while providing an entertaining event for players and fans in attendance. According to the league website, “at da end of da day, it’s all about da community”. At the end of the season in August, proceeds will be distributed to several non-profit hockey organizations such as the United Heroes League and the Hendrickson Foundation
Da Beauty League has a YouTube channel where content is expected to be live-streamed throughout the event according to social media. Games for the first night of the 2024 Da Beauty League content on July 10 will be hosted by the Youtube channel of the Minnesota Youth Hockey Hub.
AP Photo/Matt Slocum
