It's Summer, It's Iowa, It's Time For ... Hockey?

When you think of Iowa sports, you think wrestling and football, and maybe basketball and volleyball. In the summer, we have biking, running, swimming and ... hockey?

Yep. Hockey has caught on among some local kids. About 80 participate in the Iowa City Coralville Hockey league. Home ice is the Coral Ridge Ice Arena.

"It's fast-paced and never boring," Kate Edwards, 14, of Iowa City, says after a long day of full-pad drills for puck handling, one-timers, skating backwards, and other exercises.

This week, Kate and about 40 others are in a summer hockey camp put on by Northern Edge Hockey, which is out of Chesterfield, MO. Northern Edge puts on clinics around the country.

The Iowa camp runs all week from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. For those interested, they will hold the Northern Edge Cup Game at 1 p.m. on Friday at the Coral Ridge Ice Arena. The winning team hoists a trophy modeled after the Stanley Cup.

Towards the end of camp on Tuesday, Kate said her older brother started playing the sport and it seemed like fun. She has now been playing for five years and is the lone girl participating in the hockey camp this week. The league as a whole has a few more girls besides Kate, she said.

For many of the kids, they are on their own in the sport, at least to start.

"I don't have a single friend who knows how to skate, but I have made friends here," says Max Firmstone, 10, of Iowa City. 

Chandler Johnson, 9, of Solon, has been playing since he was three. Coming off the ice, still in his mask and pads and covered in sweat, Johnson says skating backwards is definitely the hardest skill to pick up.

Kyle Tierney, 26, of St. Louis, is the coordinator for the camp. He said they train all age ranges of kids around the country up to working with NHL hockey players from the St. Louis Blues in the off season. 

He said coming to Iowa, where hockey isn't as prominent as some other regions, there is a steeper learning curve, but the kids are catching on.

"We are a very high intensity camp," he said. "Day 1 was a little slow, but now they are getting to understand the intensity of it."