Jan 13

Jan 13 The Unlikely Relationship Between Pickleball and Hockey That Makes Perfect Sense

Lanny here, editor of PBU. I don’t break the fourth wall like this often. But today is a special day. Because we’re not just talking about one of my favorite sports. We’re talking about both of my favorite sports.

Hockey and pickleball.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Hockey and pickleball, do those really go together? They do. And I’ll prove it to you. Just keep reading. What we have here is a classic olive oil and ice cream situation. Just because you didn’t know they go together doesn’t mean they don’t. (And seriously, give the ice cream and olive oil a try, it’s delicious.)

What the Data Says About Hockey and Pickleball

During 2020, the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) interviewed 18,000 people across the U.S. They found that pickleball players are more than 6x times more likely to play hockey than non-pickleball players.

Let’s take our own findings, as well. We looked at PBU readers’ interests and found that hockey is the fourth most popular activity to our audience outside of pickleball (behind tennis, golf, and, cycling and ahead of basketbabll, football, baseball, and more).

And finally, Tom Dundon, the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes (who at the time of this being published are leading their division and third in the whole league) bought the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA), Pickleball Central (a major online pickleball retailer), and PickleballTournaments.com (the hub for registering for pickleball tournaments). Dundon is the head of an investment group based in Dallas, TX called Dundon Capital Partners, and through this group he acquired a serious amount of pickleball assets.

Why Do Hockey and Pickleball Go Together?

I have a few theories as to why pickleball is gaining traction in the hockey community.

The first is that dry-land training for hockey players is an important part of training. Especially when you’re younger and playing in weekend tournaments or leagues like the USHL. Ice-time isn’t always available for warm-ups. So our team would spend a few hours doing what we called dry-land training. I.e., not on the ice. We’d do things like plyometrics and stretches and light jogs. But inevitably, a soccer ball or futsal would appear, and we’d all try to keep it in the air with our feet. This was always the perfect pre-game activity because it kept you up and moving but didn’t tire you out. Plus, it was fun. You could joke around while doing it and loosen up to feel relaxed for the game. Sound like any other sport you know? Pickleball. Yes. Pickleball could’ve easily been our dry-land pregame had we known about it back then.

The second theory revolves around higher levels of hockey play. The National Hockey League (NHL). Obviously, these guys don’t have a problem finding ice time. Actually, kind of the opposite. The NHL schedule is not like the NFL. Each NHL team plays about 82 games per regular season. For comparison, each NFL team plays about 17. So NHL players are constantly traveling and playing. On the rare off-day, NHL players often look to get a light workout in and have fun with teammates. You can see where this is going.

During the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, players were forced to stay “in a bubble” during play. But the good news is that there were pickelball courts in the bubble.

Some NHL stars even grew up with the game in their backyard.

And like most of us, some NHL coaches got into pickleball during the pandemic because, well, they were bored at home with their kids and needed to try something new. Which is exactly how pickleball was invented in the first place.

This is from and interview in 2020 with Mike Sullivan, coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Sullivan has been enjoying quality time with his wife Kate and their kids, who have been teaching him how to play pickleball on a mobile court they put in the driveway. "We've had a few competitive games of that, which has been a lot of fun," he said.