When the temperatures are in the 80s, as well as the humidity, one of the last things that most people would think of is ice hockey. For about 60 high school players this summer, though, every Tuesday night that’s exactly where their focus was.

Pete Tormey, the owner of Athletic Performance Training at the Falmouth Ice Arena, and an assistant coach at Falmouth High, took over the High School Summer League at the rink this summer, and it was certainly well-received. Coach Tormey oversaw the league that was made up of about one-quarter Falmouth players, with the rest coming from all over southeastern Massachusetts.

Players from several high profile Massachusetts public and private schools made the trek to the Ice Arena weekly from early July until this past week. They played an eight-game season, with coaching done by four very qualified individuals. Tormey’s brother, Will Tormey, who played in the NHL, coached the team that finished as the runners-up this season. Former Clipper, and current assistant coach at Franklin Pierce, Roscoe Sweeney coached the champions. Former FHS star who played professionally, Jeff Valdes, coached another team, as did former NHL player, and current Proctor coach, Mike Walsh, who headed up the other one.

Sweeney’s red team defeated Mike Tormey’s white team in the championship, 7-3. Clippers Cam Tobey and Patrick Coyne each had big games, playing against a few of their high school teammates.
Pete Tormey said that his first year of running the league went very well, and he’s hoping to see the league expand a bit next year. Ideally, he would like to have six teams playing next year. “I think that would be the ideal number. We don’t want it to get too big,” he said. “The play was definitely at a real good caliber this year.”