Playing in Division 1 of the AMERIGOL LATAM Cup final, Puerto Rico earned its first organizational championship. There was a brief celebration, just after players and staff grabbed their phones to check on family and friends in the path of the hurricane.
Scott Vargas and the Puerto Rico men’s hockey team took the ice with heavy hearts three hours after Hurricane Fiona made landfall on their island.
"It had only been a few hours since the hurricane made landfall. We didn’t know everything but we knew it was going to be pretty tough," Vargas told USA TODAY Sports. "I think it solidified the fact there wasn’t much we could do from a locker room in Florida, but we knew we could represent Puerto Rico at the highest level we possibly could. That’s what we set out to do on the ice.
During their first trip to the LATAM Cup in 2019, Vargas, his father and two brothers made up four of the 10 players on Puerto Rico’s roster. Three years later, the organization had more than 200 player-members and brought 105 athletes to the 2022 LATAM Cup, which saw both Vargas’ Division 1 squad and Puerto Rico’s Under-20 team win championships. The island’s Under-16 team took second place and its Under-12 and women’s contingents finished as semifinalists.
Newman, whose expecting a child with his wife in November, scored the first goal in Sunday’s game and described an emotional pregame meeting between the players in the locker room. "Just keep your head down," Newman said of the message,"and play for that 'PR' on your jersey – Puerto Rico – and you’ll be fine."
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