Former Enfield Hockey Players Competing In New Semi-Pro League

HOLYOKE, MA — When hockey players wind up their high school careers, they normally follow one of two specific courses. Either they continue their playing days in college, at the varsity or club level, and occasionally one will find his way into the professional ranks.

The majority of scholastic players, however, wind up playing in local men's leagues, often rushing to the rink from their jobs to partake in non-checking competition (theoretically) starting at ungodly hours of the night.

Beginning Saturday night, a brand new league, sandwiched between the two levels described above, is set to commence in the area. The Union Hockey League, a semi-professional circuit featuring a dozen teams, kicks off its debut season with four contests, including one featuring a pair of former standout players for the Enfield High School co-op team.

Patrick Fleming, a 2019 Enfield graduate, and former linemate Clay Cowee, who concluded his Eagle career a year later, have both signed to play for the Holyoke Papermen in the fledgling league. Holyoke's opener is in Watertown, Mass. against the Boston Gold Kings, beginning at 8 p.m.

Holyoke is one of four Massachusetts-based teams in the Eastern Division, with two others in New York. The Western Division features three teams in Michigan, and one each in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The Union Hockey League is a mix between semi-pro and senior hockey, with players compensated for travel and other expenses via a ticket sales split but allowing them to retain their amateur status. Players can also make a substantial commission by selling season tickets and partnerships.

Fleming, 22, joins the Papermen after playing four years of Division II club hockey at the University of Maine. He said he was encouraged to try out for the semi-pro team after being spotted in a men's league game by Holyoke coach/general manager Anthony Langevin.

"I'm looking forward to continuing playing hockey," said Fleming, who works as a research assistant at Jackson Laboratory in Farmington.

Cowee, at 21 the third-youngest member of the 20-man roster, played a postgraduate year at Bridgton Academy in Maine after an All-State senior season at Enfield. He is now a security supervisor for an insurance company, but looks forward to returning to strong competition on the ice.

"It will be nice playing in front of fans and with actual officials again," he told Patch. "This has brought a lot more light back into the future."

If preseason games are any indication, it should be an exciting year for the Papermen. They went 3-0 in exhibition games, outscoring their opponents by a combined 23 goals.

"We were lighting teams up," Cowee said.

A 20-game regular season runs from January through April, with Holyoke's home games to be played at the Fitzpatrick Skating Rink.