New Shop Capitalizing on Hockey Craze

When asked to name the most popular sports in Florida, chances are the responses would include football, baseball, softball and soccer, in no particular order. 

Kids in Florida grow up playing these sports all year long, thanks to our omnipresent sunshine and pristine playing fields. 

But according to Joe Sciandra, people might be surprised to learn an indoor sport, one that’s played on ice, no less, is taking the Sunshine State by storm, creating a demand for playing surfaces and equipment that he is prepared to meet. 

“People don’t realize it, but we have a lot of hockey in the area,” says Sciandra, a longtime hockey player and coach. “There are seven sheets of ice from Ellenton to Oldsmar, and there are probably more than 400 teams in the region. In fact, Florida is ranked among the top 15 states in the country as far as hockey popularity, based on the number of players, teams and rinks there are in the state.” 

That popularity combined with a lack of second-hand equipment providers led Sciandra to open 2nd Time Sports, a sporting goods store on U.S. 19 that specializes in buying and selling hockey gear. 

“We have equipment and gear for all sports, including golf, baseball, biking, fitness, football, tennis and lacrosse,” said Sciandra, 50. “But we do more with hockey.” 

Shop Partners With College and NHL Players

Sciandra, a native of Buffalo, NY, partnered with former Ohio State standout Dave Beaudin to open the shop in December as an offshoot of a store Beaudin and his father, ex-NHL player Norm, ran in the Clearwater Ice Arena. 

What sets 2nd Time apart from similar stores is the fact that it offers clinics and lessons, and the shop completely sterilizes every piece of used equipment it receives before putting it out for resale. 

“We do stickhandling clinics with former NHL player Hugo Belanger, autograph signings with Lightning players like Martin St. Louis, and also do fitness training and give goaltending lessons,” Sciandra says. “Plus we have more used hockey equipment than anyone else in the state. So parents don’t have to pay outrageous prices in order for their kids to enjoy playing the sport.”

Owner Has Dreams of Opening a Rink

Now that Sciandra has entered the retail side of the sport he has played since he was a kid, he has grand plans of taking his passion to the next level; in addition to franchising the store, he and Beaudin hope to open their own facility in the near future. 

“Our ultimate goal is to franchise this, but our real ultimate goal is to open a rink with three sheets of ice,” Sciandra says as he displays blueprints of his plans. “We have locations that we’re hot on the trail of.

“Hockey is big in this area right now. We’re in a good position to capitalize on that.”

2nd Time Sports

Address: 31055 U.S. 19 N

Phone: 727-784-0007

Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday