FORCE BLUE Launches Partnership with NHL

FORCE BLUE teamed up with the National Hockey League, Tampa Bay Lightning, and marine conservation nonprofit Tampa Bay Watch to build a “living shoreline” around MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa this January.

The project, which was timed to coincide with the NHL’s Outdoor Games this year in Miami and Tampa, featured FORCE BLUE veterans and Tampa Bay Watch scientists leading around 100 local volunteers in bagging six tons of recycled oyster shells, then transporting and placing those bags along a hockey rink-sized stretch of shoreline on the grounds of MacDill AFB.

The environmental purpose is two-fold: to help buttress the coastline against erosion brought on by storm surge, and to help ensure clean water and healthy ecosystems for the residents and visitors who rely on Tampa Bay for their work and recreation.

From a FORCE BLUE perspective, the project marked the beginning of what the organization hopes will be a long-term partnership with the NHL.

“After five years of working with the National Football League and deploying our veterans on numerous Super Bowl projects, we understand the value and the spotlight professional sports leagues bring to the work we do,” said FORCE BLUE Executive Director Jim Ritterhoff. “The NHL understands the importance of clean water; their sport is built on it. To have them as a partner on this project and, hopefully, in future efforts speaks to that understanding and to their willingness to lead the charge.”

“Hockey players and Special Operations veterans have a lot in common,” said FORCE BLUE Special Projects & Events Director Steve Gonzalez, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL. “To do what we do requires a level of grit and determination you simply don’t see in everyone.”