Where we started
TA Founder Chris DeVore in Acadia National Park with our hockey pup Maple in January 2019.
Third Assist was developed by a small team of hockey and history enthusiasts over six years ago now. Our team grew up in Anchorage, Alaska skating on frozen ponds, lakes, and outdoor rinks from October until April. For us, like many in the hockey community, pond hockey was the foundation of the more controlled, indoor game we play more often today.
Although Third Assist was originally conceived as a way to make the outdoor game a little more bearable- playing in negative temperatures for hours can take a toll on the extremities- it slowly evolved into a company showcasing the origins of the sport. Pond hockey is the origins of the professional, organized game we know now, and we’ve found many of us in the pond hockey community also share a passion for the history of the game.
Third Assist started with old-school leather gloves built for the outdoors in 2014, but it has evolved each subsequent year. The next development was custom hockey jerseys built for the outdoors by lining each unique design with a thick fleece. Then Third Assist introduced hockey sticks finished by hand like they were when they were crafted decades prior. More recently other pond hockey and historic hockey items have been added to the product offering as we meet more in the community who share our passion for hockey at its roots.
While we can go further into the nitty-gritty of our founding, we’ve been fortunate to make contact with other hockey authorities who can probably share our story a little better. Check out any of the links on our Features page to learn more about Third Assist and what we’re doing today. And lastly, feel free to drop us a line and tell us what you want to see. We’re lucky to represent a community of hockey aficionados and we hope to continue to represent enthusiasts like you reading this as we continue to evolve in the future.
Chris DeVore
Founder of Third Assist
July 2020
Although Third Assist was originally conceived as a way to make the outdoor game a little more bearable- playing in negative temperatures for hours can take a toll on the extremities- it slowly evolved into a company showcasing the origins of the sport. Pond hockey is the origins of the professional, organized game we know now, and we’ve found many of us in the pond hockey community also share a passion for the history of the game.
Third Assist started with old-school leather gloves built for the outdoors in 2014, but it has evolved each subsequent year. The next development was custom hockey jerseys built for the outdoors by lining each unique design with a thick fleece. Then Third Assist introduced hockey sticks finished by hand like they were when they were crafted decades prior. More recently other pond hockey and historic hockey items have been added to the product offering as we meet more in the community who share our passion for hockey at its roots.
While we can go further into the nitty-gritty of our founding, we’ve been fortunate to make contact with other hockey authorities who can probably share our story a little better. Check out any of the links on our Features page to learn more about Third Assist and what we’re doing today. And lastly, feel free to drop us a line and tell us what you want to see. We’re lucky to represent a community of hockey aficionados and we hope to continue to represent enthusiasts like you reading this as we continue to evolve in the future.
Chris DeVore
Founder of Third Assist
July 2020
