Tom Cline realizes that taking over for Don Mulder as the Adult Council chair means he has big shoes to fill. 

Cline has a long, proven track record of growth and success at the adult level, and the Sylvania, Ohio, native is eager to continue the work and accomplishments started by Mulder and those who came before him.

Cline was elected vice president and Adult Council Chair at the 2024 USA Hockey Annual Meeting, held June 5-8 in Denver.

Mulder retired from his volunteer efforts within USA Hockey after serving for the last five decades. He worked as vice president and Adult Council Chair since 2018.

“Obviously, you have to be elected, but this has been in the works for the better part of a year,” Cline said. “Don asked me if I would take over for him when he decided to step down, so within the last year, he’s been handing me more and more opportunities to be involved and giving me a good tutorial. I’m thankful, and I’ll continue to use him as we can and as he wants going forward.”

Cline has been involved with the sport since 1972, when he played as a goaltender at Sylvania Tam-O-Shanter, a hockey and multi-sport facility in his hometown. Cline, now the general manager at Tam-O-Shanter, has served on the USA Hockey board for more than two decades. He was also a youth coach for almost 30 years.

“I like the people on the board, and I’ve worked with a number of them at national events for youth hockey,” Cline said. “We’re all volunteering for the sport. That’s what brought us together and it’s really cool to see that the common thread is that we’re trying to get kids and adults to play a great sport.”

In 2013, Cline won USA Hockey’s Adult Member of the Year award, presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions during many years of service to the ice hockey community as an adult player or volunteer. In 2020, the award was renamed to honor John Beadle, who for 27 seasons, served as vice president of USA Hockey and chair of theAdult Council, the same position Cline is currently holding.

Cline’s first goal in his new position is growth — specifically reaching 250,000 adult members by 2030. Cline wants to ensure players participating in adult hockey across the country are satisfied with the sport and with USA Hockey as a governing body.

“What’s the next big thing that the customer wants that they don’t know yet that they want,” Cline said. “Those are the challenges we have as a group and an organization. What can we do to make the membership more valuable to skaters and provide more opportunity?”

At Tam-O-Shanter, Cline has been instrumental to the expansion of the facility through the addition of a second ice surface in 1993 and an indoor turf field in 2001. He directs the in-house and travel hockey programs at the facility and played a key role in the acquisition of two businesses that were integrated into the center.

Under Cline’s guidance at the facility, the number of adult leagues has doubled with the introduction of an over-35 league and an over-50 league that has a waiting list. The number of youth hockey skaters has also increased, program offerings have expanded and there’s a stronger base for girls and travel hockey, creating a better experience for players and their needs.

Cline is looking forward to the challenge of providing increased opportunity to the adult members he serves at the national level as well. 

“We have to continue to try new things for adults,” Cline concluded. “Adults have tremendous amounts of pressure on them in terms of time and money, so they want to spend it wisely, but there’s also opportunity there. So how do we find that, while also realizing that hockey in Ohio is not hockey in Minnesota, which is not hockey in Idaho and Arizona. 

“We have to continue to put on the very best programs and events that we can and continue to progress the sport forward. We have our core values as an organization that everyone believes in, and as long as we fulfill that, we’ll continue to see enrollment increase.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.