from Tom Gulitti of NHL.com,

Pat Meehan started playing hockey when was 4 years old on a partially covered rink in the Philadelphia suburbs.

"It had a roof but no sides and I remember being down there on cold morning with almost sub-zero weather that began to give you the sense of what it was like to make a commitment to hockey," Meehan said Thursday.

Now 61 and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, Meehan serves as co-chairman of the Congressional Hockey Caucus, which held a panel discussion on Capitol Hill on Thursday to highlight the positive changes the sport has brought to the communities it serves as it has grown throughout the country. Meehan also plays and will put on the skates for 2017 Congressional Hockey Challenge game between the Lawmakers and the Lobbyists at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday evening.

"It's not just that the game has grown," Meehan said. "It's that the skill level in the game is just remarkable. When we were starting out, there were kids who were naturally talented that didn't have the overall competition the way they do today and it's nice."

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