When Kyle Nachtrieb, Fort Campbell Fire Station 2 chief and a staff sergeant in the Army Reserves, left active duty, he was left with an itch – like something was missing.

“That high-tempo stuff is kind of hard to turn off,” Nachtrieb said.

While Nachtrieb had played hockey in his early teens, he gave up the sport in favor of football and swimming. But 14 months ago, he decided to pick up a stick again and play on the Nashville Fire Department’s team. Not long after, he found Hockey Saves while searching for military and veteran teams online.

Hockey Saves was founded in 2013, when Jax Andrews, a New Yorker, met a pair of Soldiers near Fort Benning, Georgia, who were having trouble getting ice time. Andrews, who was in the state caring for her mother, paid for a couple hours expecting it to be a one time donation that instead turned into a full-blown charity organization.

“Something’s missing and hockey just kind of fills that gap,” Nachtrieb said. “It helps us recharge our batteries and focus on things and have that peace, [because] we kind of don’t know where to put that energy. I know it’s helped me, it’s probably helped others too.”

Because of the post’s size, Nachtrieb thought it would be best to break away from the Nashville team and have a separate team just for Fort Campbell Soldiers and veterans.

Now, every Sunday, Nachtrieb and about 30 of his team members drive down to the Ford Ice Center in Nashville to play pickup games against fire departments and Southeastern Conference teams.

“When it first started in Nashville, we had no idea it would get this big,” Nachtrieb said.

In two years, the organization has seen a 600 percent growth, and Fort Campbell’s Hockey Saves team has been no exception.

“When we first started playing, they didn’t have goalies, so Vanderbilt [University] would send their goalies out to skate with us,” said Steve Boston, Fort Campbell firefighter and Air Force veteran.

Now they have to cap the number of players who come out with them every Sunday.

“When I got here, it was just me, [Nachtrieb] and a handful of other guys down there,” said Sgt. Josh Durand, 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. “Now we don’t even have enough ice time for the amount of people that want to play.”

Nachtrieb said that the team has gotten so big, they are considering splitting into levels because the team has members with varying experience including former college players and Soldiers who have never before played.

“[Hockey Saves] doesn’t just help guys [who] have played previously,” Nachtrieb said. “There’s veterans and such that come out there looking for that Family again. They come back out and they don’t really know how to skate, but they’re part of the Family instantly.”

Hockey Saves pays for lessons for Soldiers and Family members who want to play, and the team uses equipment donated by sponsors for the players to use in addition to ice time.

Although Fort Campbell’s team is mostly active duty Soldiers, the team is also open to veterans.

“My wife actually saw [the team] on that Fort Campbell Army Wives page, so that’s how I found out about it,” Durand said. “So I started skating maybe the second week of September.”

Durand said in addition to playing with Hockey Saves, he is also branching out and playing on one of the leagues at Ford Ice Center.

Sergeant William Smith, 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st CAB, 101st Abn. Div., found the team much the same way Nachtrieb did.

“I was on Google searching for hockey teams because I’d just got back into it,” Smith said. “And I found Kyle on some crazy website so I emailed him.”

Being a Rhode Island native, Smith said he was surprised he was able to find a hockey team to join in Tennessee.

“[Finding Hockey Saves] was great. I’ll go skate every week. I’ll skate as much as possible really. Sometimes I get yelled at for it, but that’s alright,” Smith said.

Despite how large the team has grown, Nachtrieb and the other members actively recruit new players because of the Army’s constant cycle of training exercises and duty station changes.

“The team we brought to Georgia was not the team we played with in the Heroes Tournament,” Boston said. “Then sometimes it’s day to day. If we have games on Thursdays and Fridays, we have a shorter bench. Saturdays we’ll have different guys because everyone’s off work.”

Even with other players to help him, Boston said, Nachtrieb still works the hardest to find new players.

“He’s like our little manager, as we say,” Boston said of Nachtrieb. “He’d be out somewhere and see a bumper sticker on a car and he’d be like, ‘Hey!’ He just starts rallying up [players].”

Boston said he joined the team because of Nachtrieb.

In addition to weekly pickup games, the team plays against colleges and has been invited to tournaments. They recently competed in the Heroes Tournament, which included police and fire departments from all across the United States and one fire department from Canada.

“We were the only military team that played in that and somehow got third place,” Nachtrieb said.

The tournament also got them invited to four more tournaments around the country.

“That’s the kind of stuff we get to play in,” Nachtrieb said. “Not only do we get to get together and have that release, we’ve made a lot of friends out of the whole thing, too. Without it we probably never would have met each other.”

Although Nachtrieb joined the Army Reserves right after he left active-duty in 2005 and became a Fort Campbell civilian firefighter in 2007, he said playing with Hockey Saves has helped him feel more a part of the military community.

“I wish I’d found this after active duty … I know I needed it,” Nachtrieb said. “Hockey Saves brings that Family back together and really helps us regardless – active, reserve, guard or veterans – [there’s] nothing like it. It’s more than hockey, it’s a Family.”

Hockey Saves was recognized by the Tennessee House of Senate and Representatives for all they do to help Soldiers, veterans and their Families by declaring April 4 Hockey Saves Day in Tennessee.

The Fort Campbell Hockey Saves team plays every Sunday at Ford Ice Center in Nashville. The games are open to spectators.

To sign up for the team, visit www.hockeysaves.us/i-want-to-play--.html or contact Nachtrieb at 270-798-0051.