Hockey

Hockey started with the focus on two guys, Donovon Piscopo and John Fitzgerald. In the word of Anthony Van Engelen: “If you skate with those dudes, they are so gnarly… it’s kind of brutal, kind of like Hockey.”

AVE says the idea for Hockey came about in the months surrounding the time he, along with longtime friend and teammate, Jason Dill, left AWS to start FA as a ‘proper’ brand. A sister company just made sense. FA had of course been around for years prior to this.

It would be remiss not to mention Benny Magliano’s input in steering the direction of the brand from the outset. Benny had previously worked with Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen, during their time on Alien Workshop, as a filmer. As AVE said “Benny Magliano works for us now… he’s the one that made the Hockey thing. He also does a lot of Hockey artwork too.” Benny is the creative force behind those short clips Hockey regularly release to announce new Hockey clothing and skateboards.

Hockey launched in April 2015 with a four and half minute self-titled promo video starring John and Donovon, though if you pay attention you can see AVE switch flipping in the background of one of Donovon’s clips. AVE had hit both John and Donovon up a year before Hockey launched asking them to be a part of the company. “Our plan was to ride spray painted boards for a year.”