The Viera Company’s Todd Pokrywa Supports ‘Hockey Helps the Homeless’ Fundraiser

By  //  July 1, 2022

Pokrywa was the top event fundraiser, generated more than $7,500 for the cause

Todd Pokrywa, the President of The Viera Company in Brevard County on Florida’s Space Coast, has a big and caring heart for helping others. Recently, Pokrywa, above center, with NHL Alumni Todd Warriner, left, and Georges Laraque, traveled to his childhood hometown of Toronto, Canada, to participate in the Hockey Helps the Homeless Bay Street Tournament fundraiser. In his winning style, Pokrywa was the highest fundraiser and successfully raised more than $7,500 for the cause. “I am very proud to have been able to participate in this great event to help others,” said Pokrywa. (HHTH image) 

BREVARD COUNTY • VIERA, FLORIDA – Todd Pokrywa, the President of The Viera Company in Brevard County on Florida’s Space Coast, has a big and caring heart for helping others.

On June 25 the philanthropic executive traveled to his childhood hometown of Toronto, Canada, to participate in the Hockey Helps the Homeless Bay Street Tournament fundraiser.

In his winning style, Pokrywa was the highest fundraiser and successfully raised more than $7,500 for the cause.

“I am very proud to have been able to participate in this great event to help others,” said Pokrywa.

A talented hockey player in his own right, Pokrywa played on the Boom 97.3 FM team with NHL Alumni Georges Laraque and Todd Warriner.

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On June 25 Todd Pokrywa, left, with NHL Alumni Todd Warriner, traveled to his childhood hometown of Toronto, Canada, to participate in the Hockey Helps the Homeless Bay Street Tournament fundraiser. Pokrywa was the highest fundraiser and successfully raised more than $7,500 for the cause. (HHTH image) 
On June 25 Todd Pokrywa, the President of The Viera Company, traveled to his childhood hometown of Toronto, Canada, to participate in the Hockey Helps the Homeless Bay Street Tournament fundraiser. Pokrywa was the highest fundraiser and successfully raised more than $7,500 for the cause. (HHTH image) 
HOCKEY HALL OF FAMER Lanny McDonald, right, and Todd Pokrywa with the Stanley Cup. Pokrywa served behind the bench for Team Modano as a guest coach with McDonald and inductee Kevin Lowe during the Legends Classic as part of Induction Weekend.
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Viera’s vast integrated network of parks and trails is among the reasons it rates in the top 20 best-selling master-planned communities in the nation. Among the ample amount of these outdoor amenities, a delightfully unexpected recreation opportunity exists at the outdoor hockey rink at La Roca Park.

The popular rink owes its existence Pokrywa and a man who has breathed hockey pretty much since he learned to skate/walk growing up in Edmonton and Toronto, Canada.

“The rink was an idea I discussed with my team to offer a new recreational opportunity for residents to play roller and ball hockey, which appeals to many northern transplants and those hockey enthusiasts that have witnessed the robust growth of the sport in Florida since the NHL expanded in the Sunbelt with teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers,” said Pokrywa.

TODD POKRYWA, right, with former Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender and 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Mathieu Garon at the opening of the new outdoor street hockey rink at Viera’s La Roca Park. 

To open the rink in proper hockey style, Pokrywa engineered for former Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender and 2009 Stanley Cup champion Mathieu Garon to host hockey clinics for Viera children.

Viera’s connection with the Lightning – and hockey – does not end there.

“Viera is within the official viewing area for Tampa Bay Lightning broadcasts,” explained Pokrywa. “The timing of the new outdoor rink was appropriate, given the team’s impact on the growth of hockey programs in an expanding area of market influence and their back-to-back Stanley Cup wins.”

Viera also happens to neighbor the Space Coast Iceplex, with its robust schedule of children’s, youth and adult hockey programs.

Viera’s vast integrated network of parks and trails is among the reasons it rates in the top 20 best-selling master-planned communities in the nation. Among the ample amount of these outdoor amenities, a delightfully unexpected recreation opportunity exists at the outdoor hockey rink at La Roca Park.

Pokrywa is no stranger to the Iceplex, or to anything relating to hockey for that matter, as he served in a very special capacity at the 2021 Legends Classic in Toronto as part of the Hockey Hall of Fame induction weekend.

“I served behind the bench for the World Team, captained by Hall of Famer Mike Modano, as a guest coach with Hall of Famer Lanny McDonald and inductee Kevin Lowe during the Legends Classic as part of Induction Weekend,” said Pokrywa.

For a kid who grew up playing backyard hockey, such an opportunity to rub shoulders with some of hockey’s greatest players is an unforgettable honor.

His wife, Cyndi, and their daughter and son-in-law joined him for the weekend, which included the added bonus of being present when friend and recently retired Tampa Bay Lightning broadcaster Rick Peckham received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame for his contributions to the games.

ABOVE: Todd Pokrywa grew up playing hockey in both Edmonton and Toronto and learned to skate pushing a kitchen chair around the backyard during the winters when his dad would flood the backyard to create an outdoor rink.

Pokrywa’s earliest recollections of the game include the outdoor rink his father created each winter by flooding the backyard so his three sons could skate and play.

“I learned to skate pushing a kitchen chair around the backyard during the winter,” he said. “My Dad grew up playing hockey and he coached all of us. Both he and my Mom spent many years running all of us around to hockey practices and games. I remember very early mornings every weekend heading to the rink.”

Pokrywa compares his childhood to the short story “The Hockey Sweater,” an excerpt of which was once included on the back of the Canadian five-dollar bill.

“The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons,” wrote Canadian author Roch Carrier. “We lived in three places – the school, the church and the skating rink – but our real life was on the skating rink.”

Pokrywa agrees. “That was certainly true during my childhood,” he said. “Like many growing up in Canada, I played hockey from the time I was five years old until college.”

College was the University of Waterloo in Ontario, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning. When it was time to select the subject for his senior honors essay, Viera proved a hat trick.

“Growing up in Canada, my family vacationed annually in Melbourne Beach,” said Pokrywa.

“On those family vacations, I recalled reading in the paper about the plans the Duda family had for a new town on the property known as the Cocoa Ranch. I then selected the benefits of master-planned communities as my focus for the thesis, with a case study of the planned community of Viera. When the community’s development was in its infancy, I met with the then-management of The Viera Company, Brevard County and the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council to conduct my thesis research.”

He would later earn a master’s degree in administration with a specialization in organizational leadership from the University of South Dakota.

Todd Pokrywa served as chair of the Board of Directors for the Melbourne Regional Chamber of Commerce during 2020 and the Impact Awards were appropriately themed “Light the Lamp,” a common reference in hockey to scoring a goal. Pictured above are, left to right, Michael Ayers, chamber president; Kim Agee, Melbourne Main Street; David Cable, ReMax Elite; Pokrywa; Jeff Robison, Lightle Beckner Robison; and Neal Johnson, Union Home Mortgage.

Before joining The Viera Company, he was responsible for planning and construction activities at vacation ownership giant Sunterra, as a senior planning manager for Ivey, Harris & Walls (now Miller Legg) professional consulting firm and as vice president of strategic affairs for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Inc., a land management and agribusiness enterprise that developed another master-planned community, Lakewood Ranch in Manatee and Sarasota counties.

Pokrywa joined The Viera Company in 2014 as senior vice president of land use planning and development, becoming its president in 2018. He oversees planning, development, marketing and sale of land owned and managed by The Viera Company, primarily in Viera.

“I like best collaborating with the dedicated team of professionals at The Viera Company, as well as the many private and public stakeholders throughout the Space Coast that help us shape the next phases of the vibrant mixed-use and master-planned community of Viera,” he said.

“It is very fulfilling personally and professionally to have had the opportunity as a student to learn about the initial plans for Viera and to now lead The Viera Company team into our next stages of growth.”

Todd Pokrywa joined The Viera Company in 2014 as senior vice president of land use planning and development, becoming its president in 2018. He oversees planning, development, marketing and sale of land owned and managed by The Viera Company, primarily in Viera.

When not enjoying all things hockey, Pokrywa spends some of his free time at a local mecca for another sport, the Duran Golf Club and its Tradewinds Restaurant.

“There is a great new menu and many events and activities beyond golf at this top-rated community amenity,” he said, also noting that Duran’s general manager is a big New York Islanders hockey fan.

Pokrywa, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2010, enjoys a Canadian cold weather fix occasionally but is always happy to return to the warmth of Viera.
For him, the hockey rink at La Roca Park is more than just another nice amenity in a community chock-full of them.

“There is more to take away than mastering passing, shooting, or stopping the puck,” said Pokrywa.

“Hockey taught me the value of teamwork and many other important life skills. There are invaluable lessons learned about working with others, time management, respect, sportsmanship, managing emotions and determination in striving towards a collective goal. I draw on these lessons each day.”

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