SLEDDING'S GOOD FOR THIS HOCKEY TEAM
Thursday, June 27, 2002
By Suzanne Zionts
For the Courier Post
Every Thursday afternoon between 5 and 6:15, on the same practice ice used by both the Philadelphia Flyers and Phantoms, another hockey team goes through its drills.
The soft sound of skates gliding along the surface is is is punctuated by the slap of sticks striking the puck and the shouts of teammates.
But for many of these young men and women, being on the ice and playing hockey is more than a recreational activity. It is an affirmation that they are as able as anyone their age to participate in a physically demanding sport.
The South Jersey Wings of Steel sled hockey team gives physically challenged players the chance to compete.
The adaptive sport uses sleds with leg extensions, seat belts, and ice skate blades on the bottom so that participants can glide across the ice, crash into boards, and shoot to score.
Players are male and female and range in age from 12 to 21. People with mobility limitations, amputees, and able-bodied people with knee, leg or hip injuries also play the sport as an alternative to ice hockey.
Players drawn regionally
Team members are drawn from throughout Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties.
Cathy McNulty of Mullica Hill and her daughter Keely, 12, who was born with cerebral palsy, are heavily involved in sled hockey.
"My daughter truly loves the sport and it's something she can do. It's interactive with other children and it has a positive influence," McNulty said.
Ginny Jones of Mount Ephraim said her 14-year-old son Tim, who has spina bifida, loves the sport.
"(Tim) tried to play regular sports but he could never excel at a sport until sled hockey," Ginny Jones said.
Jones said the team has brought together parents, kids, coaches and members of other hockey clubs throughout the region.
The Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees donates ice time in the summer for practices. Local hockey clubs have contributed equipment.
"The kids have not had to pay for one thing. We have raised all the money with the help of the community, Flyers Skate Zone, and fund-raisers," said Lori Brake whose father and team head coach Tom Brake is one of the founders of the team.
Tom Brake, plant engineer at Virtua West Jersey Hospital in Voorhees, has been involved with youth hockey for more than 30 years. He said he got involved in sled hockey last year after seeing a game in Philadelphia.
Brake started the South Jersey program in April 2001 with only five players. The team has now has 24 players.
"My daughter was never able to play hockey because of her juvenile arthritis. It was kind of a closed door to her. Now she has a chance to play a sport that is very physical," said Kris Gordon of Tabernacle.
Rules are much the same as in regulation hockey, except there is no checking allowed of special youngsters, who are designated by specially marked helmets.
Players propel their lightweight aluminum sleds using two, 32-inch-long sticks like ski poles. They shoot the puck with the other end of the sticks.
Some players who are not able to push themselves are assisted by "pushers" until they develop sufficient upper body strength to move on their own.
The Wings of Steel is one of six youth sled hockey teams in the region. It is part of the Atlantic District Sled Hockey Program which includes teams in New Jersey, southeast Philadelphia and Delaware.
In April, the Wings of Steel went to Maryland to compete with the Bennetcq Blazers. During this overnight excursion, both parents and team members came together as a unit, said assistant coach Norm Jones.
"The reasons I coach here is for all the smiling faces. I call these kids my kids," said assistant coach Norm Jones.
Danny Wheeler, 16, said Wings of Steel is his second team. A former member of the Atlantic Hammerheads of Philadelphia, Wheeler said sled hockey is one of the " greatest" sports.
"I've been playing it for years," Wheeler said.
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