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What is special hockey?
*Special Hockey is an adaptive version of ice hockey for athletes with intellectual, developmental, and/or physical disabilities. Special Hockey provides a supportive environment for athletes of differing abilities with a focus on sportsmanship, teamwork, friendships and achieving goals on and off the ice. This focus leads to improved physical and mental health, and provides a community of families and peers, positively impacting the quality of life for the athlete and their family.
Special Hockey athletes are diverse in ability and diagnosis, with each program providing adaptive supports to meet the athletes’ varying needs. Special Hockey is played “upright” and is played differently than sledge hockey. In Special Hockey, standard hockey equipment is used with adaptive modification which meets the athletes needs (if needed).
There are currently three Special Hockey Organizations that are sanctioned under HEO in our area:
* Definition taken from the American Special Hockey Association