Nine area high schools will take part in a 3-on-3 preseason tournament to highlight the sport of blind hockey. The one-night tournament will be played on Thursday, October 26 beginning at 6:00 at Hatfield Ice. The players will skate wearing low-vision stimulation glasses to highlight visual impairment issues.
The participating teams will include Father Judge, Penncrest, Haverford and Springfield Delco from the Intercounty League, Malvern Prep and Holy Ghost Prep from the APAC, and Central Bucks South, North Penn, and Pennridge from the SHSHL.The event is being coordinated by Philadelphia Blind Hockey.
Hatfield Ice was the venue on Sunday as Philadelphia Blind Hockey held a clinic for visually impaired youngsters. Attendance was limited because of the weather and related road closures, but Kelsey McGuire, Philadelphia Blind Hockey’s founder and executive director says, the enthusiasm of the participants made up for the lack of numbers.
“We had one new player who signed up; it was her first time ever being out on the ice,” she said, “and the rest were returning players that were so excited to be back on the ice.
It was so good to see them.”
The PBH staff was supported by members of the Pennridge hockey team, who renewed relationships with players they had worked with at a clinic this past spring.
“There was a bunch of them there where it was their second time doing it,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna. “I didn’t ask them this time, they all volunteered to do it on their own; they came to me.
“We had six kids all together. For four of them it was their second time doing it. They really, really enjoyed doing that. And they’re starting to know who a couple of the kids are. They’re building a relationship with them.”
McGuire says Pennridge players are looking for ways to support Philadelphia Blind Hockey that go beyond being on the ice, including designing and building sleds for the program’s participants to help them become more comfortable on skates.
“So they won’t be leaning on sticks and actually learning how to skate properly with their head up,” McGuire said, “and not be afraid to fall.
“[The Pennridge players] came to me and said ‘We want to go even farther to give back to your program.’ They just love the kids and they love everything that we do.”
McGuire says the Blind Hockey program enhances the participants’ self-confidence.
“You just see in some of our younger kids,” she said. “That they’re so much more outgoing and they’re not afraid, which is a big part of it.
“Kids are always [being told] ‘They can’t do that.’ And this gives them the opportunity to prove that they can do it.”
The next Philadelphia Blind Hockey event is scheduled for Saturday, August 5 at Hatfield Ice from noon until 2:00.
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