Following its strong showing at the Torino games, sledge hockey is poised to be one of the highlight events during the 2010 Paralympic games in Vancouver.
History of Sled Hockey
Sledge Hockey (also known as sled hockey) was developed during the 1960s at a rehabilitation facility in Sweden, the brainchild of ice hockey players whose passion for the sport wasn't affected by injury and disability. They adapted metal sleds by attached ice skates to the bottom and used bicycle handles to propel around a local lake. From those beginnings, sledge hockey quickly gained in popularity throughout Sweden and leagues began to form with teams comprised of athletes with and without a disability. As its popularity continued to grow, Sweden introduced the sport to the international athletic community at the 1976 Paralympic Winter Games it hosted in Örnsköldsvik. Despite these early successes, however, Sledge Hockey wouldn’t be accepted as an event in the Paralympics until the 1994 games in Lillehammer, the intervening years providing an opportunity to work on enhancements to the sport.
The early 1980s saw national teams formed by Great Britain and Canada with other nations catching onto the sport throughout the following decade. By the 1990s, with the formation of teams in the United States, Japan and Estonia, the stage was set for sledge hockey to re-emerge on the world stage.
There are many sledge hockey leagues and associations throughout North America in both Canada and the United States. The sport has continued its growth around the world in places such as the Czech Republic, Korea, and Japan.
Sledge Hockey Rules
The rules of sledge hockey are essentially the same as those used in ice hockey with a few slight modifications to the criteria used in determining whether a penalty has occurred. The only penalty that is entirely unique to sledge hockey is “Teeing”, which occurs when one player directs the front of their sled into the side of an opposing player. Body contact must be made using the body or the side of a sledge.
The other major difference between sledge hockey and traditional ice hockey is a modification to the player and penalty benches. In higher level competitions such as the Paralympics, these areas are at ice-level, with see-through plexiglass doors providing players a view of the ice. In recreational leagues, where facilities cannot accommodate these changes, cones or other markers are typically used to indicate the bench areas.
Although recreational leagues often include both abled-bodied and disabled athletes, international competitions such as the World Championships do require athletes to have a disability that affects the lower half of their body and prevents them from participating in traditional ice hockey competition.
Sledge Hockey Equipment
Players wear the same equipment as their counterparts in ice hockey with a few exceptions, most notably the sled itself. Sleds are made from a variety of materials such as steel, titanium, magnesium and titanium, with an emphasis on weight and durability. Instead of the bicycle handles used earlier in the sport's history, sticks have much in common with typical hockey sticks with “picks” attached at the end of the shaft which dig into the ice and allow players to pull themselves over the ice surface.
Jordan Cripps - Born in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, and currently residing in New Westminster, Jordan became fascinated with writing at a very early ...
Join the Conversation