Bulldogs Trade Skates for Sleds
By:
DULUTH - Hockey is second nature for the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldog hockey team, but for one day the sport they know so well suddenly felt a little foreign.
"We're just hoping to score one goal. We don't want to get shutout in our first game in Duluth so it's going to be a good time. We're not really expecting to do to well but it should fun out there," said Justin Crandall, a sophomore forward for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs shared the ice with the Minnesota Northern, a sled hockey team made up of men and women with disabilities, as they compete in a game to benefit sled hockey in Minnesota.
"We wanted everyone to have the opportunity to be a part of that culture as a player not just a fan," said Christian Koelling, director of hockey operations for the Bulldogs.
The University of Minnesota-Duluth helped form the Duluth Area Special and Sled Hockey Association (DASSH) last winter, seeing a need to expand the hockey culture in the Northland.
"Kids are having to drive three, four, five hours down to the cities just to skate," said Ezra McPhail, a Minnesota Northern player.
McPhail, now a student equipment manager at UMD, is just one example of how sled hockey has helped him overcome a life–altering injury.
"I was playing juniors in St. Cloud when I got hurt. I got an incomplete spinal cord injury at the T5, T6 level. Once that hit me it was pretty hard. Yeah I had a rough time but right when I was getting through that rough patch was when I found these guys and they got me through it," said McPhail.
Not only does sled hockey give these players a chance to get back out on the ice again, it also gives them a chance to show people what they can still do.
McPhail said, "You see it all the time when people think once you get hurt you just stay in a hole. I mean it's like it's nice to see you out. It's like what else would I do."
"I mean they have the most positive guys, most positive outlook on life and they don't see what happen to them as a bad thing, they see it as a way to play hockey in another way," said Crandall.
The hope is to someday bring a sled hockey team to Duluth and in the end create a league in Minnesota, so more athletes with disabilities can share the same ice.
Crandall said, "I think this is a great way for people to show if you're down a little bit you're not really down. You can battle back and still have a lot of fun doing whatever you want."
