With one of their largest tournaments yet, the 2022 Griff’s Sled Hockey Classic held March 18-20 brought 22 teams from around the Midwest to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Teams playing in junior novice to adults represented New York, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Wooster, Ohio.
The 10 adult teams participating are part of the Heartland Sled Hockey League. They have competed against each other all year, making this the championship weekend for the Heartland League.
Sled hockey is an adaptation of ice hockey designed for players who have a physical disability. To play sled hockey, the only requirement is that you have a disability that prohibits you from playing stand-up hockey.
Games are played the same as far as the rules of hockey. The difference is in the equipment. The players are on a hockey sled, which is an aluminum frame with a plastic bucket on it. A player sits in the bucket and underneath them are two actual steel skate blades that are sharpened in the same way as a hockey skate.
Players use two sticks instead of one. They’re short sticks with a different curve on them. At the butt end of the stick, they actually have steel picks they use to help propel themselves down the ice. The blade portion to the other end is used to shoot and pass.
With ice times being expensive, most teams get together once a week for a two and a half hour practice, that includes a lot of typical hockey drills that stand up hockey players do, just converted to sled hockey.
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