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Momentum Builds for Wild Sled Hockey

By Minnesota Hockey, 04/01/14, 10:00AM CDT

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Minnesota Wild Sled Hockey prepares for the 2014 USA Hockey Disabled Festival

The high point of the hockey season is different for everyone. It can come from winning a tournament, scoring a game winning goal or beating rival. For others, it is all about watching the best players in the world reach the pinnacle of their sport like during the Olympics or the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

In the world of sled hockey, the focus is often on the USA Hockey Disabled Festival.  It is one of those weekends that gets circled on the calendar as soon as the schedule comes out.  The games and events leading up to it, while exciting in their own right, serve as a building block for that one big moment, and that moment is coming soon.

The 2014 USA Hockey Disabled Festival will be held April 11-13 at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts.  It is the largest disabled hockey event of its kind, providing an entire weekend of nonstop hockey action.  In addition, the event provides a great platform for promoting and growing disabled hockey throughout the country.

Lately, the Minnesota Wild Sled Hockey youth and adult teams have spent much of their time getting reading for their trip to Massachusetts.  

Building Towards the Future

On March 15-16, the adult team hosted their northern rival, Winnipeg, for a weekend of games with the hopes of getting some payback on a few losses early in the season and getting the team ready for the competition they would face at the festival. The weekend proved to be both a great primer and a confidence booster as the team won the final two games by scores of 4-0 and 2-1 after tying the first game 2-2.

“It was a great weekend overall,” said team captain, Eric Rud. “Our team went 2-0-1 on the weekend series. We had our full team together and were able to play well together.”

That wasn’t the only good news they would get over the weekend either.  Half way around the world, the USA Sled Hockey team beat Russia to win a gold medal in the 2014 Paralympics.

“Having our weekend be the same day as the Paralympic gold medal game was great too,” said Rud, who was recently elected the President of the Minnesota Sled Hockey Association (MSHA). “We rented out a banquet room at a restaurant close to the [Schwan] Super Rink and watched the game with the Canadians, our team, and our friends and families.”

Making it possible for the two teams to watch that game was the coverage NBC provided of the 2014 Paralympics. Each of Team USA’s five games were broadcasted nationwide giving sled hockey an unprecedented opportunity to promote the sport.

“The fact that Paralympic sled hockey got national TV coverage will be huge for our program,” said Rud. “We [already] had one person contact us who saw it on TV and emailed us asking if he can come try it.”

A Helping Hand

With the team feeling great after experiencing success on- and off-the-ice, the only challenges remaining prior to the USA Hockey Disabled Festival were finalizing the financing and logistics for the trip.  

Thankfully, the Hendrickson Foundation stepped up in a big way by offering to pay the airfare for the youth and adult sled hockey teams, as well as the Minnesota Warriors, to travel to this year’s festival. 

The Hendrickson Foundation, which is led by founder and president Larry Hendrickson, has been a major supporter of all the disabled hockey programs in Minnesota over the past couple of years.  The foundation provides regular financial support as well as organizing a variety of events including exhibition games with University of Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth Men’s D-I College Hockey teams and several pond hockey events.

To the people involved though, the benefits of being associated with the participants far outweigh the time and effort they put into it.

“It is a honor and a privilege for all of the Hendrickson Foundation Board to be a part of this mission supporting great people who are working to overcome some life changing events, and be a positive and productive part of their family and society,” said Hendrickson.

With the finer details being handled by generous partners like the Hendrickson Foundation and the Prairie Island Indian Community, which also makes a significant annual contribution to Minnesota Disabled Hockey, the players get to focus on the fun part.

Next up on that list?

A trip to Massachusetts and probably, the best weekend of the season.

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