skip navigation

Wild Sled Hockey Set for Sled Classic

By Minnesota Hockey, 11/15/16, 8:30AM CST

Share

The Minnesota Wild Sled Hockey team will join a record 24 NHL-affiliated sled hockey teams in the seventh annual USA Hockey Sled Classic, presented by the NHL. Tournament play will begin Thursday, Nov. 17, and culminate with championship games for all five divisions on Sunday, Nov. 20. All games will take place in Antioch, Tennessee, at Ford Ice Center.

Each of the 24 competing teams are affiliated with NHL clubs and will represent their affiliated NHL club by wearing official NHL licensed jerseys with local club marks and logos. The number of teams and NHL clubs involved showcases the growth of sled hockey and the Sled Classic since the tournament was started with four teams in 2010.

The Minnesota Sled Hockey Association formed a partnership with the Minnesota Wild in 2013 to establish the inaugural Minnesota Wild Sled Hockey team. In 2014, the team made a splash in its first-ever Sled Classic by winning the Tier III classification.   

“These guys get to put a Minnesota Wild jersey on and compete in it,” said coach, Lee Costley. “That’s pretty special and all of our players know it. The pride they have in representing the Wild is very high.”

Last season, the Minnesota Wild Sled Hockey team moved up to the Tier II level where it finished with a 2-2 record. This year the team will participate in the third of five divisions, where they will compete against the Arizona Coyotes, Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators.

“We can’t do this if it wasn’t for the Hendrickson Foundation, the Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Hockey,” said Costley. “They are the ones that allow these players to compete at this level, and our team takes that seriously.”

Among the record 300 competitors slated to participate, 23 are current or former members of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team. Of those skaters, 11 helped the United States claim the gold medal at the 2015 International Paralympic Committee Sled Hockey World Championship in Buffalo, New York, and a total of 13 players skated on U.S. squads that claimed gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

The event is part of the sixth annual Come Play Hockey Month, a joint effort of USA Hockey and the NHL. For tournament details and a complete schedule, click here.

NOTES: Use the hashtag #SledClassic to join the tournament conversation on social media ... Five NHL clubs – the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, and Pittsburgh Penguins – have two affiliated teams in this year's USA Hockey Sled Classic while the Nashville Predators will have three teams ... All games will be streamed live at USAHockey.HockeyTV.com. Current subscribers of Hockey.TV can watch the games with their active subscription. Users whose subscriptions have expired can simply log in to their existing Hockey.TV account and activate a new subscription. New users to Hockey.TV should go to USAHockey.HockeyTV.com and register for an account. 

Most Popular