Nanaimo Eagles team offers the hockey experience to people with developmental challenges
The puck moves quickly up the ice, from the rock-steady defence to the winger flying up the boards on the left side. He skates the puck deep into the corner, turns and sees the centre driving to the front of the net. The pass is a perfect, tape-to-tape effort and as the centre receives the puck she shoots it quickly, not allowing the goalie to get set. The mesh ripples. The crowd cheers loudly, and the players all give each other “High Fives”. Sounds like a scene that happens in every rink in every town across the country. But this scene is a little more special…
The Nanaimo Eagles are an ice hockey team comprised solely of youth and adults with developmental disabilities. The 15-member team, both male and female, lace up every Wednesday for an hour of warm ups, drills, an inter-squad scrimmage, and, if needed, some hard skating repeats – depending on how well they are listening to the coaches! Now in its 5th season, finding opponents has proven difficult. One other team exists, the Penticton UpperDeck Vees, but as you can imagine, the distance between the 2 offers little opportunity for competition. They have met on 3 occasions, splitting 2 games and tying the third – after an extended shootout in which both goalies proved unbeatable! For the 2013 season, the Nanaimo Eagles have set their sights on a much loftier goal…attending the Special Hockey International Tournament in Kitchener Ontario.
We share comments from the players and are joined in the studio by team coach Andy Reynolds and team captain Ron Greenhorn.
RELATED | Special Hockey International: Nanaimo Eagles | CTV News: Nanaimo Eagles Hockey Team |
