Andy Mollica remembers like it was yesterday. His son John was 8, seven years removed from having a tumor taken out of his spine, a procedure that left him in a wheelchair. John had grown up loving hockey, but wondering how he could ever play. So when the family heard about a sled hockey program in Columbus, they decided to investigate. “He got in the sled, and he just took off with it,” said Andy, an attorney in Athens, Ohio. “After going all over the ice, he had to get out of the sled because others were going to try, and he cried. “Within a couple weeks, we had bought him a new sled and things took off from there.” Andy Mollica now is president of Ohio Sled Hockey, a sport that can be life-changing to those with physical disabilities. It’s tough to put into words what it means for those who take part to go from doing very little in the way of exercise to being able to skate, shoot, score, defend, hit — yes, it is full contact — and win. “It’s meant the world to us,” Andy Mollica said. “It’s changed my son’s life,” said Norm Page, USA Hockey’s sled hockey national representative. Page’s son Adam was born with the most severe level of spina bifida, with his backbone growing outside his body. Adam now walks with forearm crutches and is a member of the US Paralympic Sled Hockey team. Erik Knotts of Willoughby, Ohio, has been a double amputee since he was 1-1/2, when he contracted spinal meningitis. He lost both his legs above the knee and now has two prostheses. He plays for the Cleveland MightyBarons. One YouTube video shows him in the dressing room, flipping off his prostheses and lowering himself into his sled, then using his arms to walk in the sled from the locker room to the ice. “Erik is just like any other kid who wants an opportunity to participate,” said his father, Brian Knotts. Adam Page now is in college, studying sports management. He also has been hired by Mass Mutual to give inspirational and motivational speeches. John Mollica, now 17, is described by his father as “probably one of the most well-adjusted kids you’d meet.” “I’m just grateful he got the opportunity to participate in something like this,” Andy Mollica said. “What it’s brought to him to carry over into life, it’s just great.” Sled hockey — also called sledge — started in Sweden in the early 1990s, when a group of hockey enthusiasts decided not to let their disabilities stop them. They modified equipment and started playing on a lake outside Stockholm. In 1994, it became an official Olympic sport in the Paralympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. It now is one of four programs run by USA Hockey for those with disabilities, and it is played in 12 countries, with teams in Ohio in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati — with hope for further growth. Players sit on double-blade sleds and glide around the ice by using special shortened sticks with picks on the bottom. Periods are shortened to 15 minutes, but the sport holds nothing else back — as YouTube videos show (with one including a fight between the US and Canadian teams). Almost 60 kids take part in programs for the Cleveland MightyBarons, the Ohio Blades in Columbus and the Cincinnati Icebreakers. The game includes checks, diving stops and shots that go high on the glove side. All while players use their arms and upper body to skate. “It is not for the fainthearted,” Andy Mollica said. “I tried it once, got in a sled, and I damn near threw up. . . . People assume that it’s these crippled kids out there. No, it’s hard-core hockey.” Renee Loftspring runs the Cincinnati team. She is a physical therapist, so she understands the sport’s physical and emotional benefits. “Some people are restricted on the ground,” she said. “On the sled, they’re not.” Loftspring described one player who is in junior high school who has a degenerative disease in his joints. He has had hip and knee replacements, and probably will need more, she said. “He hasn’t been able to do a lot of things,” Loftspring said. “But when he gets in the sled he’s a free bird. He doesn’t worry about hips and knees. He can exercise and take off and be a kid and have fun.” Getting kids on the ice requires planning. Some can get in the sled on their own, some can’t. Those who can’t are transferred and then placed on the ice. Boys and girls can participate. “Most people who try it, 99 percent stick with it,” Loftspring said. “When they try for the first time, their eyes are wide open. Then, when they play and they take their helmets off, they are smiling. ” Brian Knotts said Erik was introduced to sled hockey by Sue Birkmire, a nurse at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Erie, Pa., where the family goes for Erik’s prostheses. All the involved parents echo the same feeling, using the word “blessed” that they found the sport. “Kids with straight physical disabilities,” Andy Mollica said, “the pickings are slim.”
The Pages live in Buffalo, NY. Shortly after their son was honored for winning a gold medal in the Paralympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, they heard from a friend about a family in New York whose son was also born with spina bifida. They drove down to surprise the family at a fundraiser, and talked to them about sled hockey. “Adam really gave them hope,” Norm Page said, his voice breaking as he remembered. “That changed all of our lives so much when you realize the positive power that kids have. “That’s something we’ll never forget.” Brian Knotts will never forget last weekend, when the Mighty Barons played in a sled hockey tournament in Columbus. “In the championship game against Grand Rapids,” Knotts said, “Erik put in the winning goal on the shootout.” Brian Knotts said the chills went all over his body.
