What is Sled Hockey?

2009 Team Picture

Ice sled (sledge) hockey was invented in the early 1960’s in Stockholm, Sweden, by a few hockey play­ers who would not let their phys­i­cal dis­abil­i­ties get in the way of doing what they loved. They mod­i­fied their equip­ment and played on a lake south of Stockholm. However, it was not until 1994 at the Winter Paralympics Games in Lillehammer, Norway, that it became an offi­cial event. It is now prac­ticed in 12 coun­tries. Sled hockey has been played in Canada and the United States for sev­eral decades. Teams and clubs are spring­ing up through­out major US mar­kets, usu­ally with the help of their pro­fes­sional NHL teams. Players, who have phys­i­cal dis­abil­i­ties, sit in sleds with two blades on the under­car­riage of the sled. They pro­pel them­selves across the ice using two short hockey sticks with ice picks on the bot­tom. The game dif­fers from ice hockey only in equip­ment and period lengths of 15 min­utes instead of 20. Full hockey pro­tec­tive gear is worn as the rules of con­tact are the same. The games are action packed!

Ohio Sled Hockey is excited to con­tinue the suc­cess it has enjoyed thus far. Join us at our upcom­ing events to sup­port our orga­ni­za­tion and help keep sled hockey in the lives of our dis­abled youth athletes.

Let’s go Blades!