Team takes pride in playing tough game
Woodbridge Warriors youth team plays first
sled hockey season
BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Connor Fee (r) makes a move to pass the puck in the Woodbridge Warriors’ first home game against the Vineland Stars at the Woodbridge Community Center last Saturday night.

If you want to be a Woodbridge Warrior, you need to be tough. The Warriors are the township’s sled hockey team, comprising boys and girls 6 to 14 years old with special physical or developmental needs.

But don’t think that means the game is easy.

Essentially, sled hockey is just like ice hockey, but played sitting down. Instead of propelling yourself along with ice skates, you have to use ice picks and push yourself along the ice.

Add that to the fact that the Warriors are a young team that just got together this year, playing established teams with players who are twice their ages, and it’s easy to see why you have to be tough to be a Warrior.

Warrior Patrick Mooney gets a shot of water before heading back into the game.

Dylan Levine, 12, Paramus, just joined the Warriors last week. He has played on sled hockey teams since he was 8 and has broken his legs twice.

Jim Cuevas, 12, of Elizabeth, showed off a scar on his arm that he got during a game.

Levine said there’s not much difference between sled hockey and ice hockey.

"The only difference is the way we tie up our laces," he said.

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Woodbridge Warriors goalie Chris Buchok, 14, stretches to make a save during the team’s home game against the Vineland Stars last Saturday at the Woodbridge Community Center.

"We still get slammed into the boards," Levine said. "You can also be penalized for T-boning."

T-boning would be another difference between stand-up hockey and sled hockey. If you broadside someone with the front of your sled, that’s T-boning, the players explained.

"It’s hard to get away with because the ref is always watching," Raymond Martin, 9, said.

In sled hockey, players sit with their legs in front of them, but slightly bent at the knee (almost like sitting in a kayak), in a tubular-framed sled approximately 4 to 5 feet long. There are two hockey skate blades under the seat of the sled. Players are strapped in at the waist and at the ankles so that their legs are stationary in the sled.

Players use two sticks about half the size of regular hockey sticks with picks on one end of the stick and the blade on the other.

The team plays with a regulation-sized puck in a regulation-sized rink. All the rules that apply to ice hockey apply to sled hockey.

The Warriors’ home games and practices are held at United Skates rink at the Woodbridge Community Center.

United Skates donates an hour of rink time free of charge to the team each Saturday.

Woodbridge’s Buddy Ball coaches Mike Fee and John Eberhardt, who is also Woodbridge’s director of recreation, teamed up with Mike Pickett and Tom Blake, president and vice president, respectively, of the Warriors, to create the team.

Buddy Ball is the township’s sports program for physically and mentally challenged kids. Five of the 12 team members were recruited from Buddy Ball, but the coaches and the kids say sled hockey is different.

Councilman James Carroll, the Buddy Ball liaison to the town council, recently attended the Warriors’ first home game.

"This is absolutely great," he said. "It gives the kids a chance to actually compete. They’re so dedicated and they love the game so much. The kids just have a great time."

"It’s very competitive," Eberhardt said. "Some of the other sports the kids play, it’s not that competitive. This is the first time they are being subjected to winning and losing."

Unfortunately, the Warriors have been subjected to a lot of losing. Their current record stands at 0-7.

But that doesn’t worry Eberhardt or the team.

"In three years, we’re going to be the best," Eberhardt said. "We’re going to have bragging rights in three years."

In three years, the team’s oldest players will be 17 years old and the youngest players will have an advantage of being seasoned veterans at a young age.

One of the youngest members on the team and the only girl is Kara Makwinski, 7, who lives in the Colonia section of the township.

Her father, Steve Makwinski, said Kara enjoys the competitive nature of the game.

Makwinski said Kara has low muscle tone in her lower extremities, but has tremendous upper arm strength — a requirement in sled hockey.

"She likes the competitiveness. Playing on the team boosts her confidence and she gets to meet different kids. She looks forward to it every week," Makwinski said.

Connor Fee, 11, also enjoys the competitive aspect of sled hockey.

"It’s different than Buddy Ball (sports) because it’s more competitive. It gives people a chance to play against each other," Fee said.

Eberhardt said it gives the kids a chance just to play.

"In the past, they only watched other children play. Now it’s their turn," he said.

Connor Fee has always loved ice hockey, noting that his Warrior number — 99 — is the same as ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky.

"Connor has followed hockey since day one," Angela Fee, Connor’s mother and Warrior manager, said.

Chris Buchok, 14, is the Warriors’ goalie. Buchok is excited to finally be playing in a hockey league.

"I never played in a league because I couldn’t skate," he said.

But that never kept Buchok from participating in sports.

"I never felt excluded. I would play hockey in the park with my brother and they don’t go easy on me," Buchok said.

They still don’t. As goalie — especially for a young team — Buchok makes a lot of saves for the Warriors.

Although the Warriors are still working on their first win, the opposing team’s score stays low thanks to Buchok.

"It’s only been four months," Levine said "As time goes on, yeah, we’ll get better, but we need to recruit more people."

Levine’s mother, Merill Levine, said Dylan began playing sled hockey because he didn’t want to play other wheelchair- based sports.

"He was depressed and wouldn’t do anything in a wheelchair, but then we found sled hockey," she said.

Now Dylan plays basketball, tennis and participates in track and field.

"They’re a very young team and they’re going to be good in the future," Dylan’s father, Dan Levine, said. "They’re young kids. They have a lot of talent and they’ll persevere."

The Warriors will be out of town for their next two games, but will play home games at the Woodbridge Community Center every Saturday through January at 7:40 p.m.

All Warrior home games are free and open to the public.

In February, the Warriors head to Abingdon, Md. where they will compete in the Atlantic Hockey League Nationals.

For more information about the Woodbridge Warriors, call team manager Angela Fee at (732) 416-0190 or John Eberhardt at (732) 596-4045.