Woodbridge Rangers poised to hit the ice this season
Sled hockey team allows kids with disabilities to take to the ice and play
BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer

KATHY CHANG The United Spinal Youth Rangers Sled Hockey team is geared up to hit the ice this season. Standing (l-r) are Kevin Giron, who helped the sled hockey team this summer by playing goalie, Connor Fee, Jimmy Cox, Bobby Repsha and Evan Einstein, who also helped the team this summer. Bottom (l-r) Jessica Marrero, David Kessler, Brian Rhatigan and Josh Pauls. Not pictured, Lou Riccardi, Brandon Scott, Denny Greaney and Kevin Lynch.

WOODBRIDGE - Two ice hockey sticks, a sled, and a game face are all each member of the United Spinal Youth Rangers sled hockey team needs.

The 11 members on the roster, ages 8 to 18, finished their last summer practice on Aug. 25 before their fall season, which runs from the end of September to the second week in February.

The team had a winning 2005-06 season.

The members, who are made up of boys and girls in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, have a range of physical disabilities, but that does not stop them.

"This is a great sport for kids with spina bifida," said Kevin Fee, who has been the head coach of the team for five years.

This summer, Josh Pauls, 14, of central New Jersey was one of 18 boys and girls who made the USA 20 and Under Sled Hockey team. Tryouts were held at the USA Hockey Sled Hockey Development Camp in Rochester, N.Y., in June.

"It was the first time I tried out," said Pauls, who likes playing defense but also plays offense. "I wasn't nervous; it was fun."

Pauls, who has been with the junior team for five years and has a condition that affects his tibia, said he has always liked hockey.

"My mom heard about sled hockey, and I went to a charity sled hockey game," he said. "I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to give it a shot."

Nick Teodoro, 19, who was once a member of the junior team and is now one of the coaches of the team, made the Adult National Sled Hockey team this July.

The United Spinal Youth Rangers Sled Hockey team is part of the Atlantic Sled Hockey League, which is the only league in the country. The teams include three teams from New Jersey, including Woodbridge, and teams from Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The team plays its games at the United Skates ice rink at the Woodbridge Community Center and also travels to games in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

"All the rules in hockey apply to sled hockey," said Fee, who coaches the team along with John Eberhardt and Tony Pauls. "We have all the regular gear that able-bodied ice hockey has. The only difference is the players are sitting and they use two ice hockey sticks instead of one."

There are five players and a goalie on the ice and they play 15-minute periods during games.

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 sport is just as fast and aggressive as regular ice hockey. Players race for the puck and check each other into the walls with amazing force. T-boning is one classic sled hockey maneuver, where a player broadsides another with the front of the sled.

Fee said that when he became head coach, he had never heard about sled hockey.

"Tom Brake [president of the sled hockey team] showed me the equipment for sled hockey," said Fee, who has a 14- year-old son, Connor, with spina bifida. "I was knowledgeable about hockey and it's pretty self-explanatory. I researched the sport on the Internet. Once the players got on the ice, they saw how fast they could go."

In 2003, Tom Brake, Mike Pickett (vice president of the team), Kevin Fee, John Eberhardt, who is also Woodbridge's director of recreation, and Fee's wife, Angela, (the manager of the team) got together and started the first-ever sled hockey team in Woodbridge, called the Woodbridge Warriors.

In January 2006, the team's name changed as a result of sponsorships from the New York Rangers and United Spinal Association (USA), a nonprofit organization that works as an advocate for people with spinal cord disease and injuries.

Fee said all the players have a physical disability.

"Most of the players have spina bifida, and it depends on each player's disability," he said. "It's all about the arm movement. We have helpers who can push players during the game as well. Rules are amended."

East Brunswick resident Tracy Marrero said her 8-year-old daughter, Jessica, who was born with spina bifida, wanted to play sled hockey.

"We even had to wait until she was of age to play," she said.

Jessica, who plays forward and admires the New Jersey Devils, said she is having a lot of fun on the ice.

"It's a new sport for me," she said as she sat in her sled during the practice.

Evan Einstein, 17, Westfield, who has played hockey all his life, started helping the sled hockey team during their practices this summer.

"We share the same love for hockey," he said. "I see them motivated to play even with everything that they have to deal with, and that motivates me to accomplish my own goals. It's a really good experience."

Kevin Giron, 11, who is on the Woodbridge Wolfpack Hockey team, also started helping the sled hockey team this summer, by playing goalie.

"I've seen the players improving a lot since the beginning of the summer," he said.

Bruce Kessler said sled hockey has been marvelous for his 14-year-old son, David, who has muscular dystrophy.

"It's a way for him to be involved on a team and be competitive with others," he said. "When we made nationals two years ago, David said it was cool to see hundreds and hundreds of kids just like him."

Kessler said his son heard about sled hockey when he was flipping through the television.

"He told me that he could do that," he said. "I told him to research the sport online, and 20 minutes later a phone call was made. I certainly didn't expect that to happen."

Ice sledge hockey, which is better known as sled hockey, originated at a Stockholm, Sweden, rehabilitation center in the early 1960s by a group of Swedes who were physically impaired and wanted to play hockey. Several other countries began to establish their own teams, including Great Britain in 1981, Canada in 1982, the United States in 1990, and Estonia and Japan in 1993. Clubs have been established in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Russia and Korea.

The sport became an official event in the Lillehammer 1994 Paralympics Winter Games.

Fee said the team gets support from the Woodbridge Wolfpack Hockey team and Bill Irving of United Skates of America Inc.

The United Spinal Youth Rangers sled hockey team is looking for new members. Anyone interested in joining the team or obtaining more information should contact Kevin Fee, at (732) 416-0190, or John Eberhardt, (732) 548-9808.