With traditional hockey being a highly competitive sport across the west central region, another hockey program allows for a different take on the sport and eliminates the use of the player’s legs and capitalizes on a different set of skills.

Sledge hockey is not a new sport, but is less well-known than traditional hockey. However, the Kindersley Klippers Sledge Hockey teams continue to gain traction as an organization while raising awareness about the sport.

Kindersley’s sledge hockey team was originally formed approximately 10 years ago by Catherine and Mike Close, parents of Braden Close who recently played with the Canadian National Para Hockey Development Team.

The sledge hockey program is now managed by Tracy Lyons and has gained the attention of numerous local youths.

The sport welcomes players of all ages as the junior division encompasses those who are 15 and younger and the intermediate division includes players 16 years-of-age and older. Lyons said however, depending on the player’s skill level, they could move divisions, as they have players as young as 11 on the intermediate team.

With registration a couple weeks away yet, Lyons said they are hoping for a full roster this year but juniors will likely be the fuller of the two.

“Juniors will be our focus with our older players, depending on if we get new people registering, will join with the senior or intermediate players from Cut Knife and will play together as one team for the tournaments.”

A prominent misconception with the sport of sledge hockey is that players who are able-bodied are not cannot play, Lyons said this isn’t the case.

“Our entire team is able-bodied and just enjoy the sport of sledge hockey. There are teams around the region that do have players who do not have the use of their legs that play, however, there are also a lot of people who can walk who play right along side them as well.”

She shared that the team would not exist otherwise as the local population would likely not be able to sustain a full team comprised of those with lower-body disabilities. However, opens the door to those who are to still play the popular winter sport with a competitive team.

“All the positions on the ice are the same as regular hockey and all the equipment is the same except for in sledge hockey, you obviously don’t wear skates as you are seated on a sled with two blades instead, and you have two sticks with picks on the end in sledge hockey, oppose to the regular hockey stick.”

Although the skating aspect is removed from the equation in sledge hockey, Lyons said the sport provides a whole new set of skills players must learn in order to be competitive.

Outside of the aforementioned differences between traditional hockey and sledge hockey, there is another aspect that largely differs between the two, the schedule.

“It’s great because we only have three tournaments a season, and one of them is here at home in Kindersley, so the travelling associated with sledge hockey is a fraction of what it is in regular hockey.”

She said not only does the sport allow youth to try something new, it provides another alternative to traditional hockey, which as stated, can be very competitive.

“If there’s some kids who kind-of like hockey, or they like it but maybe their skating skills et-cetera don’t let them to move up and continue on in traditional hockey, sledge hockey provides a really good alternative.”

Lyons is in her eighth year managing the team and said she is looking forward to another year and is optimistic about claiming another title win at the end of the season in March.