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Sunday, December 11, 2005
COLUMN: Steve Solloway
Tough sledding, but worth the ride
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DANBURY, Conn. - Dan Sousa tries to quit, to push himself away from the sport that sometimes keeps him awake at night. He is 40 years old, with a body that needs a little more tender loving care each winter. He should stop dragging it onto the ice and putting it in harm's way. He can't. "These guys are my teammates," said Sousa, speaking of the men who are the Portland Sled Hockey Pirates. "But this is more than playing hockey. These are my friends." That's why Sousa, Craig Gray, Andy Moore, Garrett Stephens and several others awoke at dawn last Sunday, eager to begin a four-hour trip to this small city in western Connecticut. This was opening day for the five teams that make up the Prudential Northeast Sled Hockey League. When heads were counted, fewer than half of the 15 players on the roster were on hand for the small caravan. Illness kept some at home. Mike Geary, a defenseman fighting cancer, was weakened by nausea. There was little time for breakfast and no time to stop once the team hit Interstate 84 in Connecticut. The season's first snowstorm had narrowed the multilane highway to one rutted lane. Turning back was not an option. "We were concerned with the weather," said Gray, of Scarborough, the team's player/coach and a member of the new league's board of governors. "We had contingency plans." Of course. To people with disabilities, life is full of small and large challenges. Typically, they don't let the hurdles stop them. Outside the Danbury Ice Arena, players pushed through the snow with their equipment. Inside, they knew what awaited them. Arenas have made spectator areas accessible to hockey fans with disabilities. But who thought of hockey players with disabilities? Many of the players with disabilities pushed their sleds in front of them and crawled onto the ice. "I've pulled players out by their legs," said Peter Grosso of Westbrook, the team captain. He wore a protective boot on one foot because of recent surgery but like several of his Pirates teammates, he does not have a disability. Truth be told, the Pirates and the other teams need able-bodied players, primarily to fill out rosters. "Yeah, I can walk," said Stephens, a 1998 graduate of Old Orchard Beach High and, like Grosso, employed by UNUM-Provident, a team sponsor. "I tried playing hockey on skates. Once. I knew I could get hurt. I stayed with basketball. "But this, after I got into that sled, I knew I could play. In this game, it doesn't matter who can walk and who can't. I don't see my teammates as disabled. The sleds make everyone equal." Few players on the Pirates have a hockey background. Moore, of Saco, is one. He played high school hockey in Wakefield, Mass. At 19, he broke his neck in a car accident. He can stand, but walking is difficult. Moore can remember the speed of the game, from the dashes down ice to the whistle of a puck on a slap shot. He remembers the shower of ice shavings when you stop. "There's a lot about this game that's the same, but it's slower," said Moore, who nursed a head cold Sunday. "In the sleds, you don't really have lateral movement. Watch the goalies. When there's a rebound, it's hard for them to get back into position quickly." But close your eyes and the sounds are the sounds of hockey. The rap of sticks on the ice, the swish of the skates, although these are beneath sleds instead of on feet. The crash of bodies into sideboards. The bursts of words, alerting teammates to what is happening behind them. One of the few things missing Sunday was the roar of a crowd. The teams played to a virtually empty house. Sousa didn't care. He's a single amputee who ran track in high school before he got his first motorcycle. He was 16. Soon after, he ran into the cement base of a light post. His leg was gone. Years later, working and living in Dallas, he saw a notice for a sled hockey exhibition. "I grew up in New England, but I was the kid who skated on his ankles. I stunk. I didn't play hockey." At first, he couldn't get past the word sled. "I'm thinking, sled, snow, must not go very fast. I even forgot that ice was slippery. "Then I got into the sled and after two or three pushes, I'm going, whoa, this is kind of fun. Having the wind on my face again, getting to hit people, shooting the puck. What more could you want?" Sousa lives in Greenfield, N.H., north of Nashua. He and Gray were teammates on the New England Bruins, a sled hockey team that plays in very competitive tournaments around the country. When Gray helped organize the Pirates, Sousa followed. "You love to win, but this is about friendships," said Sousa. Sunday, the Pirates, who are not affiliated with the Portland Pirates but wear Pirates jerseys they purchased with money raised by a Portland Pirates fund-raiser, tied the Pennyslvania Center-Pedes and beat the New Hampshire Wildcats. The Center-Pedes are a very competitive team led by Jim Leatherman, a double amputee from Maryland who has played with the U.S. Paralympic team. Leatherman lost both legs in a train accident when he was 6. Friends and opponents call him by his nickname, Keg. "He checked me a few times," said Sousa. "I didn't have to wait until Monday to feel the ache." Between games, Sousa rummaged in his bag in the team locker room and came up with a box of precooked bacon. "Who else is hungry?" he called out. "C'mon, you gotta have the bacon. It's not crispy, but who cares?" Later, Sousa, taking centering passes from Gray, scored in the Pirates' win over New Hampshire. He brought home the bacon, so to speak. Afterward, as a winter afternoon gave way to the approaching evening, the players headed east and north to their homes, arriving 14 hours after they left. "A hotel room would have been nice," said Sousa. "But these one-day trips save marriages. "I've been trying to quit this sport for three years, but I know what I'll miss if I do. Maybe next year." Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at:
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