The City of Toronto and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital are pleased to present Toronto Sledge Hockey in the Neighbourhood. The program was officially launched on February 21st, 2007. Now everyone can get involved! Play, coach, officiate, make a donation, help with organizing or spreading the word. Show your Canadian pride by participating in one of Canada's most popular game!

The Beginnings of Toronto Sledge Hockey

Sledge hockey was developed by a couple of avid hockey players who wouldn’t let a physical disability stop them from playing the game that they loved. Athletes sit on a kind of modified snow sled that has two skate blades under it and a light metal frame that allows the puck to pass underneath. Each player has two short sticks with a hockey blade on one end and picks on the other that they use like ski poles to propel themselves forward. The rest is pretty much the same as the traditional game.

Hockey Canada has announced their commitment to developing sledge hockey in our ‘home and native land’. They now offer sledge hockey Paralympians the same financial support as our other national team athletes. Sledge hockey was added to the Paralympics in Lillehammer in 1994 and is growing very quickly around the world. The best part is that Canada is very, very good at it, bringing home the gold from three straight international competitions in the past year.

The Toronto program brings sledge hockey to your neighbourhood. It follows after a series of focus groups which brought people together from across the city to determine the kind of recreation programming that people with disabilities would like to see in Toronto. The program is part of a commitment at the City of Toronto to dramatically increase accessible recreation opportunities in five years, and has been developed and is organized with significant contributions and feedback from participants and the community.

Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital has been a strong partner since the program’s inception. On April 7th, they helped bring over 60 people, including three of Canada’s gold-medal winning sledge hockey Paralympians, to an awareness game that launched the program. Since then, Toronto Sledge Hockey in the Neighbourhood has been gaining momentum and is now ready to break into the rapidly growing sledge hockey movement in Ontario and across Canada.

Now everyone can get involved! Play, coach, officiate, make a donation, help with organizing or spreading the word. Show your Canadian pride by participating in our national game!

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