My son’s blog November 2017

Life is all about wonderful opportunities and great experiences. Thankfully, God has blessed my family and I with both of these assets. We get provided with a life full of benefits.

An example of this would be the ability to grow blind hockey and expand it throughout the New York Metro area. Having this great opportunity opens many doors for me, my family, and the visually impaired community. Giving the visually impaired a chance to play ice hockey allows them to interact with each other, communicate, and have fun.

In blind ice hockey, players use a large black puck filled with ball-bearings so that can hear where the play is despite their lack of vision. And for the goalies, there is a ‘passing rule’ which forces the player on offense to pass the puck to another teammate at least once to give the net minder a chance to get ready to defend the net. Also, there is a custom net for the goalies. This net is smaller then a regulation sized net. This cause the elevation of the puck to decrease which also helps the goalie make a save.

Fortunately, my family and I were able to host our first ever MYMBH event. It turned out to be extraordinary. The event was held at Northwell Ice Center, home of the NY Islanders! I was delighted to see a great crowd of people from all parts of America and Canada at our event. The skaters with vision issues fit right in with the volunteers as well. The helpers contributed a lot by assisting those who needed it. Many of the volunteers were from the Middle Country freshmen ice hockey team, which is the team I play for. Other kind people helped too including Steve Webb, a retired Islander, and Sparky, the team mascot! In addition, News 12 was in the rink as well. Eventually, my dad made it on the channel. He did a great job organizing the event and making sure everything was moving in the right direction.

Hockey for the visually impaired is a terrific thing. Seeing it grow is even better. So yes, our first event was definitely successful and I cannot wait for the many other events to come.