Sled hockey fans drum up interest

Adherents would like to form an adult team By Annie LinskeySun StaffOriginally published November 11, 2004

This winter there is a new sport in town.On Sunday nights at the Dominic "Mimi" DiPietro Ice Rink in Patterson Park, a small group gets together to play sled hockey, a game primarily for disabled athletes.
The group hopes to get a full-fledged adult team going here.This variety of ice hockey is fast, loud, graceful and sometimes harsh. A team comprises five players and a goalie, players swerve back and forth on the ice at top speeds, check each other and occasionally collide.To participate, players strap themselves to a seat mounted on a tubular sled with two metal blades screwed to the bottom. Players also grip short hockey sticks in each hand - to propel themselves forward and to hit the puck.
"Baltimore was a pretty big hockey town for a long time," said Jim Leatherman, a Baltimore native who is working with the city's Department of Recreation and Parks to introduce this version of hockey. "It would be a pretty exciting thing to get people turned on to sled hockey."There are roughly 55 sled hockey teams in the United States, according to the U.S. Sled Hockey Association.Most of the teams are in the Northeast, but there are teams in Texas, California and Chicago. The game started in Scandinavia.A U.S. team has competed in the last three Paralympic winter games, and it won the gold medal in 2002 in Salt Lake City.But you don't have to be a world-class athlete to play on Sundays."The thing about hockey that I enjoy is that you can take the game to whatever level you want," said Leatherman. He has played for the U.S. national sled hockey team, but several of the people who came to play were still learning the sport.
Leatherman brought extra sleds, sticks and protective equipment specifically for newcomers.Players don't have to be disabled. "Sled hockey is unique in the world of disabled sports because able-bodied people are welcome to play, and actually do play in sanctioned games," said Leatherman. On Sunday, most of the players were disabled, but the goalie was not.Sled hockey is a contact sport, but players were quick to downplay this aspect of the game."
When you first start out, that is not that aggressive," said Mike Doyle, an electrical engineer from Pennsauken, N.J.Regardless of skill level, players get a good workout."That pushing motion involves your shoulders, back, triceps and neck," said Doyle.
Leatherman agreed: "When I come off the ice, I'm drenched in sweat; I love it for that.
"The Dominic "Mimi" DiPietro Ice Rink is at 200 S. Linwood Ave.
Sled hockey will be played from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Sundays though early March.
Call 410-592-2494 for more information.