Mark was one of seven adaptive hockey players who took part in the annual O’Ree Skills Weekend for the first time. They were among 46 boys and girls ages 10 to 16 from 21 Hockey Is For Everyone programs across North America who participated in the March 19-22 event hosted by the NHL and Red Wings.
Players from Dallas Stars Adaptive Sports, Central Park North Stars, Grand Rapids Patriots of the Western Michigan Special Hockey Association and HEROS Hockey’s SuperHEROS program from Canada practiced and played with kids from the Washington, D.C.’s Fort Dupont Cannons, Detroit’s Ice Dreams, Los Angeles’ ThruGUIDANCE 24 Degrees of Color, Philadelphia’s Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education and other HIFE programs.
“Everybody was just simply a hockey player, and that was unbelievably meaningful for all everybody involved,” said Jen O’Brien, executive director of American Special Hockey Association, a nonprofit organization serving people with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities through the lens of hockey.
“It was exactly what hockey is supposed to be — ‘I’m on a team, I’m playing, it’s inclusive,’” O’Brien said. “Everything was boundary-less. It was really cool.”