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Boston Blackouts, First Blind Hockey Team in Massachusetts, Hits the Ice

By Mass Hockey, 07/31/18, 11:15AM EDT

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AT WARRIOR ICE ARENA ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 5th

The first Blind Hockey team in Massachusetts, the Boston Blackouts, will be holding an on-ice practice at Warrior Ice Arena, 90 Guest Street, Brighton, MA, on Sunday, August 5 from 5-7pm.

Under the direction of Coach Nick McCummings, Disabled Hockey Chair for Massachusetts Hockey, the blind hockey program has hosted a series of recruiting clinics with Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown and The Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton.

“We are excited to welcome blind and visually impaired players to share the great game of hockey,” said McCummings. “This will be our first blind hockey team in MA and we look forward to sharing a different kind of hockey to the community.”

Blind hockey is played like stand-up hockey, but instead of the rubber puck, an oversized metal puck with ball bearings inside is used so players can hear its location. Teams have players with varying degrees of severe vision loss, plus some sighted players. While some of the players have partial vision and can see the puck in addition to hearing it, the sound is particularly important for the goaltenders, who are usually completely blind.

If anyone is interested in participating, sponsoring or volunteering, please contact Carole Appleton at carole.appleton@gmail.com or (413) 348-6372 by Wednesday, August 1st.


2018 Disabled Hockey Slideshow: