The Toronto Ice Owls.
Blind Hockey.
Walk into any hockey arena in Canada.
What’s the first thing that catches your attention?
Chances are, it’s the noise. Before you catch the flash of a jersey or the jet trail of the puck, you’ll hear the scratch of blades on ice, the yells of the players, and the whistles of the ref.
Now. Walk into an Ice Owls game, and listen carefully.
You’ll hear one more sound…
Welcome to the Ice Owls, a Toronto hockey team of blind and visually impaired players. The team was started in the spring of 1972, making them just a few months senior to the Flames and the Oilers. That extra sound you’ll hear when they play is the sound of the puck. It’s a hollow plastic wheel filled with nuts and bolts and hardware. It rattles and hisses as it travels across the ice. That puck is the critical difference that allows a group of visually impaired hockey-loving Canadians to come out on Sundays in Agincourt all hockey season long to play our national game.
Interested in seeing the Toronto Ice Owls in action?
Come to Agincourt Recreation Centre, 31 Glen Watford Drive, any Sunday at 11:15 am after Thanksgiving ’til the end of March.