FARMERS BRANCH, Texas – There was plenty of praise to pass around at the 2024 USA Hockey Sled Classic, presented by the NHL.
It wasn’t just USA Hockey or the NHL that was singled out. The host Dallas Stars worked with those two organizations, the Stars alumni and two of the eight Children’s Health StarCenter rinks for a smooth operation.
Each entity cooperated to host a successful event.
“We’ve benefited a lot,” said Andy Gibson, executive director of Dallas Stars Adaptive Sports. “Organization and the structure that we have to kind of grow these disciplines has really been a catalyst. We’ve really made a lot of progress.”
Elizabeth Hayward, senior manager of Social Impact & Strategic Integration for the NHL, was among half a dozen from the league staff monitoring the event.
While USA Hockey runs the event, the NHL offers plenty of support to make sure the Sled Classic runs smoothly.
Hayward went to her first Sled Classic five years ago and it’s now circled on her calendar each year.
“That was my first exposure, and, honestly, I fell in love with this side of the athletes and the stories that come from this side of our sport.”
Brandon Beaver, USA Hockey’s manager of disabled hockey, has a dual perspective for the event.
“I am a disabled veteran myself, and just kind of fell into the role and took off with it and have been enjoying everything about it ever since,” he said. I’ve played ever since I was a little kid, and I continue to play Warrior Hockey.”
The key word for people like Gibson, Hayward and Beaver is “how.”
How can they make the Sled Classic even better?
None of them take the success for granted. Instead, they’re trying to continue to improve the event for future years.
“I come into these events every season, and I’m just working with USA Hockey to check in,” Hayward said. “What are the pain points? What’s going well? How can we continue to grow this?”
Gibson has reached out to other NHL markets seeking guidance on how to run adaptive programs.
“There’s a lot of great programs across the league that we really took some learning lessons from. We looked for guidance and support,” Gibson said. “We thought we were way behind in getting here. We were, but now that we’re here, we want to be a leader in the space.”
Hayward emphasized that the sled hockey community is a major priority for the NHL, and an event like the Sled Classic shows that commitment.
She paused at times during an interview to look down to watch her hometown Pittsburgh Penguins, who went 5–0 on their way to the Tier 2 title.
Hayward added that Dallas is a “dream host” for the Sled Classic.
“Dallas is a market where sled’s really growing, and they’re trying to make their rink more accessible and adaptive because the appetite is here.
“[The Stars] had some alumni come out on Friday night and coach the Showcase game. I saw alumni [Sunday] morning watching the Tier 6 game at 8 a.m.”
In addition to running Dallas Stars Adaptive Sports, Gibson is the general manager of the Children’s Health StarCenter-Farmers Branch, one of the rinks that hosted the Sled Classic.
The Dallas Stars Alumni Center is also located at the Farmers Branch facility, which presented a great opportunity for the former players to embrace the Sled Classic this year.
“The adaptive sports opportunity came at a great time because our alumni association was looking for a cause to really get behind,” Gibson said.
Among the 30 teams that played at the event this year, they represented 22 different NHL clubs. Seeing that number only got Hayward to think about how the league can do more to get all 32 teams involved with sled hockey.
No matter how many NHL teams are represented at the Sled Classic, Beaver pointed out that the league is a big reason why the event can take place every year.
“The NHL plays an active part with helping us begin the event, get our registration set up, get the NHL teams on board for the local sled teams,” he said. “They help promote, and bring everything together to continue taking the Classic to new levels.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
