Beginning of Amputee Hockey and Participation of Amputee Hockey Players in the Public Events

Author/Origin: Mark Pitkin, Ph.D. mpitkinSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERtufts-nemc.org

(Saturday 07 December 2002 St. Petersburg)

International Institute for Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Landmine Survivors (IPRLS),
Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.

On November 26 of 2002, it was the third time that the Russian National Congress “People and health” had in its program an amputee hockey match.

One of the reasons for such a tradition was that the beginning of hockey-on-prostheses took place in St. Petersburg, and the hosting St. Petersburg team, the “St. Petersburg Elks,” is the first ever team of amputees playing standing ice hockey on a regular basis.

The first practice on ice was arranged on September 2 of 1999 by Dr. Konstantin Scherbina, Deputy Director of the St. Petersburg Albrecht Institute of Prosthetics, and Alexei Balakhotsev, Afghan War Veteran, unilateral below-knee amputee. Both have been participants in the program “US-Russian Prosthetic Rehabilitation Bridge,” established in 1998 between the Albrecht Institute and the IPRLS [1]. Dr. Scherbina is a Co-Director of the program, and Alexei was the first patient to receive the Free-Flow Foot, an experimental prosthesis made in the USA, and also participated in a multi-phase biomechanical study. Hockey-on-Prostheses was among the topics of our, along with Professor Anatoly Keyer’s, Director of the Albrecht Institute, discussions in Boston during the First (June 1998) and the Second (July 1999) IPRLS International Conferences on Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Landmine Survivors. We supposed that ice hockey, where strong physical and emotional challenges do exist, but are in addition to sliding, would be a sport more appropriate for leg amputees than other sports with jumps or kicks, such as basketball or soccer. Ice hockey, as an aggressive team sport, was also foreseen as a potential source of research data for the improvement of prosthetic technologies [2].

The first practice showed that the players were interested and capable of skating and playing, but they needed special prosthetic and medical management, the aid of a professional coach, hockey equipment, and ice time. In addition, they were presented with challenging goal: to soon be prepared for a trip to the US, and maybe for a match against American amputees during the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships-2000 in St. Petersburg.

When Nikolai Maslov, a World Champion and prominent professional coach, began to work with the amputee players, they had just three weeks prior to the match in the US. Only Nikolai and the hockey players know what obstacles and difficulties they overcame before they arrived in Boston as a team called “St. Petersburg Elks.”

There were many respected individuals and organizations in the US, like Ohio Willow Wood Co., Franklin Sports and New England Sinai Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, who offered their help and support when I approached them with the news that Russian War Veterans amputee hockey players are coming to Boston. The ice time for the demonstration match was donated by the U.S. Sled Hockey Association, which, along with “Boston Blades,” a New England sled hockey team, was conducting its training at the Tsongas Ice Arena in Lowell, MA. The American sled hockey players gave the Russians one of the two intermissions during the match of the U.S. Ice Hockey College Championships. That allowed the St. Petersburg Elks to play for 7 minutes in front of an audience of four thousand. But against whom would they play? There was not such a team in Boston, nor in the USA, nor anywhere in the world on December 4 of 1999. It was Dale Wise, President of the “Boston Blades” who invited a hockey team of Boston Postal Workers, led by Ron Lassman, to play against the Elks.

The article in the Boston Globe by Associated Press writer Jimmy Golen about the Russian team and the game of December 4 of 1999 was wired worldwide, sparking interest. Some potential players, like David Brodar and Chris Nowak from Philadelphia, responded to the news, writing me letters. Others were approached by my colleagues Dr. David Crandell, New England Sinai Hospital, Stoughton, MA, Greig Martino, United Prosthetics, Boston, MA, and Mike Brito, coach of the Boston Blades, who became the first coach of the U.S. Hockey-on-Prostheses team.

By the end of April of 2000, six American players, a team coach (Mike Brito), a team physician (David Crandell), and a team prosthetist (Greig Martino) were ready to fly from Boston to St. Petersburg to play against the Elks on May 10, 2000, during the IIHF World Championships-2000. Two letters came to me during those days. One was from the Soros Foundation, saying that the IPRLS application for funds for the trip of the American team to Russia was rejected. The second one was from St. Petersburg, saying that without permission from the IIHF, the US-Russian Amputee Hockey match would be excluded from the program of the IIHF Championships-2000. Obtaining the IIHF’s permission was critical. So, to minimize the chances of refusal, I called the Assistant to Mr. Rene Fasel, President of the IIHF, and told her that within an hour, she would receive by fax my letter to Mr. Fasel and 15 pages of supporting materials. I also kindly asked her to make sure that Mr. Fasel would read each of these pages with full attention, since it relates to amputee hockey players, some of whom are landmine survivors and War Veterans. The materials included publications about the program “US-Russian Prosthetic Rehabilitation Bridge,” its role in the initiation of standing amputee hockey, letters of endorsement from US Senator Edward Kennedy, First Lady Hillary Clinton, Yury Ushakov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the U.S., two-time Stanley Cup Champion Bobby Orr, and a letter signed by six Members of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, generated by Mikhail Brodsky, a longtime supporter of the US-Russian Bridge program. We don’t know what in fact helped Mr. Fasel make a favorable decision, but in two days he and Alexander Steblin, President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, agreed that the US-Russian Amputee Hockey demonstration match would occur during the intermission of the match “World All-Stars vs. Russian All-Stars” on May 10, 2000, at the Yubileiny Ice Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia. Vladimir Yakovlev, Governor of St. Petersburg, and Paul Thomas, US Consul General, greeted the amputee players and praised the “US-Russian Prosthetic Rehabilitation Bridge” program for the initiation of ice hockey as a new sport for persons with disabilities, and for promoting assistance for landmine victims.

The first US-Russian match gained worldwide attention, and demonstrated that, if provided with proper conditions, amputees can play real ice hockey. Top officials of the IIHF, and of many national ice hockey federations, had the opportunity of observing the match. That is why, when in three weeks I attended the Annual Conference of USA Hockey in Colorado Springs, CO, there was not much need to tell about amputees playing hockey.

Hockey professionals, who happened to be in the Yubileiny Ice Palace on May 10th, had already seen them in action. They were very pleased to learn that on the day after the game, the American and Russian teams attended the Conference on Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Landmine Survivors at the St. Petersburg Albrecht Institute and visited the Institute’s Amputee Clinic for Children. That was not only a real inspiration for dozens of disabled kids, some of whom were victims of land mines, but a manifestation of a new role which amputee athletes were about to play in society: the role of ambassadors for the needs of others. USA Hockey also became sensitive to the fact that standing ice hockey for amputees was initiated by the Russian War Veterans, many of whom were landmine survivors themselves. As a result, USA Hockey sanctioned the establishment of the American Amputee Hockey Association (AAHA), which I co-founded with Dr. David Crandell.

The recognition of the contribution of the new sport discipline to the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines (ICBL) came in September of 2000. Alexei Balakhontsev, Captain of the Russian Team, landmine survivor during the Afghan War, was invited at the Second State Parties Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. At the Palace of Nations, Alexei received a special award from Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.

On September, 27-29, 2001, the Nobel Prize Winner, International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), conducted the International Conference on Small Arms Prevention in Helsinki, Finland. The St. Petersburg Elks were invited to participate at the Conference and to conduct a demonstration on ice for the delegates, Finnish amputees, prosthetists, and sports specialists. As a result, Finland became the fourth country after Russia, USA, and Canada, in which amputee hockey was established.

On November 27-30, 2001, the players from Russia, USA, Canada, Finland, and representatives from Belarus and Estonia formed the first IPRLS Amputee Hockey World Team. The Team played at the Adaptive Sports Symposium of the Russian National Rehabilitation Congress in St. Petersburg, and conducted an exhibition game on behalf of the United Nations “Night of a Thousand Dinners.”

Participation of the IPRLS Amputee Hockey World Team-2002 at the 7^th Russian Congress “People and Health,” November 26-29, was a continuation of the tradition of integration of persons with disabilities into the active life of entire society.

The next IPRLS project is to invite President Bush and President Putin to the Amputee Hockey match during 300 Anniversary of St. Petersburg in May of 2003. That will be a good opportunity for the both leaders to announce a joint initiative towards the land mine ban and/or landmine victims assistance worldwide.

Conclusion

Participation of disabled athletes in the professional and public events widens the boundaries of their regular sport activities. Such a participation provide them with an honorable role of ambassadors for the others in need. It also contributes to the overall efforts towards a more peaceful world.

References

1. Pitkin, M. (2002). International service delivery. VA/NIH Prosthetics Roundtable, J Rehabil Res Devel, 39:3, 17-18.
2. Pitkin, M. (2002). Turning a Prosthetic Rehabilitation Partnership into an International Sports Program. USAID Conference: Ten Years of Health Systems Transition in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. July 28- 31, 2002, Washington, DC.