The Central Vermont Pioneers Are Goal Driven

Sports and recreation can be a way to embrace the winter — to meet the season on its own snowy, icy terms. For the Central Vermont Pioneers sled hockey club, leaning in is the essence of the sport, an exhilarating athletic activity requiring uncommon balance, core strength, eye-hand coordination and teamwork. And sleds. And hockey sticks with metal spikes. Bring it on, winter. Sled hockey — also known as sledge hockey or para ice hockey — is an adaptive sport popular among athletes with disabilities that limit lower-body mobility. Players sit in metal sleds that rest upon two blades mounted under a bucket seat. They propel themselves by digging into the ice with teeth-like metal picks on the butt ends of two hockey sticks, one for each hand. The sticks are roughly one-third the length of standard nonadaptive hockey sticks.

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