Sledge Hockey
What is Sledge Hockey?
Information Courtesy of Hockey Canada. For more information visit www.hockeycanada.ca/sledgehockey
The Sport of Sledge Hockey, an innovative team sport that incorporates the same rules and disapline structure as able-bodied hockey, was invented by three Sweedish wheelchair athletes on a frozen lake in Stockholm in 1961.
The game was an instant success, and after only a couple of years of development, five teams competed for the Stockholm City Championship.
The Swedish players subsequently intorduced the sport to their Norwegian neighbors and regular matches between the teams ensued. Norway, inturn, introduced the sport to British wheelchair athletes.
Sledge Hockey Of Canada (SHOC) was created in 1993 and given the title of a national sport federation by the Government of Canada, to coordinate, develop, and promote the sport of sledge hockey in Canada.
In 1994, Sledge Hockey was introduced as a demonstration sport as the Paralympic Winter Games. Canada has participated in sledge hockey in each Paralympic Winter Games. In 2004, sledge hockey came under the umbrella of Hockey Canada.
