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College Day for Special Hockey a Great Success!

By GPYHA, 03/14/17, 9:15PM EDT

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RI Special Hockey thanks Brown, J-W and URI players for their support!

On Sunday March 12th, players from both the Men's and Women's teams from Brown, Johnson-Wales and URI participated in a hockey game with players from the Rhode Island Special Hockey Program.

The GPYHA Special-Hockey staff cannot commend these players enough for their involvement in this event. The college players brought a new level of intensity and enjoyment for our skaters.  Our coaching staff was moved and impressed by how the college players took interest in the kids and took them under their wings. The entire event was elevated to a higher level because of their involvement. The college players teamed up as mentors to the kids, interacting with them both on the ice and on the benches. The pre-game drills somehow evolved into races between college players and special needs players. The excitement in the kids was so apparent in their intensity to win. The dark vs. white mixed squad game had cheering from the benches, bench-line hand-shakes after goals, team group cheers after the game and a traditional post-game handshake. The event was an overwhelming success thanks to the kindness and caring of all the college participants.

The staff and families of the special hockey program cannot adequately convey how much this meant for our kids.  This is as big as it gets for these kids who, through the years have grown in their skills and love for the game.

In addition to the college players we also had our loyal staff of adult and junior coaches who lace up the skates every Saturday morning from October through March to work with the kids.  It is to these volunteers that we give all of the credit for making a small difference in the kid's lives.