Most goaltenders struggle to see the puck as it’s fired at them through a maze of battling sticks, skates and bodies, but Joey Cabral can’t see the puck at all.
To stop it, he must hear it.
“For sighted people, it’s their eyes. For me, with zero vision, my eyes are my ears…It’s all about the sound.”
Cabral, of Toronto, is playing base in a new series of hockey where all players are legally blind. The Carnegie Cup Elite Blind Hockey Series kicked off in Toronto on Friday and will run all weekend at the Mattamy Center, formerly the site of Maple Leaf Gardens.
Cabral, who has been completely blind since age four due to glaucoma, said the series uses a special puck that allows players to hear where she is.
“It’s three times bigger, I would say, and it’s made of metal and there are about eight ball bearings rattling around.”
A charity called Canadian Blind Hockey, in partnership with the Carnegie Initiative for Inclusion and Acceptance in Hockey, is hosting the series. The initiative, launched a year and a half ago, aims to change the culture of hockey to make it more diverse and inclusive. The games are free to watch.
“Everyone deserves a chance to play”
The series is named for the late Herb Carnegie, who became the first black hockey player to reach the NHL in the late 1950s after facing enormous racism that hampered his career for decades. The initiative tries to ensure “opportunity and access to hockey everywhere”, including bringing the game to the visually impaired.
“Everyone deserves a chance to play,” Bryant McBride, co-chair of the Carnegie Initiative, told CBC Toronto on Friday.
“It’s really about exposure. It’s about making sure people know that people of all abilities can play the game. It’s not just about race, it’s not just a matter of gender or socio-economic level. It’s about making sure people see people in all aspects.”
McBride said the series features incredible athletes.
Canadian Blind Hockey said the series featured hockey players from Canada, the United States and Europe. The players were split into two teams to showcase the “quickest, most skilled and most competitive version” of the sport, the charity said. The two teams will play three games in all.
To be eligible for competition, players must have vision of only 10% or less, and goalkeepers must be completely blind.
To honor Carnegie, the names of the teams in the series are a tribute to the last two minor league teams he played for in his career: the Aces and the Mercurys.
‘It’s really cool’
Brian Burke, former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and former Hockey Night In Canada analyst, said players must have “fairly severe visual impairment” to play.
“I had never seen blind hockey until now. It’s amazing,” said Burke, Canadian board member of the Carnegie Initiative and president of hockey operations for the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I’m impressed to see these kids. It’s a new option. It’s really cool.”
On its website, Canadian Blind Hockey said the series is a pilot project that aims to create the Blind Hockey League, and that it represents the “first competitive opportunity” for blind hockey players.
“The goal of the event is to follow an NHL model by recruiting the best blind hockey players from around the world to compete in the parasport of blind hockey at the highest possible level,” the group said.
“We are changing the lives of children, youth and adults who are blind or partially sighted through our programs, which include field trips, youth teams, development camps, regional tournaments and our flagship Canadian National Tournament. hockey for the blind,” its website reads. .
“Our programming spans the country from coast to coast while supporting blind and partially sighted Canadian hockey players of all ages, whether they’re playing on the dugout or standing proudly on the podium. .”
In the meantime, Cabral is as determined as any goaltender to keep the puck out of his net any way he can.
“As long as he’s on the ice and moving you can hear him, but once he’s on the ground and he’s in the air, really, it’s just instinct,” said he declared.
After that, he said, “Let’s hope for the best.”
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