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It's hockey without boundaries. After spending the winter as rivals, high school hockey players come together for one day each spring for a common cause: sharing their love of the game with special-needs students who can't play without help.
It's called Rockin' Hockey, and Wednesday the one-day tournament at Palmer's MTA Events Center attracted 76 special-needs students and about 40 high school hockey players. High school players push chairs occupied by stick-wielding special-needs students, who try to whack a beach ball into the net.
The players came from five high schools — Palmer, Wasilla, Colony, Houston and Redington — and Mat-Su Career Tech. Many wore their high school jerseys, but it didn't matter if they were a Moose or a Warrior. What mattered was making the game accessible for those who are often sidelined.
Rockin' Hockey began four years ago as an experiment and blossomed into a multi-school event three years ago.
It's a dream-come-true project for Theresa Savel, who teaches special-needs students at Palmer High School, and Steve MacSwain, Alaska's first great hockey player and the father of a special-needs son.
"I just left my boss's office and I'm walking with a smile on my face, thinking something good in the world happened today," MacSwain said at the end of his day at the MTA Events Center, where he works as the arena manager.
MacSwain, an East High graduate, played professionally in Europe for several years before ending his career with the old Anchorage Aces. Longtime Aces fans may remember fundraisers held at games for little Stevie, who is 24 now and is in a wheelchair much of the time because of a seizure disorder, MacSwain said.
A few years ago MacSwain was at the rink and saw a woman trying to help a special-needs child skate. He was compelled to help.
"I got that boy and took him for a spin around the rink and I saw this look on his face that was amazing," he said. "It was one of the happiest moments I've seen at the arena, him with the wind in his face, the air in his face."
That was the start of MacSwain's desire to find a way to make hockey accessible to people with physical and mental challenges. He found a willing partner in Savel.
"I thought it'd be cool to get these kids out on the ice, and they do have a fabulous time — this is all they'll talk about for the next two months," Savel said.
What she didn't expect was the impact the experience had on the high school players.
"We were so shocked when they came back and asked when it would be time for Rockin' Hockey again," she said. MacSwain said he's gone to Senior Night celebrations where players talk about Rockin' Hockey when recounting career highlights.
For this year's event, there were four teams — Wasilla, Palmer, Colony, Houston — each with 19 special-needs students and about 10 high school players. But school allegiances were secondary on this day.
"Colony was playing Wasilla and a kid went to the bathroom or something, and immediately two Palmer kids and one Houston kid stepped up to take his place," Savel said.
She said the one-day tournament provides opportunities for all kinds of kids. "In my class alone, they're 75 percent nonverbal," she said. "I have four in wheelchairs and (others) with cerebal palsy, down syndrome, autism — any range of disabilities you can consider.
"But everybody gets to play."
A number of Valley merchants and service organizations make donations so the event can happen, Savel said, and some day she hopes "to talk some big foundation into giving me a grant so I can buy the sleds with the good backrests and headrests and seat belts."
Wednesday's event included the playing of the national anthem, an appearance by Palmer's pep band and fans in the stands. It culminated with Wasilla beating Palmer in the championship game, but no one was paying much attention to the win-loss column, MacSwain said.
"We love bad defense and we like a lot of goals," he said. "The winning is very low on my list here. (It's about) that fresh air in their faces and the smiles on their faces. There's a special-ness there that everyone who has played hockey has felt, that wind in your face."