About Ice Sledge Hockey

Ice Sledge Hockey is the Paralympic equivalent of the Olympic sport of Ice Hockey.

As its name suggests, players sit in sledges and propel themselves using sticks with a spike in the one end to dig into the ice and a blade in the other end for shooting. The sledges are raised slightly off the ground, which allow the puck to pass underneath the sledge, making ice sledge hockey an incredibly fast-paced sport.

The sport is played by athletes with a physical disability in the lower half of their body. There is no classification system but the minimum disability ruling applies i.e. that the athlete has a permanent disability that prevents him from skating on his feet. Since 2009 men and women compete on the same team.

Rules are similar to Ice Hockey with the aim of the game being to propel a puck into the opponent’s goal. There are six players on ice at any given time (including the net minder). It is played over three, 15 minute stop-time periods.

Ice Sledge Hockey is practised in 16 countries with club teams now established in Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Russia and Korea. It became a Paralympic sport in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. Great Britain have competed at Ice Sledge Hockey in Lillehammer (1994), Nagano (1998) and Turin (2006).

For those wishing to participate in the sport the contact details are as follows:

The British Sledge Hockey Association
Matt Lloyd – Chairman
www.sledgehockey.co.uk

To contact British Sledge Hockey Association click on the logo