Imagine a life altering injury that threatens to rob you of a great passion. How would you react? Bob Lowe of Stayner decided not to let it get him down.
Lowe was a talented hockey player in his youth, playing 12 years of minor hockey and three years with the Stayner Siskins. He went on to a 22-year coaching and officiating career before losing an eye to cancer in 2007. Then a few years later a workplace accident took the sight in his remaining eye.
Lowe joined the Toronto Ice Owls of the Canadian Blind Hockey Association. Once a week, he treks to Agincourt to play against other blind and visually impaired athletes. The game is played with tin puck five inches across and two inches thick which contains 8 ball bearings. Some rules such as those regarding icing and offsides are the same as in conventional hockey but there are some enhancements. For example, a player carrying the puck across the blue line must make a successful pass, which the referee signals with a special whistle to alert the goalie. This is to prevent an offensive player from sneaking up on the goalie with a quiet puck.
Lowe said only a few of the Ice Owls players are completely blind.
Many are four-to-eight per cent sighted. Athletes with more vision typically play forward, while athletes with less vision play defence; all goaltenders have extremely low vision or are completely blind, and wear a blindfold.
The Ice Owls started in 1972, becoming the first blind hockey team in the world. Since then, the sport has been gaining popularity, throughout Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden. The hope is that it will eventually become an Olympic sport, which requires the participation of at least six countries.
On Saturday, Oct. 17 The Ice Owls will play a split-squad exhibition game in Collingwood. Lowe said it will be good hockey.
“The line-up will feature several players from the Canadian National Blind Hockey Team and a few sighted players including two guys from Barrie who host the Hockey Benders podcast,” he said.
Admission is by donation, and the event is a fundraiser for Collingwood Lightening Girls’ Hockey. It will include a silent auction and raffle with prizes including Leafs tickets and road hockey nets, plus a 50/50 draw. The action begins at 3 p.m. on Oct. 17 at Central Park Arena.
