By Judy Wakefield
The Phillips Academy hockey players got creamed in this game, 13-1. No one seemed to care.
The game, a charity sled hockey game, was in good fun and came as a result of student hockey players raising money to buy a sled for a sled hockey team from Northeast Passage of Durham, N.H.
Sled-hockey competitions are games where disabled athletes play hockey on sleds rather than traditional skates.
Northeast Passage, founded in 1990, is a nationally recognized leader in innovative therapeutic recreation services for the disabled. The company is based at the University of New Hampshire's Durham campus and sponsors competitions.
Representatives from Northeast Passage came to Andover to get the sled and just couldn't resist challenging the students to a friendly game before leaving.
"We didn't know we were going to play hockey," said Eric Matlin, ice rink supervisor at PA. "We just thought we were giving them the sled."
However, PA students trying out for the girls' and boys' ice hockey teams traded in their skates for sleds for the surprise charity game against the much more experienced team.
"PA hockey players wanted to get them a new sled. Donations came in and it was great," Matlin said.
The event was a joint effort between the school's athletics and community service departments.
"Yeah, they smoked us," Matlin said, "but this loss was for a good cause."
