In 2019, students from Overbrook School for the Blind watched the Flyers practice.
Kelsey Maguire, a teacher at a West Philadelphia school since 2018, was well known among her coworkers as a lifelong Flyers fan, so accompanying her to the team's training facility in Voorhees as a chaperone seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Her students had a chance to try out hockey equipment and, after the Flyers finished practice, they took to the ice with the team, each player paired with a student to skate with.
” read more: Philadelphia's Kelsey Maguire has been named a finalist for the NHL's Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award.
“It was really great to see Claude Giroud and the other players I watch on TV and look up to – they're real people,” Maguire said. “They're kind people who work with blind children. It was really overwhelming but also great to see them as a fan and an advocate for the blind.”
On this observation trip, Maguire first heard about blind hockey and saw a blind hockey puck. While a traditional puck is a hard disc of vulcanized rubber, the improved puck is 5.5 inches in diameter, made of thin steel and filled with rattling ball bearings that allow players to track the puck's location using sound.
It was on that day that the first seeds were planted for Maguire's organization, Philadelphia Blind Hockey. What began as a Google Form in 2022 has now grown to nine athletes under the age of 18 and is set to launch an adult team this season. Free to all players who register, Philadelphia Blind Hockey is the first and only program of its kind in the region.
In recognition of his achievements, McGuire has been named a finalist for the NHL's 2024 Willie O'Ree Community Award. The award was created to honor those who have given back to their communities through the sport of hockey. McGuire, a Horsham native, is the first person from the area to be named a finalist for the award, which will be announced on ESPN on Friday ahead of the 2024 draft.
What is Blind Hockey?
Blind hockey has been around in Canada since the 1970s and is a fast-growing sport in the United States, with 19 programs across the country. All players are legally blind, but there are various classifications depending on the level of vision loss.
Players with a wide field of vision tend to play forwards, defensemen generally have a narrow field of vision, and goalkeepers have very limited or no field of vision at all.
In addition to a modified puck, blind hockey also uses a modified net that is 3 feet high and 6 feet wide to keep the puck on the ice and make it easier for players to track the sound. To score, a team must complete at least one pass in the offensive zone, which creates additional opportunities to track the puck.
Many blind hockey organizations in the US are made up of adult players who lost their sight later in life, and not only is Philadelphia the youngest team in the country, the majority of its players have been blind since birth.
“This gives them the opportunity to have a typical, normal childhood, participating in the sports their siblings play and having peers and friends to connect with outside of school and the classroom,” Maguire said.
The Willie O'Ree Award is awarded twice annually to finalists from Canada and the United States. The 2024 Canadian recipient was Mark DeMonteith, founder of the Canadian Blind Hockey Association and a member of the Canadian national hockey team for the blind. McGuire connected with DeMonteith after his nomination and used the opportunity to brainstorm.
“I was bouncing ideas off of him like, 'How can we keep the kids involved?'” she said. “We hope to be able to get the kids involved in other programs and help them finally get to compete, go to different tournaments and compete against people their own age.”
“The best decision I've ever made”
McGuire’s passion for helping the blind dates back to his time at Kutztown University, one of only six universities in the country that offers an undergraduate program for teachers of the blind.
She initially majored in special education, but decided to specialize during her freshman year after a woman with a guide dog in training visited her class and shared her experience in the field.
“Right after class I called my mom and said, 'I think I'm going to change my major,'” Maguire said. “I went to my advisor after class and decided to go into special education for the blind and visually impaired. Honestly, it was the best decision I ever made.”
Philadelphia Blind Hockey was the perfect blend of McGuire’s passions, and while she never played blind hockey herself, she has fond memories of attending Flyers and Phantoms games as a child with her grandmother, who had season tickets.
When her program was first starting, the Flyers helped her get practice time in Voorhees, and now they practice at Hatfield Ice Arena in Montgomery County, where the rink looks nice and makes it easier for players with poor eyesight to see the puck.
” read more: 2024 NHL Draft: Eight top prospects the Flyers could select
Ollie's Legacy
Being shortlisted for the Willie O'Ree award was even more meaningful to Maguire because of his history.
O'Ree is best known for breaking racial barriers as the NHL's first Black player when he played for the Boston Bruins in 1958. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018, the same year the NHL began presenting its community awards.
But before he could make history, O'Ree was hit by a puck and lost 95 percent of the vision in his right eye. Because NHL rules meant that a player who was blind in one eye couldn't play, he had to keep it a secret – and he kept it that way until the end of his playing career in 1979.
“No one knows that he's had a career where he's blind and he had to hide it so people wouldn't take advantage of him,” Maguire said. “He continues to change the game of hockey by allowing our players to embrace their disabilities and differences in order to play an adapted sport that he loved and was passionate about. It's amazing to even have our organization named after him.”
Maguire will be there when the awards are presented at this weekend's draft and will also be there to watch his favourite team in action.
The nomination has already raised awareness of her organization and blind hockey in general. Philadelphia Blind Hockey is looking forward to launching its adult team this year, and Maguire hopes the program will continue to grow.
“We don't want to limit it to just kids, and we don't want to limit it to just adults,” she says. “Anyone who is blind or visually impaired in this area has the opportunity to learn how to play hockey and realize that it's something they can do, and there's a whole community there to back them up and support them.”
