When the final buzzer sounded for the Flyers 2024 Development Camp, Noah Powell had made quite an impression on team management and fans.
Before Saturday's scrimmage, he made an even bigger impression. In the press conference room at the Flyers training center in Voorhees, Powell met with Howard James, a 7-year-old who, like Powell, is hearing impaired and had just completed his first year with Snyder Hockey.
“When you hear that your child is deaf, you think of all the things they might not be able to do,” Howard's mother, Tia Graves James, told the Inquirer. “So if someone else has already paved the way, it makes you feel like, yes, it's possible. The next step is that just because you're deaf doesn't mean you don't have opportunities.”
“So, [Powell] So I thought, 'Well, Howard, I'll just keep coming to practice and see what happens.'”
His mother said Howard loves being on the ice, skating and the showmanship of the ice hockey team, she said with a big smile. Graves James, a teacher in the Philadelphia School District, was introduced to Snyder Hockey by a colleague who works with the group as an instructor.
She asked Howard if he wanted to play hockey and after showing him the sport, he decided to join.
Powell wears hearing aids and can read lips, while Howard was born with severe hearing loss and wears a cochlear implant. After Powell presented Howard with an autographed long-sleeve T-shirt and hat, Graves-James asked Howard a few questions. One was about how to deal with playing hockey while wearing hearing aids, which can be affected by helmets and sweat. Powell responded that a sweat guard over the hearing aids would help protect against moisture.
“The way I used to look at it and describe it was like glasses that you wear on your ears,” Powell said. “It was an easy way to put it out there because it's not something you see every day. So, yeah, I understood his mother's questions, because my mother was asking the same questions. And it's special to be able to give someone the answers, because sometimes we didn't really have the answers. And hopefully, he's in a better situation now than I was when I was his age.”
The sweat guard should also help keep Howard's cochlear implant safe. Cochlear implants are slightly different from hearing aids in that hearing aids produce analog sound, whereas cochlear implants produce digital sound. Howard previously had an issue with his cochlear implant falling onto the ice while playing, breaking it.
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“It's happened about three or four times and it's unsettling … and one time it came out and broke,” Graves-James said of the implants, which cost about $9,000 each.
Powell was selected by the Flyers in the fifth round of the NHL Draft a week ago. He plans to attend Ohio State University in the fall and has already impressed coaches.
“I think it speaks volumes about the kind of person he is, what kind of person he is and what he cares about,” Buckeyes coach Steve Roerick told the Inquirer. “I think this is another big takeaway for people who are in a similar situation: You don't have to give up. You never have to give up. If you keep moving forward, you can do your best and achieve your goals.”
Now, Powell is using her platform to help the next generation and understands how special this moment is.
“It was so nice. I've never been able to give something like this to another person before,” Powell said. “I feel like it's a special moment and I hope one day he can give that to another kid. You always feel like you're playing for something bigger than yourself.”
