Minnesota Special Hockey Association

A nonprofit organization

12 donors

Support Hockey for everyBODY in Minnesota. MN Special Hockey offers stand up ice hockey for individuals with intellectual disabilities.


MN Special Hockey is stand up ice hockey for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Here are just a few stories how hockey has impacted our skaters lives!

A few years ago our founder was approached by young man saying thank you for starting special hockey. You cured my autism. How? He wore his special hockey jersey to his school on jersey day. A hockey player started asking him about his jersey. The hockey player then said, you need to sit with the hockey players at lunch. From that day forward he was a part of the hockey community at his school and he started interacting. Thus him believing it cured his autism because it was his vehicle to help him with socialization with his peers.

One girl leaving practice let out a large "yes" her mom said, "what", she said "I smell like Andy". To her smelling like her stinky brother meant she truly was a hockey player. Her mom said, "I felt a little bad for sticking her in the backseat with her brother all these years".

On mom called to inquire about the program. The mom said, "is this ice hockey?". I said "yes", she said, "I mean on the ice in a rink ice hockey", I said "yes", she said "in skates, not on boots, on the ice in an arena". I said yes, she started to cry and said "all of my sons life he has went to his brothers games, every year he would say mom I want to sign up too. She said I finally get to go tell my son he can play ice hockey."

One of our skaters was on a board members daughters team when they were youth. Her daughter had a team sleepover. When they arrived all of the girls were downstairs having a great time, except one of the now Special Hockey Players, she wanted to sit upstairs and play backyard hockey on her computer. The board member felt bad at first and the girls were encouraging her to come downstairs, but later realized she was happy and just loved hockey. She is still playing with MN Special Hockey today. Hockey is a very important part of her life and she has traveled all over to play the game she loves.

One of our skaters travels to the national tournament each year. Without this he would not travel and see the places he gets to see. Niagra Falls, Washington DC, Dallas Stadium, Detroit, this year Canada. He works at a car wash and a fast food restaurant. He saves $1000 every year so he can travel with his team.

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Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

Minnesota Special Hockey Association

Tax id (EIN)

38-3738341

Categories

Humanitarian Aid

Address

8555 Duluth St
Golden Valley, MN 55427

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