Apr 2, 2008 7:14 pm US/Eastern
Inspiring Amputee Hockey Players Take To Ice
Marlborough, Mass. (WBZ) ―
All week long in Marlboro, incredible athletes are taking to the ice as part of the
2008 Standing Amputee Hockey World Championships at the New England Sports Center.
The U.S. National Amputee Hockey Team will participate in the event that takes place Wednesday through Sunday.
The team has 23 players from 11 different states and has taken home silver medals three times. The men range in ages from 16 to 48.
"We play hockey just like everybody else does," said Mike Logan, of Pembroke. "It's fun to watch, interesting to watch to see how guys like us actually play the same sport the others play."
Logan was born without a right arm. All of the players either have congenital anomalies or have lost limbs.
Joe Bowser lost his right leg to rocket shrapnel while serving in the Iraq War.
"They told me I could have it amputated and do everything I used to be able to do before," Bowser said. "The first thing that came to mind was, 'I want to play hockey.'"
But Bowser spent two and a half years at an Army hospital before he got back on the ice.
"To get the call and know that I made this team was like holding the Stanley Cup over my head," he said.
The team's captain is Dan Levesque, of Hookset, N.H.
"I was born missing three fingers on my right hand and a pinky on my left hand," Levesque said. "When I'm playing hockey, I'm normal. Nobody can actually see my disability."
On the ice, the team looks like any other team, not only in appearance but in ability.
"If you tell us we can't do it, we'll prove you wrong," Bowser said.
Team USA beat Team Latvia at Wednesday's opening game 10-3. They are set to play Finland Wednesday at 6:50 p.m. and Canada on Thursday.
The team has been together since 1999 and is looking for official recognition from International Paralympics, which sanctions the tournament.
For more information on the U.S. National Team,
click here.
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