- Sled hockey hit the ice at the Amerigol LATAM Cup for the first time in the tournament’s eight-year history
- Exhibition games and free try-sled clinics ran Saturday and Sunday at the Florida Panthers IceDen
- Read below for what the players said and where founder Juan Carlos Otero wants this to go
Karina Villegas spent her first Amerigol LATAM Cup pitching sled hockey from a table in the corner. This weekend she got the ice.
Sled hockey made its debut at the tournament Saturday and Sunday, eight years into its run, and Villegas was asked what that jump meant to her.
“To finally be upgraded from a table in the corner to the actual ice and bring my teammates, I’m going to cry. But I cannot cry because this is just a start.”
Villegas, a Venezuela native who played for USA Hockey’s U.S. Women’s Development Sled Hockey Team, spoke with William Douglas of NHL.com at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs. She and her Space Coast Sled Hockey teammates played exhibition games there and ran free try-sled clinics for anyone who wanted to strap in.
Founder Juan Carlos Otero added the sled events because they line up with what the LATAM Cup has always sold itself on.
More than 1,500 players from 16 countries and territories are in this year’s field, which opened Saturday and runs through Aug. 9 at the IceDen and Palm Beach Skate Zone in Wellington. Algeria, Armenia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Greece and Indigenous/First Nation tribes are all entered.
Here’s the Panthers’ rundown of what is new at this year’s tournament:
Two-time Paralympic gold medalist Greg Shaw was in Coral Springs for the weekend, and he explained why putting the sleds in front of a crowd beats putting them on a broadcast.
“To be able to grow the sport, it’s amazing to get eyes out there and be able to just bring focus to people who probably haven’t seen it. Maybe they’ve seen it on TV, but being able to see it in person is a whole different thing.”
Women’s sled hockey has a harder climb. It is not a Paralympic event yet because not enough countries field a team, and Space Coast’s Madeleine Gallagher, who won the first World Para Hockey Women’s World Championship with the U.S. last August, talked about what a weekend like this is worth to that push.
“Whether they’re Latin American or any other countries, we’re just looking for more players to be able to make it to the Paralympics because that’s our end goal right now.”
Funding for the LATAM Cup comes from the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association through the league’s Industry Growth Fund, with the Panthers pitching in.
Al Montoya ran the Cuban American Under-12 team at the same event Saturday, and the first Cuban American to play in the NHL called the day “something special” after his coaching debut.
Watch Montoya work the bench in Coral Springs:
Otero’s ask is a straightforward one. He wants at least one of those 16 countries to go home from Florida and start a sled program of its own.
