Defending champs, Sled Warriors psyched for glory in Lake Placid
The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia
Derek Gallo holds the torch high Tuesday evening as managers and members of STRIDE’s Capital District Sled Warriors gather around him at Phillips Hardware store in Altamont. At left is Luke Wilson, with his mother, manager Kimberly Wilson, behind him. Victor Tomelden is behind Gallo with Jon Phillips behind him. At right is Brenda Jensis with manager Donald Gallo behind her. The team, which brought home gold in 2020, will compete again this year in the Empire State Winter Games in Lake Placid.
GUILDERLAND — On Tuesday evening, a Lake Placid athlete, Maxwell Menkel, ran to the hardware store on the edge of Altamont carrying a torch.
The flame was bright in the evening gloom as he handed the torch to Derek Gallo, a sled hockey team member.
Over his red, white, and blue jersey, Gallo wore the gold medal he and his team, STRIDE’s Capital District Sled Warriors, had won in the 2020 Empire State Winter Games.
When he’s on the ice, Gallo leaves his wheelchair for a special sled that allows him to move with alacrity and speed.
Team member Luke Wilson stood behind Gallo as the torch was passed. Wilson, who has cerebral palsy, started playing hockey as a boy. His mother, Kimberly Wislon, was instrumental in founding the local team over a decade ago. Now, she and Donald Gallo are the team managers.
When the team merged with STRIDE (Sports and Therapeutic Recreation Instruction/Developmental Education), a local not-for-profit organization that hosts sports programs for people with special needs, it was able to choose its own name and logo, Wilson told The Enterprise in 2011.
That’s when the players voted for the name “Sled Warriors,” which carries with it a lunging knight.
Sled hockey, called sledge hockey in its native Sweden, was invented at a rehabilitation center in Stockholm in the 1960s “by a group of Swedes who, despite their physical disability, wanted to continue playing hockey,” according to the International Paralympic Committee. “The men modified a metal frame sled, or sledge, with two regular-sized ice hockey skate blades that allowed the puck to pass underneath. Using round poles with bike handles for sticks, the men played without any goaltenders on a lake south of Stockholm.”
The event at Phillips Hardware store was just one of many on the 700-mile journey, symbolic of the games uniting the entire state in friendly competition that is inclusive of athletes with disabilities. The Empire State Winter Games are held each year in Lake Placid, site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, in the Adirondacks.
This year’s games run from Feb. 3 to 6, a return after last year’s games were cancelled due to the pandemic.
On Tuesday evening, the torch was triumphantly carried inside Phillips Hardware where Gallo’s teammates — Shawn Fultz, Brenda Jensis, Christine Lucier, Abigail Radliff, Victor Tomelden, and Wilson — gathered around him for pictures.
“Raise it higher,” someone called out as cameras clicked and the teammates smiled. Jon Phillips, who owns the store, raised his index finger, indicating the team’s number-one status.
The Phillips family has helped raise over $150,000 for STRIDE as well as supporting marketing efforts. Equipment and other expenses are costly for adaptive athletes. More funds are still needed for the Sled Warriors and donations may be made at https://www.stride.org/sledhockey.
“I founded STRIDE to promote equal opportunity in sports no matter what the disability,” said Mary Ellen Whitney. “Locally, people are becoming aware of these hometown athletes, their interesting sports, and their hard work to overcome daily struggles. Sled hockey is challenging both physically and skill-wise. Now, we are sending off the team to Lake Placid to go for the gold, and I am happy they will get recognition on a broader level.”