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RALEIGH, N.C. — At 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning at Polar Ice Raleigh, athletes of all abilities arrive to Hurricanes Sled Hockey practice. For many, this is more than just a sport — it’s a gateway to confidence, inclusion and independence.
Sled hockey is a sport that makes the ice accessible to people living with physical disabilities or mental impairments.
Kayden Beasley was made for sled hockey. In early April, he was named to Team USA’s Paralympic sled hockey team. He knows when it’s time to focus and perform.
“Especially on the national team, they give out jerseys, coach comes in and talks,” Beasley said.
On the ice, the 18-year-old from Raleigh shows the same skill and determination as any other hockey player. That’s especially impressive considering he’s only been playing for about seven years.
“I was at a doctor’s appointment and someone there asked me if I did any sports,” Beasley said. “They told me about sled hockey here. I didn’t know it was a thing at first. I didn’t know what the possibilities were for the sport, but it’s really cool to be able to do it.”
Born in China with congenital bilateral above-the-knee amputation, Kayden has no legs. He was abandoned by his birth parents. But at age 3, his life changed. He was adopted by Anthony and Amy Beasley and brought home to North Carolina on Christmas Day 2009. With that, he gained not just a family but a new beginning.
“I think for Kayden, he would hope for people to see him like he was everybody else. He has hopes and dreams and desires just like everybody else does,” Amy Beasley said. “That is my hope — that people will see sled hockey players as just being human.”
Despite having no legs, Amy Beasley said he has a determination that inspires everyone around him.
“I think he’s one of the strongest people that I know,” Beasley said. “I believe anything he puts his mind to, and anything he wants to do, he’ll find a way. He has the best attitude and fortitude that I’ve ever seen in anyone, and it’s inspiring to me.”
Kayden Beasley’s story is also closely tied to his older brother, Caleb Beasley. Adopted in 2006 from the same Chinese province, Caleb Beasley isn’t biologically related to Kayden Beasley — but their bond is thicker than blood.
Initially, Caleb Beasley wasn’t interested in playing hockey. He enjoyed being part of the community and watching Kayden Beasley play, even joking about being the team’s mascot.
“In the beginning, Caleb didn’t really have a desire to be out on the ice,” Amy Beasley said. “He just enjoyed the friendships that came from Kayden playing and being together. And it became a joke that Caleb wanted to be the mascot. They even went as far as to find a mascot outfit and all.”
But Caleb Beasley eventually joined the team, encouraged by the program and his brother’s spirit.
“Caleb challenged him. And Caleb saw something in Kayden that I don’t even think Kayden saw in himself,” Amy Beasley said. “He encouraged him, was with him every step of the way and told him, ‘You can do this.’ He challenged him out on the ice in a way I don’t think anybody else could have.”
Their sibling rivalry has turned into teamwork and trust on the ice.
“Dude, he blows me away,” Caleb Beasley said. “Every time I skate with him, it should not be humanly possible to move the way he does. I think a lot of people equate adaptive with easier. I mean, it’s an adaptive sport — there’s nothing easy about it. Being able to see the physicality of it, the potential of it, super awesome.”
Some of Caleb Beasley’s favorite moments are those shared on the ice, especially when one of them scores.
“The best feeling is being on the ice when one of us gets a goal with each other,” Caleb Beasley said. “This is the first thing we’ve been able to do really competitively, so it’s a lot of fun.”
There’s only one thing better for Anthony and Amy Beasley than watching their sons compete in Raleigh: that’s seeing Kayden Beasley compete on the international stage in tournaments. He is one of the top paralympic sled hockey players in the country.
In 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. That victory inspired Brian Jacoby and his son Tyler. (Courtesy Jacoby family)
“I think you’re on the edge of your seat for every game you see him play,” she said. “And every time he gets the puck, there’s this sense of anticipation of what’s going to happen and what’s he gonna do. I can’t describe the feeling that I have, just the sense of pride and just joy that I have, seeing him do something he loves and excel in it. It’s really incomparable.”
Kayden Beasley’s journey is part of a larger movement sparked by a moment nearly two decades ago.
In 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. That victory inspired Brian Jacoby and his son Tyler.
“So it started with our son Tyler,” Brian Jacoby said. “In 2006, when the Hurricanes made their Cup run, we took him to one of the playoff games — that was his first hockey game — he had a blast. And on the way home, he kept talking to my wife and I about how he wanted to play hockey. He’d fallen in love with the sport. He was born with spina bifida and has no use of his legs. Obviously a pretty tall order. We just kind of assumed he would forget about it and move on to something else, but he didn’t.”
Less than a year later, Tyler touched the ice for the first time.
“He went from a 6-year-old kid who uses a wheelchair and was constantly being told by the experts that you can’t do this and you shouldn’t do that, you’ll never do this and you’ll never do that — to believing there’s nothing he can’t do,” Jacoby said. Tyler became the first-ever sled hockey player in both North and South Carolina. Hurricanes Sled Hockey was born, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing access to the sport.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Jacoby said. “And he skated away on his own, independently. It’s a feeling I’ll never forget — it’s indescribable. We knew right away that we had almost a responsibility to bring that type of joy to as many people as we can.”
The organization has grown over the years, with hundreds of players and thousands of family members and supporters impacted.
“A lot of the kids that skate out here with us describe it as a feeling of flying,” Jacoby said. “It’s so freeing for them to get out on the ice.”
Like in the NHL, teamwork is essential to the success of Hurricanes Sled Hockey.
“It’s almost like a pit crew,” Jacoby added. “Somebody skates off, and we have to put them back together and get them back out there.”
The Hurricanes Sled Hockey team would grow over the years, not just in player numbers, but in coaches and volunteer numbers as well. There’s a simple reason people get involved.
“I’ll give you one answer: smiles. And not just from the players. Look at their families when they’re watching from the side, the satisfaction they get from their kid being an athlete,” said Geoff Wing, head coach of the adult team. “People say an organization with hockey changes lives — in this sport, man, it does.”
Cody Loyer, a Raleigh native who plays in a local rec hockey league, discovered sled hockey after attending a practice. Now a volunteer coach, Loyer said he can’t wait to get further involved with the kids who are an inspiration to him and others.
“There’s no way I can do this, shooting top shelf and passing and zipping around, I can’t believe it,” Loyer said. “Honestly, it’s amazing to see all of these kids and adults out here, despite their limitations, learning the game and getting exercise and playing the game that I love. It’s awesome to have a community like this.”
In the early days, families bore much of the cost: paying for sleds, ice time and travel. But in recent years, the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation, which stems from the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, has donated more than $75,000 to support the program. They’ve donated money, donated supplies and tried to encourage players in Hurricanes Sled Hockey with visits from their own players and mascot Stormy.
Still, parents and volunteers remain hands-on — often literally.
“There isn’t a practice where John or I aren’t bleeding,” Jacoby joked.
Jacoby, now considered a sled-building expert, has built hundreds of sleds, and sometimes, even two decades after he built his first, he’s still finding moments of firsts.
Whether a player faces a physical or cognitive challenge, Jacoby builds sleds to meet each individual’s needs.
“This is called an anti-tip device,” he said. “If the player is bumped or falls over on the ice, it will only let them fall that far. It won’t let them fall all the way over. And different players, depending on their diagnosis, if they were to fall over, would struggle to get all the way back up on their own. So this doesn’t allow that to happen.”
Learning to get up after a fall is part of the game and part of life. These athletes learn that lesson with every shift on the ice, backed by a community that’s always there to support them.
Over the past six years, the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation has played a crucial role in the growth of Hurricanes Sled Hockey. But ask any parent, coach or player what the program needs most, and their answer is clear: awareness.
They have money from many North Carolina organizations supporting them. However, they need more players to join their program, specifically their adult team.
They have many young kids learning about the sport. But if they don’t have the numbers to play in leagues and tournaments as adults, part of their program will cease to exist, which will impact the next generation of sled hockey players currently touching the ice for the first time.
The thing they want everyone to know is that to play sled hockey, more specifically on the adult team, you do not need to have a disability. You can be fully able-bodied. Hurricanes Sled Hockey just wants you to know they exist and are ready to welcome you with open arms.
Hurricanes Sled Hockey is just one of several North Carolina organizations supported by the Hurricanes Foundation. The grant application process for this year’s round of funding is open and information about the program can be received by reaching out to Amy Daniels, one of the leaders of the Hurricanes Foundation. Her email address is amyd@carolinahurricanes.com.
If you want to learn more about Hurricanes Sled Hockey, click here.
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Evan Abramson
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