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Orangeville Wolves special hockey team marks 25 years in the community

December 20, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

An organization that provides the opportunity for people with special needs to play organized sports and be a part of a team is celebrating 25 years in the community.

The Orangeville Wolves was founded in 1999 to ensure children with developmental disabilities can enjoy one of Canada’s favourite pastimes – hockey.

Kevin Stone, an Orangeville Wolves board member who’s been involved with the organization since its inception, said it’s been incredible to watch the team grow over the past 25 years into what it is today.

“We all grew up with the memories of playing hockey, and this is just a vehicle for these kids to A) experience Canada’s game, and B) be a part of a team, be part of something bigger,” said Stone. “They are a part of the Wolves. They can say, ‘This is my jacket. This is the team I play for. That’s my teammate.’”

He added, “I can’t underestimate how big the sense of community is for these guys.”

It’s incredibly rewarding to watch new players join the Wolves and build up their confidence out on the ice.

Stone said almost every year, a kid joins the team and when they get on the ice, they can barely skate.

“He’s standing, holding on to a chair, getting pushed around. Then all of the sudden, the next week, he takes a couple steps. After that, here he goes further, then it’s full-fledged. They’re moving around, they have freedom. So you see, you see that part of it on the ice,” said Stone.

There have been lots of success stories over the years of kids coming to the program with limited skills, keeping at it, practicing, gaining belief in themselves and becoming team players.

When current player Matthew Ingram started with the program as a kid in 1999, he was unable to get very far on skates. But with practice and proper guidance, over the years he’s built up his skills and confidence on the ice and has passed it on to his fellow teammates.

“He’s the one who wants to pass the puck and help kids get goals,” said Stone.

“We needed a goalie a couple years ago, and he said, ‘I’d like to try that,’ so he put on the pads, because that’s what we needed.”

The Orangeville Wolves’ origins

A man who was instrumental in creating the Orangeville Wolves, Pat Flick, first founded the Grandravine Tornadoes special hockey team in North York in October 1980.

That team was started after Flick overheard a rink manager yelling at two boys with special needs for playing hockey in the hallways while their brothers played on the ice.

“They were just doing what every brother in the history of the world does at their brother’s hockey games,” said Stone. “So Pat Flick stands up for these kids and he’s told ‘they should be on the ice that they’re going to play.’”

Flick decided to take the rink manager to task and rented an hour of ice time for the two boys to play on the ice, and the program grew from there.

Flick later moved to Orangeville and wanted to get a special hockey team started locally. However, his efforts to secure ice time initially fell flat.

“He called everybody trying to get an hour of ice, and couldn’t do it,” Stone said.

Flick later met Stone’s father Dan and they began talking about hockey. Flick explained his issue with securing ice time, so Dan made a phone call to the man who was running Orangeville Minor Hockey at the time, Ray Hunt.

Hunt offered an hour of ice time on Sundays at 12:30 p.m., and the Wolves started with just seven kids a few weeks later.

Now, 25 years later, the hockey team has 28 players and is going strong, still playing the same weekly time slot.

The original pioneers of the Orangeville Wolves program, aside from Dan Stone and Pat Flick, were Johnny Fitzpatrick, Doug Harkness and Martin Porteous, who’s still the team’s head coach.

The team now has seven board members and many volunteers who help out both on and off the ice.

The philosophy behind the team is that everyone should be able to play hockey, regardless of if they have a developmental disability.

The Orangeville Wolves have members from four to 40 years year old.

“The moniker we’ve always used, ‘If you can walk, then we can put you on skates and you can skate.’ It’s wide open. There’s no restriction on age at all,” said Stone.

Every year, the Orangeville Wolves compete in a major tournament with other special hockey teams or go on a big trip.

They’ve travelled to tournaments around the world, including major cities in the United States like Boston and Washington, as well as in Europe, playing in London, England.

Back in 2010, Orangeville got to host the tournament, and 70 special hockey teams came to the community to play.

Next year, the Orangeville Wolves will be doing a trip to Newfoundland.

Stone said the value of the trips for the Wolves players can’t be understated.

“We all have memories whenever we go on a trip, that’s just human nature, but these kids, how their minds work. Some of them will tell you details from a trip they went on 12 years ago… They get more out of these trips than any of the adults or coaches do,” Stone explained.

Over the years, the Orangeville Wolves have had the opportunity to meet a lot of big names in the NHL, such as Doug Gilmour and Curtis Joseph.

More recently, they had the chance to meet Mats Sundin, who was the Toronto Maple Leafs’ captain for 11 years. Nancy Frater of Booklore organized the meet and greet during a book signing at the Alder Recreation Centre on Oct. 23.

Looking at the Orangeville Wolves program over the past 25 years, Stone said he’s confident it will continue for several more decades, thanks to the community’s continuous support.

Also, the desire to play hockey by individuals with special needs in the community is strong, with many of the Wolves’ players being long-time members, having joined several years ago.

Stone said he hopes to see the program continue to grow into the future.

“We’ve got our ice time, and we keep getting kids coming out, kicking the tires, and wanting to try,” he said. “I’d love to see the day where there’s 50 kids on the ice.”

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