Last Updated on Thursday, 11 August 2016 10:24
The Minnesota Warriors program is using hockey to help military veterans reintegrate back into civilian life
By Andrew Vitalis
Sometimes, something just fits. Sometimes, the stars align; the idea simply makes sense. Sometimes, momentum builds like a snowball even though you may start with a speck of snow. To be fair, momentum might be an understatement when trying to sum up the movement behind Minnesota Warriors Hockey
A non-profit organization built around the concept of assisting military veterans with reintegrating back into civilian life, the Warriors’ vision focuses on encouraging and motivating military veterans with physical or mental disabilities suffered in military service to promote awareness and assist in team building as they adapt to life after their military service. In other words, and as Warriors Recruiting Director Tim Loney puts it, creating a program by using hockey as therapy.
The Minnesota Warriors program became a reality after Andy Qualy, a Minnesota National Guard soldier, returned from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after sustaining injuries to his right leg in Iraq. While in Washington, D.C., Qualy saw the USA Warriors play. A hockey fanatic, Qualy brought the Warriors’ idea back to the land of 10,000 rinks and the program was born. That was six years ago. Since that time, veterans from around the state who love the game of hockey have been jumping, or skating, at the chance to sharpen their skills and support their fellow soldiers.
Each player has a story. Four years ago, fate intervened again when Loney found himself at the Xcel Energy Center, arguing with a stranger over a seat. That stranger was Toni Gillen, the Minnesota representative to USA Disabled Hockey. It took a short conversation with Gillen (after the seat disagreement was figured out) to inspire Loney, a military veteran himself, to get back to his hockey roots after three decades away from the rink. Two months later, Loney started playing for the Warriors. Fast-forward to the present, Loney was recently re-elected to serve his second term as the program’s recruiting director. The momentum continues to build. The snowball continues to roll.
“We have developed the tools necessary to grow the program,” Loney said. “The first thing we did was make a Warriors poster. It was a composite – one of a solder in uniform carrying an M-4 rifle and the other one in a Warriors hockey uniform, and it was split right down the middle. We merged the two photos and turned that into a wanted poster. From there, we started hanging the posters at the VA, along with centers and rinks around the area, and also made a flyer and started passing that out.
“Pretty soon, the e-mails started to come in and the phone started to ring. We started with 35-40 guys and now we are around 110 or 120 people. People see what the program is doing and they are jumping on board. The support everywhere we go has been incredible.”
The Minnesota Warriors White Team (top photo) captured A Division title the 2016 USA Disabled Hockey Festival, while the Green Team (above) won the B Division championship.
The Warriors program started with just five members, along with a few non-Warrior board members. When Loney joined, the numbers had grown to 35-40 players; enough to field two teams – a green squad and a white squad. As the numbers grew, a black team was developed. Loney recalls a time when players, including him, played on two or even three teams just to fill out the roster. Now, thanks to the surge in numbers, the three squads are self-sufficient.
Furthermore, thanks to a recent grant from the Minnesota Wild, the Warrior program received funds to help build three more teams in Duluth, Fergus Falls and Breezy Point. The Duluth squad has already formed and will make their competition debut this year.
It seems that everywhere Loney and his Warrior board have gone, interest in expanding the program has followed. A year and a half ago, while at the Minnesota CFW Midwinter Conference, Loney and some of his fellow board members met Brian Duffy, the Junior Vice Commander in Chief for the VFW National at the time. From there, they were invited to the VFW National Convention in Pittsburgh where the Warrior reps began to spread the word about building the Warrior idea outside of Minnesota and starting Warrior programs in other states. Soon after, Utah developed a program.
Just recently, Duffy, a hockey fan, was installed as the National Commander and Chief for the VFW. As the National Commander, Duffy appointed someone within his ranks to become an Ambassador dedicated to Warrior hockey with the goal of promoting Warrior Hockey expansion. Loney and his board went back to the National Convention this year in Charlotte, N.C. With each trip, the Warrior movement grows.
“We have three teams in the Twin Cities area,” Loney said. “Two of the teams will play in local recreational leagues and the third team (White) will travel around the state and country to play in tournaments and charity events. We are sending one team this year to the Armed Forces tournament in Las Vegas in November.
“Last year, we sent two teams to the USA Disabled Hockey Festival in Detroit and we won the championship in both divisions, division A and division B. Both teams came back as national champions. We are planning on sending three teams, or maybe even four or more as the Duluth squad gets going, to the hockey festival in San Jose this year.
“We play all over. Every year we play the NHL Alumni team. The National Guard has an Armed Forces festival that we play in. I would say as an organization we will be playing 60-70 games this upcoming season which is pretty impressive when you think about it.”
The snowball continues to roll and no one knows how big it’s going to get. Loney hopes that in the near future, Warrior Hockey will exist in all 50 states. Based on how the program has grown to this point, that goal is definitely within reach. In the end, what drives Loney and his Warrior Hockey board is the ongoing opportunity to help veterans in need. Hockey may be the sport they play, but the benefits go well beyond the rink.
“A lot of what I call the therapy happens in the locker room,” Loney said. “Part of that is veterans being around veterans who think like they think and know they can, for lack of a better word, let their guard down a little bit and they know they’re not going to be ridiculed for what they say or what they do. It stays in the locker room.
“We were featured on NBC Sports when the Wild played the Blackhawks, and I asked all of the guys the same question, where would they be without Warrior Hockey. Krist’s (Krist Francisco, captain of the Black team) answer was that he’d be holed up in his basement playing video games or he would be one of the 22 who commit suicide every day. When you get responses like that, first you are proud of where they have come and where they are at, and second, you realize you can’t let up because there is too much at stake and too many people who need help.”
For more information about the program, go to www.mnwarriors.com.
Andrew Vitalis writes columns in LPH geared towards Wisconsin hockey. He can be reached at lphprep@yahoo.com.
