The Modern Day Gladiator

 “Y

ou get in a sled, and then all of a sudden, it’s like you’re flying lower than birds, but the speed is still the same,” said Dave Cloutier, a member of the Central New York Flyers sled hockey team. “There is a sense of freedom, and I hope it is something that I never really lose sight of.

“It’s a sense of this is what I was made to do.”

Several years ago, Cloutier decided to stop and help a broken down car on the side of the road. While assisting the driver, another vehicle crashed into him, pinning Cloutier between the two vehicles. The incident resulted in the loss of one of his legs and limited mobility in the other.

Cloutier was able to fulfill his childhood dream of playing ice hockey by joining practices and games with about 20 other non-disabled and disabled players on the CNY Flyers squad.

Regardless of physical capabilities, sled hockey can be tough for any player. While seated in a bucket atop ice skate blades, players use two short hockey sticks with sharp picks on the ends to propel their sled forward at high speeds and chase down a hockey puck.

“It’s all upper body strength,” Flyers’ member Cody Arnold said. “You don’t have to be Hulk Hogan. You can still use your arms and push yourself across the ice.”

A truck driver during the week and hockey player on weekends, Arnold plays the center position, so he’s always moving his body, as well as his mouth. Giving instructions, motivating junior players, and even trash-talking.

Along with practices at the YMCA in Skaneateles, the CNY Flyers travel to play Rochester, Canton as well as the Empire State Winter Games in Lake Placid.

Cloutier said he is grateful that he found sled hockey in his life.

“There are people that belong on the ice, and there are people that don’t, and you have to be honest about what you are,” Cloutier said. “I think for me, I recognize myself as a person who belongs on the ice.”