The Alberta Blind Hockey Challenge is returning to Red Deer this weekend.
On Saturday, Feb. 1, a number of blind hockey players from around the province will gather at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre to play in a game from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The public is invited to attend the event.
"This is the fifth Alberta Blind Hockey Challenge that we've hosted in Red Deer. It's an opportunity to bring all the blind hockey players in Alberta together to have some fun and interact with each other," said Dustin Butterfield, with the Central Alberta Bullseye, a local blind hockey team.
Blind hockey is played by athletes who are blind or visually impaired. The players use a thin steel puck that is a five and a half inches wide and almost two inches tall, and contains ball bearings that rattle around inside and make noise.
Joining the Bullseye at the Alberta Blind Hockey Challenge will be players from the Edmonton SeeHawks and the Calgary Seeing Ice Dogs. Additionally, a couple players from elsewhere in the province will be playing in Saturday's game, including one person from the Camrose area and another from Devon.
"If the weather is good and everybody who is planning to come ends up coming, we'll mostly have partially-sighted people on the ice. I think there would only be two or three sighted volunteers on the ice, with about 18 partially-sighted players, including the goalies," Butterfield said.
"You'll see all levels (of skill). There are some people who are developing as players ... and then you have a handful of people who are on the national team or have been on that team in the past."
An event like this wouldn't be possible without "many great volunteers," Butterfield added.
"Some volunteers have been with us for a number of years," he said.
"We've been working with Red Deer Polytechnic since the beginning. They've been fantastic, encouraging and accommodating. Quite a few years we've had multiple volunteers who are taking the adaptive phys-ed course at Red Deer Polytechnic. ... The support that we've had has been pretty amazing from the students and staff."
For more information on the event or the Central Alberta Bullseye, visit the team's Facebook page.
