King of the Ice

By Jaclyn Law

NAME: Paul Rosen
BORN: April 26, 1960
BIRTHPLACE: Toronto, Ontario
SPORT: Sledge Hockey
POSITION: Goaltender
CLUB: Markham Islanders, Canadian
National Men’s Sledge Hockey Team
MOTTO: “Never give up. Work as hard as
you can. You can achieve anything if you put
your mind to it. Always believe in yourself.”


Like many young Canadians, Paul Rosen dreamed of a professional hockey career. He first played at age four and, by age 15, he was playing for a Midget AAA team, pouring his heart and soul into every game and admiring heroes such as Bobby Orr and Tony Esposito. Everything changed one day in 1975. During a tournament in Barrie, Ontario, Rosen had a devastating accident that would snuff out his hopes of playing for the NHL.

While Rosen was moving quickly down the rink, his right skate caught a rut in the ice and he went down. His leg broke in 14 places. “It was a fluke injury, the kind that doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s drastic,” says Rosen. “Three or four ligaments tore, and my shin shattered all the way down.”

Rosen had surgery, the first of dozens of operations he would have over the next 24 years. Against his physicians’ advice, whenever he could, Rosen kept skating and playing hockey. He tried out for a junior A team, but didn’t pass the medical.

Unwilling to leave the sport he loved so much, Rosen became a coach instead. In 1997, the situation became more serious. Rosen, then 37, was at an airport in Germany, on his way home from a hockey tournament. (He was assistant coach for an Israeli hockey team.) He had just finished lunch, and when he stood up, his leg broke again. Over the next 18 months, he had 14 more surgeries. Finally, doctors told him that his knee was infected and his life was in danger. On June 9, 1999, Rosen’s right leg was amputated above the knee.

After several months of recovery, Rosen wanted to become physically active again. “I went to Variety Village, a sports and training centre in Toronto for people of all abilities, to see about disabled athletics. That’s where I heard about sledge hockey.”

Rosen was instantly intrigued. Invented at a Swedish rehabilitation centre in the 1960s, sledge hockey (or sled hockey) involves five players plus a goaltender, all sitting on modified metal sleds with two hockey skate blades underneath. Players shoot, pass and propel themselves across the ice using two sticks with laser-cut spikes on the end. The rink size and game rules are the same as those for NHL hockey.

“I started training pretty well right away,” says Rosen. His friend Rob Legace, a veteran sledge hockey player, got Rosen out to play. “Six months later, he told me that he thought I was good enough for the national team,” says Rosen. “I had a discussion with my wife, Cheryl. I said, ‘I want to do something that nobody else has done, and that’s to play at the highest level with this team at this age.’ All the players start in their teens and 20s. Nobody starts at 40, especially in a position they’ve never played!”

Rosen, who was a baseball back catcher in high school, compared that position to tending goal in sledge hockey and saw a lot of similarities. “I started training two hours a day, every day, and had an able-bodied player shoot on me till I was exhausted,” says Rosen. “Many, many people told me, ‘You’re crazy – you’re 41 years old, playing sledge hockey, and you want to travel around the world. Just be happy you’re alive.’”

Rosen refused to settle. Within a year of his amputation, he tried out for the Canadian National Sledge Hockey Team. “Unbelievably, I made it at age 41,” says Rosen, still flabbergasted years later. “I’ve had a lot of success in life in different facets – I have three great kids – but this was probably the moment that I felt proudest. To make the national team, to put that Canadian sweater on, to make it this close after being told I had three months to live – it’s something you can’t really describe.”

A year later, Rosen became the oldestrookie in the history of sledge hockey when he played at the 2002 Salt Lake City Paralympics. He is currently one of the top sledge hockey goalies in the world. Rosen recently quit his job at a funeral home to become a motivational speaker. He educates, inspires and entertains everyone from school kids to conference rooms of 5,000 about his experiences. “I tell people that no matter what happens, they can overcome it,” says Rosen. He’s also passionate about busting stereotypes about disability. “All I want is for people to look at me and give me the chance. Don’t let it have anything to do with the fact that I have one leg – that is such a small part of my life.”

When not on the ice, Rosen wears a prosthetic. He does a lot of charity work, and he delights in the achievements of his son and two daughters. His jersey number is 57 – a combination of his wife’s and kids’ birthdays. He is a dedicated coach, most recently leading the Canadian Amputee Hockey Team to two world championship gold medals and a record of 24 wins, zero losses and ties. Rosen still considers making the national team the highlight of his hockey career, but adds, “Ask me again in March and I’ll have a different highlight.”

March is, of course, when the 2006 Paralympic Games will be held in Italy. Rosen is optimistic about the team’s chances at capturing the gold medal. He deeply admires their coach, Jeff Snyder, the uncle of Dan Snyder, the NHL player who recently died in a car crash. “We have a very tight, emotional team – we’re like family,” says Rosen. “Jeff has taught us so much about life and about forgiveness. No matter what adversity we face, we will overcome it.” In accordance with Paralympic rules, all players have a disability from the waist down – they are single or double amputees, or have paraplegia or spinal bifida.

At age 45, Rosen is still as tough as his younger teammates. “I’ve gotten banged up pretty good many times, but at my age, I’m not going to give the backup goalie on our team – who is a great goalie – the chance to take my spot,” chuckles Rosen. “So, unless it’s the kind of injury the team doctor says would keep me out, it would be pretty tough to get me out of the game. Hockey is the greatest game in the world. We’re playing for our country, we’re just a few months from the Games – this is what it’s all about.”

Jaclyn Law is ABILITIES’ managing editor.


GAME ON!
Want to know more about hockey?

Hockey Canada
Visit www.hockeycanada.ca for provincial sledge hockey contacts (scroll down).

National Men’s Sledge Hockey Team
www.hockeycanada.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/4192/la_id/1.htm

Canadian Amputee Hockey Team
www.canadianamputeehockey.ca

Paralympic Games
www.paralympic.ca

Paul Rosen invites people to e-mail him about sledge hockey at rosey_25_@ hotmail.com. To inquire about his motivational speaking services, visit www.PaulRosen.ca or call 647-223-3551.