March 19, 2025

By Keith Benman
Contributing Writer

Some play so they can once again feel the thrill of the game they love. Some play to get in shape. A number play to stave off the loneliness and isolation that followed from traumas suffered while serving their nation in conflicts overseas.

But regardless of their reasons for playing, competitors at the Mountain Warrior Sled Hockey Tournament all seem to have this in common: a spirit of gratitude for those who make the three-day tourney happen year after year.

“We couldn’t do this without the Knights, without the VFW, a lot of our major sponsors,” said U.S. Army veteran and Mountain Warrior team member Dave Pechey. “There’s just no way.”

The 13th annual tournament hosted by the Fort Drum Mountain Warrior Sled Hockey team featured teams from the United States and Canada. It ran from March 7 to 9 at SUNY Canton.

Pechey was talking while chowing down on spaghetti and meatballs at Canton’s Knights of Columbus Sarto Council 1059 after the tournament’s first day of games. The spirit of gratitude Pechey and others feel runs the other way as well.

“The cause is just so worthwhile,” said Bob Clemmer, a former grand knight at Sarto Council. “So many here, they are our veterans. It gives them a really fantastic environment to not only play sports, but the camaraderie is really fantastic.”

The Canton Knights have been a prime sponsor of Mountain Warrior Sled Hockey since the team’s inception 15 years ago. They have consistently donated $1,000 for team and tourney expenses each year, shuttle competitors around town and beyond, and staff the annual spaghetti dinner. That’s always followed the next night by a prime rib dinner at Canton’s VFW Post 1231, which is one of the tournament’s other major sponsors.

“I love it,” Pechey said. “I love the camaraderie. I haven’t found another thing that I do with such a close-knit group of guys. On the ice, we’re enemies. Then we do this: we all sit together and drink and have a merry time.”

Pechey’s right. On the ice the competition is fierce. Players are seated on sleds with narrow runners and hold a small hockey stick in each hand. It can get rough as sleds and competitors carom off each other and the boards. But the sport is ideal for amputees and others with disabilities because they can experience the thrill of the game without having to stand on skates.

Pechey said it was his service dogs and sled hockey that helped save him from the isolation that came with the PTSD he suffered after service in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also has physical injuries. But he quickly notes they’re not as serious as those of some of his fellow soldier-competitors, a number of whom are amputees.

Pechey’s spirit of gratefulness was seconded by Justyne Bennett, the 20-year-old goalie for the Kingston Knights. She said the team travels to a number of tournaments, but it’s the volunteers that make the Mountain Warrior tourney special.

“Definitely it wouldn’t be possible without them,” Bennett said. “They put everything together and make sure everything runs smoothly. . . God bless them.”

Bennett is one of a number of non-vet competitors on teams at the tournament. The teams and tournaments are open to all. She was paralyzed at age 17 from the chest down after being struck by a car while riding her motorcycle. She had been a standout hockey player before her accident. She said sled hockey has been a saving grace. In addition to the Kingston team, she now plays goalie for the Canadian Women’s National Para Hockey team.

Knights from Norwood’s Monsignor Francis Maguire Council 2309 were also pitching in on the serving line at the Canton Knights’ hall. The meatballs came from Sergi’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria in town.

Sergi’s is just one among a large number of area restaurants and eateries that contribute the fixings for both dinners and lunches.

Even the diocese gets in on the action, with Bishop Terry R. LaValley issuing a dispensation for Catholic diners for the meatball dinner served up on a Lenten Friday.

The Mountain Warrior Sled Hockey program was started in 2010 by Mark McKenna, a former Sarto Council grand knight and now a district deputy knight. He works as a civil engineer at Fort Drum and had seen firsthand the difficulties wounded soldiers had in trying to work out at base gyms.

His efforts to give wounded soldiers and vets a chance to compete in sled hockey has since blossomed into something much larger.

There is also now a Mountain Warrior youth sled hockey team. Some of its players were born with spina-bifida, a spinal deformity that can be debilitating. A wheelchair lacrosse team was also started. The Knights have aided both teams. And McKenna and local Knight volunteers were instrumental in the building of an adaptive boat launch for people with disabilities on the Grass River in Canton.

“It takes a lot of hands, but if you dream big and surround yourself with good people, great things happen,” McKenna said.