What's Happening in Special Hockey


We are delighted to announce that registration for the next SHI Tournament is now OPEN! Get ready for a fun-packed International Special Ice Hockey event! From April 25 – April 27 , this exciting tournament will be held in the historic city of Boston, bringing together sixty teams from around the globe. This year the tournament will showcase the new Lovell Arena, a state-of-the-art facility located just 20 miles south of Boston in Rockland MA. Additionally, games will be played at the Mark Bavis Arena adding even more excitement to the tournament! Mark Bavis Arena is also located in Rockland, 1 1/2 miles from Lovell. Convenience! Hosted by The Great Blizzards of Massachusetts, an inclusive ice hockey club based on the South Shore and Cape Cod, each team will play four games between 25th – 27th April. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to info@shiboston2024.org To register for the 2024 tournament, please click here.
We are delighted to announce that The Great Blizzards of Massachusetts Special Hockey will host the next SHI Tournament from April 25th -27th 2024. SHI Boston 2024 will be played on three sheets of ice at the brand-new state-of-the-art Lovell Arena, located in Rockland, just 20 miles south of Boston. Details of the rink can be found at The Lovell Arena If your club is interested in attending this fun-packed three-day international tournament, please email coachnearms@thegreatblizz.org for more information. Early indications of interest would be greatly appreciated for planning reasons, so please don’t hesitate to register your interest!
Ice Hockey returned to Streatham Ice rink as the Werewolves of London Special Ice Hockey club were able to take to the ice under the latest government guidance. It was our first opportunity to use the rink dividers bought as part of our ‘Sticking it to COVID’ initiative funded in partnership with the National Lottery Community fund. It allows us to split the ice and work in COVID safe groups as well as help in focusing areas of the ice for different drills. Our sessions are now back to the more familiar fortnightly Saturday 16:30 to 18:30 time slots (first hour U18, second hour Over 18 as per current guidance). Although traditionally we would be coming to the end of our season in May, our season has been extended to the end of June to allow our players the opportunity to make up for the lost ice time and to come back to the rink and training when they feel comfortable to do so as restrictions ease. To find out more about Streatham Ice Rink, please click here.
Recently, SHI teams, Nova Cool Cats and SPICE JETS, have been amusing folk with their FaceBook posts during lockdown. Catzee started it all off by dancing to Happy by Pharell so Jerry the Jet, has decided to get in on the act and do a FaceBook Live dance to the SPICE Girls!! At previous SHI tournaments, seeing the mascots is a major part for our members and so, for a bit of fun, we'd like to ask them to Get Dancing!! Post it on your club's page or straight on to our FB page! Let's see how many mascots we can get dancing during this time!
At SHI, we realize how tough it has been for our hockey members to be staying home during this lockdown. My own son, Tommy, living in the UK, wants to go to his local rink to meet up with his friends and shoot some pucks. Despite everything we say about the need for staying safe at home, he keeps on asking if we can go to the rink! Explanations are not enough so we've been running weekly Zoom off-ice training sessions to keep all our players motivated and to give them all an opportunity to virtually meet up with their friends and chat. It's not the same as taking to the ice, and we can see that some countries will be returning to the ice ahead of others, but it keeps everyone engaged and we understand that the most important thing we can be doing is to keep everyone safe. As I write this, I'm sure that there are hundreds of similar stores from our SHI clubs around the world. If you feel like sharing your stories, feel free to shoot us an email and we'll share with our community. Stay safe everyone and let's look forward to our next tournament!