Meet Your Hartford Braillers, hockey team that keeps dreams on ice for visually impaired

Jan 09, 2024

Keith Haley, 49, gets ready for practice with the Hartford Braillers, hockey team for the visually impaired. The pucks are large, metal and filled with ball bearings so players can track them by sound. (Dom Amore/Hartford Courant)

Keith Haley and Todd Sweet, veteran members of the Hartford Braillers blind hockey team, take a break during a recent practice. (Dom Amore/Hartford Courant)

Keith Haley (left) and coach David Hoey show off their Hartford Braillers gear, and Haley's Team USA sweater. The Braillers are a blind hockey team, the dots on their logo form an 'H' in brail. "It's a best name in blind hockey," Haley says. (Dom Amore/Hartford Courant)

Keith Haley (left) and coach David Hoey show off their Hartford Braillers gear, and Haley's Team USA sweater. The Braillers are a blind hockey team, the dots on their logo form an 'H' in brail. "It's a best name in blind hockey," Haley says. (Dom Amore/Hartford Courant)

Well into his 40s, Todd Sweet loved playing hockey. For senior leagues, in pick-up games, he would lace his skates and compete. Then Best disease, a degenerative condition, began to take away his sight.

"I lost my sight in ’05, it happened pretty quick, too," Sweet said. "I kept trying to skate anyway. I still played sighted hockey, the guys knew it, but it started getting hard. After a while, once I got hit in the mouth with the puck, I said, ‘Ah, maybe I should stop.’ "

A decade or so later, Sweet went to a demonstration of hockey for the visually impaired, not expecting to join in. But soon, his love of the game came back to him and he became a member of the Hartford Braillers, blind hockey team.

"It's just fantastic," said Sweet, 61, the oldest member of the Braillers. "I missed the game, I missed it so much. Then I was able to get back on the ice, it's such a feeling, such a freedom. When you lose your sight, you give up a lot of things, you give up your driver's license, you give up a lot of your freedom, your independence. You’re sure you can't play hockey anymore, so then when you get the opportunity to do that again, and with a group of people who are in the same position you’re in, so, yeah, oh my God, it's hard to put a word to how wonderful it felt.

"… Luckily, I saved all my hockey equipment."

The Braillers practice at the Newington Arena, using pucks and nets designed for blind hockey, one of the fastest growing para-sports, and, players hope, soon to be a Paralympic sport. The local group was founded by Joel Klug in 2017, and as players were posing for a team photo after one practice, he blurted out, "we’re the Hartford Braillers."

"… And of course, once you hear it, it's a no-brainer," said Keith Haley, who has succeeded Klug as the program's organizer. "There was no vote. The Hartford Braillers is the best name in blind hockey."

The logo is three dots arranged to form the letter "H" in a brail plate.

Haley, 49, played at Farmington High before he began losing his peripheral vision to glaucoma, then played in a men's league until he was no longer able to see the puck. He has been a member of the U.S. National Team, and has led the Braillers in competitions throughout the U.S. and Canada, starting with an event in Pittsburgh in the fall of 2017. USA Hockey sponsors two events a year, the Blind Hockey Classic, in Fort Wayne, Ind., last fall, and the Disabled Hockey Festival, with more competitions in development.

"There was a ‘try-it’ event at the Westminster School in 2017," Haley said. "There were about 15 people there, and we kept seven to 10 core players from that night. I didn't know how long this was going to last, but from there we’ve been playing once or twice a month ever since. It grew into something so much more, to the point where I’m replacing my gear, piece by piece. For me, it's amazing. It got me off the couch and back involved in something."

Blind hockey is co-ed, with no age limits or skill requirements. The Hartford players are joined on the ice by sighted volunteers, David Hoey, who coaches, and Rose Molinaro.

"For me, personally, it's unmatched," Hoey said. "I grew up playing hockey, and I stumbled across the Braillers and asked what I could do to help. Came to a couple of practices, and they asked me to help coach. They inspire me in life, and in the hockey rink. It's indescribable, sometimes."

The puck is three times the size of a standard hockey puck, made of aluminum and filled with ball bearings, so it makes a loud rattle, like a tambourine or cowbell, as it is slapped around the ice, allowing players to track it by sound. "Every time we drop the puck on the ice, people are like, what are they playing out there?’ Haley said. The pucks get dented up from hitting the post, and Hoey helps raise money to buy new ones at $50 apiece.

The net is 12? shorter than in standard hockey, so players keep the puck low.

Players’ vision levels are in four categories, B1, which is no light perception, or very little, and no ability to recognize the shape of a hand in any direction; B2, an ability to recognize the shape of a hand up to an acuity of 20/600; B3, vision between 20/600 and 20/200; and B4, with vision between 20/70 and 20/200 and a field larger than 20 degrees. Those in B-4 are not eligible for international competition.

Goalies, who usually play on their knees, must be B1, or wear a blind fold to prevent any advantage. Once in the offensive zone, one pass must be completed before a shot can be taken, after which a whistle sounds. This alerts the goalie that a shot is coming.

"They start in the standing position," Haley said. "But they generally stay a little lower, it's a heavier puck. Sometimes, even on a blind goalie, it's tough to score. In a butterfly position, you can only score over his shoulder or under his pads, there are only four places you can put the puck. So it's more difficult than people think."

Frank Roberts, 44, from Windsor, had never skated before, playing only deck hockey when he saw a Facebook post from Haley, a longtime friend.

"I said, ‘It's probably going to be cheesy, but I’ll go down and check it out,’ " said Roberts, who has been legally blind since 16. "And I was hooked, because there's not much different between blind hockey and regular hockey, and I love the sport of hockey. It's connecting with people who have the same disability as me and share the love of hockey."

With about an hour of ice time reserved on a late Sunday afternoon, the Braillers suited up for practice. Teams must have high contrast in their uniforms, so traditional Whalers green and blue wouldn't work. Haley and Sweet wore green; Roberts and Molinaro wore yellow and Hoey, who drove Sweet and Haley to the rink, wore black for the workout, which included some passing drills and a two-on-two scrimmage. Players use their sticks to feel the steps up to the ice, and tap to communicate.

A few of the original Braillers have moved away, but there are still eight or nine involved, including Max Shear, 17, from New York, who lost his sight due to a brain tumor at age 11, and Sietska Morgan, from Maine, both members of the U.S. Team.

"When I suited up in the red, white and blue for Team USA [at a competition] in Utica, N.Y., and lined up for the national anthem, there wasn't a dry eye at the blue line," Haley said, "because everyone had taken a different route to get there."

The Braillers are gearing for a game against New York Metro Blind Hockey at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport on March 4. New players are always welcome, and one can join or get more information at www.facebook.com/BlindhockeyCT or by emailing [email protected].

"There's no discrimination on skill level," Haley said. "It's all about getting people who are blind involved in something. We’re not going to say, ‘you’re not good enough to play with us.’ Everyone who comes to play falls in love with the sport. There is room for everybody to be involved and be part of something."

Dom Amore can be reached at [email protected]

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