Fueled by a love of the sport and each other, the program has grown over the years on the way to winning a USA Hockey national championship
After Mason Kubin scored to give the Columbus Blades a 1-0 lead with 8:44 to play, the fun really began.
The Central Ohio squad was in the title game of the USA Hockey Sled National Championships in early May, and the dream was within reach for a program that began with humble beginnings. All they had to do was survive the final stretch and they would be Youth Tier 3 national champions.
“That was the scariest game I’ve ever played because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” defenseman Matthew Przeracki said. “It came down to the third period, so that was the scariest part. Going up 1-0 and having to defend like that, keeping it out of our zone was the most crucial part, but we did, and I’m really proud of our goalie, too. (Goalie) Julia (Kuba) did amazing, so props to her.”
The Indy Steel pushed and pushed over the final minutes – “I had hair before,” joked clean-shaven coach Jason Kubin – but the Kuba and the Blades held strong, finishing out the 1-0 win to secure the program’s first USA Hockey title.
“I felt locked in,” Kuba said. “It’s a lot of pressure. It was very nerve-racking for me, but I knew my team would have my back.”
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It didn’t come easy, but that’s the way it had to be for the Blades, who showed throughout the tournament they had what it took to be champions. After beating the Indy Steel by a 2-0 score in the opening game, the Blades came back with a 10-0 win over the Nashville Jr. Sled Preds, then downed the San Diego Jr. Ducks to earn a rematch with Indy in the final.
After two scoreless periods, 13-year-old Mason Kubin had the winning goal early in the third, taking the puck at center ice and sweeping it into the zone along the right boards while moving away from an Indy player. Kubin recollected the puck as he entered the offensive zone, cut to the middle of the ice around the same Fuel defender, and as players converged he fired a shot from the slot that went down as the decisive goal.
“I carried it all the way because there was no one in front of me, and I just took (the shot),” Kubin said. “I saw one guy, and another guy next to me. I just hit it, and (the defenders) hit each other and it went in. I couldn’t really tell if it went in or not.”
Of course, it did, and that set off a frantic push to the end that concluded with the Blades coming out on top.
“When you look back, it was how it needed to happen, in my opinion,” Coach Kubin said. “At the time, you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ You lose your voice. You’re trying anything and everything to get them to calm down and take a deep breath, but we couldn’t because the other team was fighting for everything because they wanted it just as much as we did.
“You look back and go, it kind of needed to happen that way in our opinion because of how we started, our humble beginnings, to where we ended. (To win) a 5-0 game, you’d say, ‘OK, it felt great, we won.’ But to have it that way and to know what we earned it, and to see the dogpile in front of our goalie, there’s nothing better. Nothing better. At the time, it was stressful for sure, but we got through it, and it was awesome.”
That buzz of joy and excitement was in part because of how the group has grown together over the years. Supported in part by grants from the Blue Jackets Foundation, the Columbus Blades youth program is for kids who have a physical disability limiting one’s ability to play ice hockey in a standing position, and the program has grown over the past two decades from scratch into a team that could go to nationals and come back with a title.
For the kids that play, it’s a chance to take part in athletics and be part of a community that might be hard to find elsewhere.
“It’s very fun to do,” Julia Kuba said. “I’ve loved hockey ever since I’ve started, so I would not do anything else other than hockey. This is my priority.”
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” Mason Kubin said.
And as you might expect, relationships follow. The group has forged deep friendships not just one another but opposing teams, cheering on rivals at national events and spending time at hotels bonding with one another.
Many of the players on the championship team have played together for years, building chemistry and friendships that will last a lifetime. The roster for the Tier 3 national championship game included Przeracki, Kuba, Kubin, Emmett Campbell, Dennis George, Isaac Hinkel, Kiera Cheatham, Abigail Judson, Hunter Hysell and Grady Winner.
“I love this group,” said Przeracki, who played his final game for the program at the youth level at the tournament. “I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve spent 12 years with the same group. It’s just fun to see them grow, see them have fun. The coaches always say have fun, but we know it’s a lot more than having fun. It’s winning, too, but we do have a lot of fun in games. After the games we have fun in the hotels, swim, do whatever, hang out. It’s a lot more than a team, it’s family.”
With a championship in hand, the Blades hope this is just the start of something big. Around 25 kids are now in Ohio Sled Hockey’s youth program ranging from 4 years old to 18, and the days of taking their lumps as they learned the game are now over.
They have the medals in their hands to prove it.
“Just seeing the growth from where we started, we’d go to tournaments where we lose every game,” coach Corey Kuba said. “That’s just where the kids started from. They’ve had several years where we’ve maybe won one game out of the whole season. To see them come to this, we’re competitive in almost every tournament that we have. They’ve just gotten miles better from where they started, and we have plenty of kids coming up, too.
“We’re just growing like crazy. It’s a wonderful thing to see.”
