Our History
Blind Hockey was invented at the W Ross MacDonald School for the Blind in Brantford in 1936, and really became a sport with the founding of the Toronto Ice Owls Blind Hockey Team in 1972. For over 70 years the game was played recreationally in cities across Canada using a variety of different rules, formats, and adapted pucks — highly localized, existing only in Canada, and resembling nothing like the thriving international parasport it is today.
In 2009, Canadian Blind Hockey was founded under our former name "Courage Canada Hockey for the Blind." We operated as Courage Canada until 2016, when the organization was formally renamed Canadian Blind Hockey to better reflect its vision, mission, and operations. By establishing a national sports organization for Blind Hockey we were able to truly change the game and create a parasport that leaves a strong Canadian cultural legacy worldwide:
- Standardized and codified the rules and the adapted puck for the parasport of Blind Hockey
- Founded the world's first tournament for the sport — the Canadian National Blind Hockey Tournament, held annually since 2013
- Introduced more than one thousand children who are blind or partially sighted to skating and Blind Hockey through field trip programs coast-to-coast
- Expanded participation from adults-only to all ages, including children and youth divisions and dedicated children and youth teams
- Exported the parasport to the United States, helping it grow from a single American player in 2013 to more than ten teams and hundreds of players by 2019
- Created the Canadian National Blind Hockey Team Program — and defeated Team USA to win the first-ever International Blind Hockey Series in 2018, achieving one of the founding goals of the organization
Courage Canada
On June 27, 2009, a 22-year-old Toronto Ice Owls player named Mark DeMontis departed on the "Courage Canada Quest for the West" — rollerblading over 5,000 km across five provinces to raise funds for Blind Hockey programming for children and youth who are blind or partially sighted. With those funds, Mark put on the organization's first learn-to-skate and Blind Hockey field trips and supported the framework for the first national tournament. Mark served as volunteer President of Courage Canada from 2009 to 2016; the name was retired when he departed the board and the organization became Canadian Blind Hockey. Mark remains an active member of the community and of the Canadian National Blind Hockey Team.
Canadian Blind Hockey Hall of Fame
2018
- Fred Angers — Volunteer
- Dylan Brown — Volunteer
- Sean Cowie — Volunteer
- Robert Gignac — Volunteer
2019
- François Beauregard — Builder
- Mark DeMontis — Builder
- Gary Steeves — Builder
2022
- Matt Morrow — Builder
2023
- Mario Ros — Player
2024
- Massimo and Sandy DeMontis — recognized for over a decade of dedication to growing the Blind Hockey community across Canada. In the organization's early years they did the heavy lifting as the official address of the charity, with Sandy handling all the early administration.