Blind Hockey Point System
The sport of Blind Hockey is co-ed with both men and women participating together, and features players with a wide variety of ages, levels of vision, amount of experience, and overall skill. For this reason, one of the most unique aspects of the sport is that the Blind Hockey teams do not compete against one another. Instead, at every Canadian Blind Hockey competition all players that register are assigned a division based on their age, level of vision, and level of ability, and then teams will be drafted for each division for that event only. This format also allows Blind Hockey players who do not live in a community large enough to have its own Blind Hockey program to participate in the sport as well. Since teams are different at each and every competition, Canadian Blind Hockey programs have a strong focus on camaraderie, sportsmanship, fun, and fair play, and have the added benefit that long time players have now had the opportunity to play with and against players from all across North America which has created a truly unique Blind Hockey community!
At the Canadian National Blind Hockey Tournament – which is the worlds oldest and largest Blind Hockey event – players from across the world typically have the opportunity to compete in one of five different divisions: Children, Youth, Low Vision & Development, Open, and Select Divisions.
For the weekly inter-squad Blind Hockey games played among the Canadian Blind Hockey teams across the country, different divisions are not possible. Organizers typically draft new teams each week based on who is attending and try their best to make two even teams having a balanced mixture of levels of vision and skill. In weekly games and showcase events the teams will often include sighted players on each side to ensure that there are enough skaters, however sighted players may not score.
