It's Hockey Across America Week, and as part of the week's events, five-year-old Mason Kubin tried hockey for the first time. Not surprisingly, he loves it. He loves it so much he wants to play all the time. Mason doesn't want to go to school, he even wants to give up playing tee-ball to be on the ice.
At least that's what Mason, who has spina bifida, told his parents after stepping out of his sled for the "Try Sled Hockey" clinic put on by the Blue Jackets and Ohio Sled Hockey on Tuesday.
The Kubins weren't a big hockey family. But they knew about other children in the spina bifida community who played sled hockey, and when they got the invitation to Tuesday's event, they knew they had to be there.
"We were worried that when he got on the ice he might be a bit hesitant but oh, my gosh, he just went nuts," Mason's dad Jason Kubin told BlueJackets.com.
Mason and his family watched the sled hockey scrimmage that immediately preceded the clinic. The Ohio Blades and Ohio Warrior sled hockey teams played with a few Blue Jacket alumni, and Jason used the opportunity to show Mason the motion he'd have to make with his arms to push himself down the ice once in a sled of his own.
"Try Sled Hockey" Clinic Opens New Doors
Five-year-old with spina bifida finds joy in his first sled hockey clinic