Color of Hockey: Jones set to be key piece of U.S. Paralympic sled team

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog for the past nine years. Douglas joined NHL.com in March 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, as part of the NHL's celebration of Black History Month, he profiles Malik Jones, a 19-year-old forward for the U.S. sled hockey team that will compete in the 2022 Beijing Paralympics from March 4-13.

Malik Jones said he could barely hold a stick when he began playing sled hockey at 7 years old.

"My right hand was really weak so I remember them having to tape my hand to the stick so I could hold on to the stick better," he said.

Now the 19-year-old forward from Aurora, Colorado, has a firm grip on his stick and the sport as one of the youngest members of U.S. sled hockey team that will compete at the 2022 Beijing Paralympics.

"The Paralympics is a big world stage, it's a big accomplishment," Jones said. "All the work I put in to get to the point, it shows that it paid off. Obviously I have more work to do, but I can take a deep breath and say, 'I did it.'"

Jones is a rookie on the team that will seek its fourth consecutive Paralympics gold medal, but U.S. Paralympic sled hockey coach David Hoff said he expects to use the teenager extensively during the tournament.

"He's not someone who we're saying, 'Well, let's just get him ready for four years down the road,'" Hoff said. "He's someone we think that could be someone we need at some crucial times in some of those games. This is a young man who is going to play and going to play in some crucial situations. We think he is ready to play now."

Hoff said Jones first got on USA Hockey's radar when he participated in his first development camp at 12 years old. Coaches in the U.S. sled hockey program have watched Jones develop into an offensively gifted player.

"He's a top-six type forward, a forward who can create offense and not everyone has that ability," Hoff said. "He makes players he plays with better, giving them opportunities to score."

Jones was without tibias -- shinbones -- in both legs, which left him unable to walk. His had his legs amputated when he was 10 months old.

"It didn't stop me one bit," he said. "I have walking prosthetics, I have running legs. I used to skateboard also. I used to do all that."

He got into sled hockey after his grandmother learned about a local program and asked her grandson if he would be interested in joining.

"I said, 'Yeah, why not?'" Jones said. "We went out one Saturday and I got in the sled, and I loved it ever since."

Jones joined the Colorado Avalanche sled hockey team, which became the first NHL team-affiliated sled hockey team in the country in 1996.

At 14, he was among the sled hockey players who played outdoors at Coors Field in an exhibition game between the Avalanche sled hockey team and the Avs Warriors that was part of the festivities surrounding the 2016 NHL Stadium Series game between the Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings.

Jones said he enjoys sled hockey because of the camaraderie and feeling of independence it gives him.

"It's helped build my character because I'm around other people like me and it made me happy that there were other people like me who have the same or similar difficulties growing up," he said. "Being around that environment made me feel good. When I'm with them playing sled hockey, I don't feel like I have a disability. I feel normal. I can do everything."

Jones said he didn't know about the Paralympics and international competition until his third year of sled hockey.

"I never watched hockey before, never was interested in it," he said. "Once I started playing for a while I started to get more interested. And then I found out about the Paralympics, and ever since it's been a goal of mine. And now I'm going to Beijing."