"You're even more of a superstar than I thought you would be," said Kevin Weekes, an NHL Network analyst and the host for Doederlein's tour Tuesday.
But the surprise for Doederlein also worked.
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While appearing on a NHL Network segment to talk about Hockey Is For Everyone, which is being celebrated throughout February, Doederlein was presented with a $2,000 grant and a new, custom-made hockey sled to help in her pursuit of a new love: sled hockey.
She was also invited, in a videotaped message, to an Arizona Coyotes game by defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who is her favorite player.
The sled and grant were provided by the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a San Diego-based charity providing opportunities and support to people with physical challenges.
Doederlein applied for a grant and is one of the first recipients the charity has awarded this year, said Bob Babbitt, the co-founder and CAF Ambassador, who made the presentations Tuesday.
Soon after her surgery, at the urging of one of her prosthetists, Doederlein tried sled hockey for the first time.
She was hooked, and joined the local club in her area, the Phoenix Coyotes Sled Hockey Team. She quickly fell in love with the game, despite having no hockey experience, and was using a borrowed sled that was too big for her.
Doederlein is the youngest player on the team.
"I've always been into sport and, after the surgery, I thought I would try sled hockey out. It was great," Doederlein said. "My teammates are really encouraging and I love that part of it."
Doederlein, who wears No. 50, is a forward.
"I like to be out in front," she said.
She says she hasn't scored many goals.
"I help, I guess," Doederlein said, suggesting she is more of a playmaker. "I'm not that great."
But she plans to get better.
She says she would like to play in the Paralympics at some point.
Those around her know better than to count her out.
Doederlein was adopted from Russia as a baby after she was placed into an orphanage by her parents in the hopes a family could provide the health care she needed. She has been able to walk with the aid of braces, but did not believe that would provide her with the level of mobility she craved as she entered her teenage years, so she elected to have the amputation surgery.
While the Paralympics remain one of several dreams for Doederlein to chase, the sled and the grant, for the purchase of additional equipment, will help in many ways, said her father, David.
"It's the one place she feels she can move freely," he said of sled hockey. "It has helped her in her own ability to grow into and cope with this new phase of her life."
