Sled hockey debuts at 2026 Amerigol LATAM Cup

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla -- Karina Villegas was happy when Amerigol LATAM Cup organizers let her set up a table to promote sled hockey at the international tournament three years ago.

Villegas was ecstatic when she and other members of South Florida’s Space Coast Sled Hockey were on the ice at the 2026 LATAM Cup on Saturday and Sunday, playing exhibition games and conducting try sled hockey clinics for the first time in the tournament’s eight-year history.

“To finally be upgraded from a table in the corner to the actual ice and bring my teammates, I’m going to cry,” said Villegas, a Venezuela native who was a member of USA Hockey's U.S. Women's Development Sled Hockey Team. “But I cannot cry because this is just a start.”

LATAM Cup founder Juan Carlos Otero said he wanted to showcase sled hockey because it dovetails with the tournament’s mission of making hockey more inclusive.

More than 1,500 players are competing in the LATAM Cup, which began Saturday at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs and Palm Beach Skate Zone in Wellington, Florida, and runs through Aug. 9.

They are representing 16 countries and territories, including Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, Venezuela and Indigenous/First Nation tribes. 

“We’ve seen the participation in the Paralympics and how exciting it was, and we just felt it was time to add this to our event, introduce it to the teams that participate in the LATAM Cup,” Otero said.

The ultimate goal, Otero said, is to entice some LATAM Cup countries to establish sled hockey programs that could someday compete in the Paralympics.

“To be able to grow the sport, it’s amazing to get eyes out there and be able to just bring focus to people who probably haven’t seen it,” said Greg Shaw, a two-time Paralympics gold medalist (2010, 2014) who was at the LATAM Cup over the weekend. “Maybe they’ve seen it on TV, but being able to see it in person is a whole different thing.”

The weekend showcase was especially important for Madeleine Gallagher, Space Coast player and Palm Bay, Florida, resident who was a member of the U.S. team that won the inaugural World Para Hockey Women’s World Championship in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, last August.

Women’s sled hockey is striving to become a Paralympic event, but not enough countries currently play the sport for it to qualify. National teams from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, and the U.S., alongside a Team World composed of players from various nations, competed at the 2025 Women’s Para Ice Hockey Championship

“Whether they're Latin American or any other countries, we’re just looking for more players to be able to make it to the Paralympics because that’s our end goal right now,” Gallagher said.

Sunday’s sled hockey exhibition persuaded Dave Kodner and his wife, Dawn, to give sled hockey a try with about a half dozen other LATAM Cup attendees at the IceDen.

“It’s great, it takes a little getting used to,” said Kodner, a Special Olympics soccer coach and referee from Palm Beach. “Anything related to special needs and adaptation that we’ve done to bring more people into sports is fantastic, it’s worth doing.

“What’s good about it is, we full-functioning adults feel awkward doing this,” Kodner added as he tried to maintain his balance strapped into a sled, “and it really brings attention that these guys may feel awkward with all the things we force them into because we don’t provide adaptation for them."

The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association, through the NHL Industry Growth Fund and the Panthers, help support the LATAM Cup. The fund was created as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2013 to support and accelerate the development of League and club initiatives as well as projects that promote long-term fan development and increase participation in hockey at all levels.