When a disabled player on the Gateway Locomotives hockey team smiles after scoring a goal, it makes you wonder how anyone could fight in hockey.

Gateway Special Hockey is a non-profit organization that, put simply, makes disabled hockey players’ dreams come true.

In 1993, Tony Sansone, Jr. read an article while he was in the Toronto airport about an organized ice hockey program for developmentally challenged youth and young adults. This program, which existed in Canada, was called Grandravine Special Hockey. The team went by the Grandravine Tornadoes.

Sansone was determined to bring this program to St. Louis.

While Sansone was able to gather friends and teammates to coach the team, finding available ice was no walk in the park.

“Never before were these kids allowed to play hockey because of insurance purposes in the United States,” former Blues player and current Blues analyst Kelly Chase said. “And nobody had ice time for them.”

Chase stepped up by offering to host a Blues’ players sponsored hockey school which would take place in the Summer at Brentwood Ice Rink. Chase would donate the profit made from the school to the Locomotives for ice time, and would talk to the Brentwood rink management to make ice available to the Locomotives – at this time, Brentwood was where the Blues practiced.

In 1996, team representatives from Canada as well as some established programs in the USA held a formal meeting to created a league which would provide special athletes in the neighboring countries with some organization and competition.

Today, the league is known as Special Hockey International, or “The Heart League.”

The St. Louis chapter, Gateway Special Hockey, Inc., is a non-profit which was established in 1994. It exists as a result of donations and fundraisers. All of the staff in the organization are volunteers, and all of the money received goes to the benefit of the players.

This season, the ages range from four to 45. While this program is composed primarily of players with Down Syndrome, players with any disability are welcome to join the roster.

The Locomotives are divided into two teams – a senior team and a junior team. The junior team is composed of young, inexperienced players, while the players on the senior team are older and have spent some time playing.

Richard Hollocher, a junior at CHS, has the pleasure to be a part of this amazing experience.

“Right now I’m teaching a boy named Bret,” Hollocher said. “He’s a fifth grader, and he’s never skated in his life. I’m sort of his personal coach for now. At the practices, I really help Bret skate. I teach him to have stronger ankles, and how to stay balanced … In games, I help run lines, referee sometimes and just sort of get the kids pumped up for the game.”

Most of the volunteers are parents of kids in the program, but there is a good mix of people who help out. Some former players come back to support and provide assistance, and even dress out for games.

The Locomotives senior team typically plays high school teams, and the junior team usually plays kids who are younger than they are. While for the Locomotives these games are competitive, the opposing players usually use their opposite hand and make sure that the Locomotives enjoy themselves. These outside teams view the games as a great opportunity not only for the Locomotives, but for themselves as well.

On Sunday, Nov. 18 the senior Locomotive team took on Eureka High School. This game was followed by a match between the junior Locomotive team and the Rockets Pee Wee A2 team.

“We don’t make their day, they make our day,” Rockets coach Kevin Whitworth said. “They make my kids open their eyes to the world and that’s just cool.”

Since the Gateway Locomotives is the only team of its kind in St. Louis, a lot of their time is spent traveling to other cities for competitive tournaments. Two of their competitors are fairly nearby – the Chicago Tomahawks and the Colorado Golden Eagles.

Twice during the season, the Locomotives participate in the Special Hockey International Tournament, consisting of special teams from the USA and Canada – a league known as Special Hockey International. The host of the tournament alternates every year between the United States and Canada.

The Locomotives are best described as one giant family of multiple ages and backgrounds with one common goal – to support the disabled athletes.

Erin Ott explained that the case of her son Brian is an uncommon one. He has cancer of the brain and spinal chord which led to his mental disability. Thanks to the program, he is able to accomplish his dream of playing hockey.

“Knowing you can go out and do something to help someone that wasn’t as lucky as you are is fantastic,” Hollocher said. “The best feeling in the world is when they smile at you after they score a goal or celebrate and then the whole team goes crazy for them and they’re all cheering. They have so much fun. And that smile is priceless.”