The Sleds Are Coming

Description

The Lake Forest College Athletics Department, in conjunction with the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association (GLASA) is excited to host the fifth annual “The Sleds Are Coming” event on Sunday, February 8, 2015 at the Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse on the campus of Lake Forest College. The event will take place at 2 p.m, admission is free and open to the public, but donations are encouraged in order to support GLASA.
 
The purpose of “The Sleds Are Coming” is to bring campus and community exposure to GLASA and showcase its sled hockey program while raising funds for the GLASA Falcons Sled Hockey Team and other GLASA Athletic Programs. The Falcons, coached by retired Lake Forest men’s hockey coach Tony Fritz, were the 2013 Adult B
National Champions.
 
This year’s event will honor Coach Wally and Darlene Kormylo with the JJ O’Connor Achievement Award named after Lake Forest College graduate JJ O’Connor ’01.  In his career, Wally has coached and mentored over 60,000 hockey players, including four years as the Power Skating coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.  Wally spent over 30 years volunteering his time at Stan Mikita’s summer hockey camps for the hearing impaired.  He was inducted to the Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005. Darlene spent countless hours and years volunteering her time with the figure skating program in Highland Park.  For the past 10 years, Darlene has devoted her time to getting Wally to and from the rink so he could continue coaching youth hockey players despite having lost his driving privileges while recovering from a stroke. Together Wally and Darlene spearheaded the effort to build Centennial Ice Arena in Highland Park - one of the Falcons' "home" ice facilities.  
 
During the event, the Lake Forest College Mascot “Boomer” will lead the “Black” team in cheers and the Chicago Wolves mascot “Skates” will lead the “White” team. Volunteers from the Lake Forest College community, Lake Forest High School and Falcons Hockey Association will fill the stands with many others from our surrounding community and cheer on the GLASA athletes. Last year, the rink was packed with over 800 fans and volunteers to support the GLASA Falcons. This year, the Chicago Blackhawks will be sending a surprise “Ambassador” to the event.
 
The game will feature the GLASA Falcons competing against each other. The competition on the ice will consist of three 12-minute periods of 5-on-5 sled hockey played by members of the GLASA Falcons. In addition to the game, there will be raffle prizes, including four Alumni Box Seats for a Chicago Blackhawks game, autographed Stan Mikita jersey in honor of Coach Wally’s service and a Chuck-A-Puck competition.