Long-time volunteers often like to joke that they were pushed into getting involved with their local youth hockey association. Not Sheila Gillece. She was the one doing the pushing.
And for more than 30 years she has been literally and figuratively pushing the Long Island Sled Hockey Rough Riders program and players through her dedication and determination to make sure that every disabled athlete has a place in the game.
Over the years she has served her local sled hockey community in various roles, including her current position as the president of the organization.
It all started when she showed up at the rink with her son, Tommy, and noticed several male coaches “flipping and flopping around on the ice” wearing street shoes as they pushed sled hockey players who couldn’t propel themselves without assistance.
Gillece, who had grown up on Long Island learning how to skate, volunteered to lace up her skates and help on the ice. Before long she became a valuable member of the staff. She earned the nickname as “Da Pusha” after one parent frantically searched for her during a practice session.
“[This woman] who had a super strong Brooklyn accent came running into the rink lobby asking, ‘Where’s Da Pusha? Where’s Da Pusha?’” Gillece recalls with a laugh. “I was like are you looking for me? And she goes, ‘Yeah, you’re Da Pusha. We need you.’ And I’ve been called ‘Da Pusha’ ever since. I even have a jersey that bears that name.”
For years, Gillece maintained the role as the only pusher on the ice. Fortunately, as more people with skating abilities joined the organization, Gillece was able to scale back from that role and help in other ways. These days, she serves as the president of the board and continues to spearhead the growth of the organization that helps athletes of all ages and disabilities discover the thrill of being on the ice.
“It’s mind boggling, really. It’s a wonderful thing, and I’m glad I’m part of it,” she said. “I’ve become so involved and have developed such wonderful friendships with these athletes and their guardians, parents and other volunteers.
“I forget that it’s a unique opportunity for disabled athletes to have this, because they don’t have much. This is something that so many of them live for. Any of these athletes will tell you their disabilities disappear when they’re in the sled. We have a saying with the Rough Riders – ‘Disabilities disappear on the ice.’”
The organization is one of many on Long Island that receives generous support from the N.Y. Islanders. The team and its players are proud to sport the colors of their local NHL team and display an Islanders patch on their shoulders.
The team takes its name from local and national hero Teddy Roosevelt, who before he became the 26th President of the United States led a calvary unit at the Battle of San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War.
Their logo features Roosevelt holding a hockey stick while riding atop a flaming horse surrounded by a horseshoe emblazoned with Rough Riders.
Roosevelt’s connection to Long Island is well known. His Sagamore Hill home in Oyster Bay served as his “Summer White House” and later became his permanent residence. He is buried in Young’s Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay, not far from where the Rough Riders practice and play their games at the Bethpage Ice Rink.
Like Roosevelt’s iconic calvary unit, the Rough Riders sled program is a diverse group, featuring young men and women of varying disabilities. Everyone is welcome on the ice. All they need is a desire to learn and love the game as much as those who came before them.
When Gillece talks about the program that she’s been a part of for more than three decades, she is quick to mention those who gave her a start in the game, including most notably Bryan Blomquist, the long-time president who is often called the “father of Long Island Sled Hockey”.
She is proud to carry on that legacy with the help of a small but dedicated volunteer board, and the generous support of the local community. Together they have built a welcoming organization that always puts the players first.
“We believe that financial barriers should never prevent a qualifying athlete from experiencing the joy and camaraderie of competitive and recreational sled hockey,” reads the mission statement on the organization’s website.
“Every eligible player who wants to join our team is welcomed with open arms, and at no cost to them is provided with equipment, training or any expenses related to participation.”
In early December the organization is looking forward to welcoming the sled hockey world to Long Island where they will team up with the Islanders to host the 2025 NHL Sled Classic. The event will feature as many as 27 sled teams from around the country and Canada for four days of competition and camaraderie.
The Rough Riders are looking to field two teams in different divisions and are hoping to repeat their success from the 2021 tournament when they captured the Tier V division.
More than just the competition, the event will be a celebration of the sport that has done so much for so many. And for Gillece and other members of the Rough Riders board and all their volunteers, it will be a chance to showcase how far the game has come on Long Island since Gillece pushed her first sled more than 30 years ago.
“I was talking to somebody the other day that I’ve been involved with this world for so long and I’ve gotten so caught up in it that I sometimes forget how wonderful it is because it’s just become such a part of me,” Gillece said.
“I remember when I first started, and I watched these athletes transfer out of wheelchairs and bounce their sled down the hall with their upper body strength and skate all over the ice and do this and that. And I’d say to myself, ‘how dare I even complain that I have a headache?’”
