A Beacon of Light
BLAINE, Minn. – Sietske Morgan glanced up at T.J. Stewart’s jersey hanging inside the Super Rink on Friday morning before taking a moment to compose herself with the help of her teammates at the 2024 USA Hockey Blind Hockey Classic.
Morgan had become so used to hearing Stewart’s encouraging and caring voice booming on the ice as he stood tall in goal ever since she first met him at the 2018 USA Hockey Disabled Hockey Festival.
“Just having T.J.’s jersey up there, I lost it,” Morgan said. “I could still hear all his positivity and him saying, ‘Hey guys, you got this!’
“Ever since his passing, all I've wanted to do is just be around the team because it's such a loss and it's been so hard. It means a lot to be with the team and our hockey community because it’s more than a team – it's a family. The more we've gotten together and gotten to know each other over the years, it’s like your extended family when you come to the Blind Classic.”
Forty-eight players and six teams made the journey from across the United States to participate in this weekend’s USA Hockey Blind Classic in Blaine, Minnesota. Many of this year’s participants hit the ice with “T.J.” decals on their helmets as they continue to play with Stewart in their hearts since his unexpected passing two weeks ago in Pennsylvania.
Stewart, 28, was a talented goalie for the Pittsburgh Rhinos, and he had played with the United States Blind Hockey Team in the past as well.
However, as strong as Stewart was in between the pipes, it was rather his rock-solid personality that truly resonated within the blind hockey community.
“He was a beacon of light for all of us and blind hockey,” teammate Dan Schramm said. “Every aspect of his light seemed to shine through in everything he did. I never heard the kid complain. He never complained about letting a goal in. He was always so positive, building up other teammates that were frustrated or down and having a hard game.
“He had an attention to detail for everyone's lives. He took conversations to heart. And the next time you saw him, he would remember the last conversation with you.”
Michael Svac, head coach of the United States Blind Hockey Team, first met Stewart and his jovial personality at a USA Hockey disabled hockey event in Chicago in 2014.
Svac still expected to hear Stewart’s familiar voice inside the Super Rink this weekend asking, “Hey coach, how is your family doing? And how were your travels?”
“He would always find a way through his words to bring the positivity,” Svac said. “It was never going down a negative path. He truly cared about other people, no matter what, and everyone just loved being with him.
“The blind hockey community is very small. Obviously, we'd have this weekend no matter what, but having it be so close to what happened with T.J., it's been good for everyone to kind of get together and reminisce and play hockey and kind of honor him that way.”
While his friends and teammates consider Stewart a beacon of light for their blind hockey community, they are now taking it upon themselves to make sure his positive light does not dim.
“We're trying to build each other up, whether you're just starting out or whether you've been skating for 40 years and just lost your vision and now you want to get into blind hockey,” Morgan said. “We're all just trying to be supportive of each other and build each other up.”
Schramm knows that Stewart would be the first one to welcome new players to the disabled hockey community, and he believes the blind hockey community will use Stewart as an inspiration to encourage other visually impaired people to give blind hockey a try.
“We've all kind of come together as a group and realized that we need to carry on his legacy and adopt a little bit of that light for everyone, Schramm concluded. “He had such a big heart, yet you could give a piece of his heart to the entire world, and he would still have so much left over. If we can all adopt a little bit of that, we can bring in the next generation, and I know he's up there looking down on us and supporting us all the way.”
ABOUT BLIND HOCKEY
The 2024 USA Hockey Blind Hockey Classic continues Saturday and Sunday in Blaine, Minnesota, and is open to the public and free-of-charge.
Blind hockey features an adapted puck that makes noise and is both bigger and slower than a traditional puck. Players’ levels of vision range from legally blind – approximately 10 percent vision or less – to totally blind. Custom three-foot-high nets are used (rather than the traditional four-foot nets) to keep the puck low to the ice so it can make noise and be tracked aurally.
Source: usahockey.com