Bruins' Wonoski Feted for Work with Deaf Hockey Program

BOSTON - Karen Wonoski couldn't help but think of how far her son had come.
Some 25 years after Mike Wonoski first attended the Stan Mikita Hockey School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, there he was standing at the podium to deliver a speech.
Karen, the Bruins' alumni coordinator since 2014, was beaming with pride but wasn't quite sure what he was up there to present. She quickly learned he was there to talk about her.
"I'm up here tonight because I want to thank my mother," Mike said from the podium during an awards ceremony at the hockey school's annual camp last month just outside of Chicago. "I want to thank her for bringing me here all these years, making new friends, family…the Olympic games, World Championships.
"All these years, you've been volunteering with AHIHA and all those Dunkin' Donuts runs late at night…and tonight, you get one of these awards because you deserve it for everything you've put into the camp."

As Mike finished his speech, the audience rose to its feet to give Karen a standing ovation, a worthy recognition of her two-plus decades of volunteerism with the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association. For her efforts she was awarded the "Gunzo Award," the organization's highest honor for its volunteers, given "annually to the AHIHA staff member who best symbolizes spirit and energy."
"I was very surprised," said Karen Wonoski, a member of AHIHA's Board of Directors since 2012 and also the organization's registrar. "People said to me after [Mike] gave me the award, it brought everyone to tears because he spoke from the heart. A lot of people come back year after year, so they see the growth and development and maturity."
Wonoski began taking Mike - who was born deaf - to the camp when he was eight years old after reading a Boston Globe article about the program, which was founded in 1973 by Mikita, the Hockey Hall of Famer and Chicago Blackhawks legend, and Chicago businessman Irv Tiahnybik, who wanted to provide his deaf son, Lex, with a fair and welcoming opportunity to play hockey.
Some 25 years later, Mike, now 32, is a coach with the AHIHA after playing in three World Deaf Ice Hockey Championships (2009, 2013, 2017) and two "Deaflympics" (2007, 2011), winning one gold medal at each event.
"It's heartwarming," Wonoski said of how much her son has grown through the program, which hosted 65 players during this year's camp. "And it's not just Mike, I had two players this year who came back with their children. They're grown, they're adults, and they know what it did for them, and now they've enrolled their five-year-olds. That was rewarding."

Bruins alumni president Rick Middleton was hardly surprised when he learned that Wonoski was the recipient of such a prestigious award.
"Karen is the type of person who puts 100 percent into everything she does," said Middleton, whose No. 16 hangs in the TD Garden rafters. "Ever since she started with the alumni, she's been a huge help to me in helping the alumni get 30 games scheduled every year…knowing Karen, she just wasn't a mother of one of the players, it was, 'If I can help in any way let me know.'
"She gets involved 100 percent…I'm so glad that they recognized that…she doesn't like to be in the foreground so I'm glad they recognized her work and the time put in over the years. It's well deserved."
Middleton knows well the importance of providing everyone an opportunity to play the sport of hockey, regardless of disability, gender, or sexual orientation. He has long embraced the "Hockey is for Everyone" mantra and was the head coach of the United States National Sled Hockey Team at the 2002 Paralympics in Salt Lake City, helping lead them to the gold medal.
"[The deaf hockey] league and sled hockey started well before that slogan became popular," said Middleton. "Hockey is for everyone. I really learned that when I got introduced to sled hockey 20 years ago. Never really thought that much about it until I saw how dedicated and passionate these players were…if you have the passion and the drive and the love that they have for the game, then they're gonna have the time of their lives and they can play it the rest of their lives."
It is that passion and love for the game that inspired Wonoski to give back during her time with the AHIHA. Wonoski, a Lynn, Massachusetts, native, said that "we've always been a hockey family" and it was important that she found a way for Mike to be involved with the sport even though he was born deaf.
With the help of hearing aids and speech therapy, Mike learned to speak and, as he grew older, began to skate. At that point, Karen felt it was the right time for Mike to attend Mikita's hockey school, which helped prepare him to eventually go on to play at Tilton School in New Hampshire and for the club team at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.
Mike also suited up for the 2007 Deaflympic team as one of its youngest players, helping the club to the gold medal in Salt Lake City. And in 2017, as one of the oldest players, Mike was part of yet another gold medal team at the World Championships in Amherst, New York.
"That's what really makes a difference - not just with my son, but with all the other people that I've registered over the years," Wonoski said of giving everyone a chance to play the sport they love. "They start out young and they continue to grow…the whole [AHIHA] mission is to instill confidence and self-esteem in deaf and hard of hearing hockey players. Ultimately, it's goals beyond hockey, how do they succeed?
"It's not just hockey…there's so much more than that. People become a family. Players now have friends from all over the country. When you see those friendships develop, it's amazing to watch."