Detroit's sled hockey team represents

DETROIT-Chances are if you grew up a Red Wings fan, you have dreamed of one day wearing the winged wheel.
Thanks to the sponsorship of the Detroit Red Wings Foundation, a group of sled hockey players from across Michigan were Detroit Red Wings last weekend at the USA Hockey Sled Classic in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Players from the Detroit area-based Michigan Sled Dogs and the Grand Rapids-based Sled Wings put aside their rivalry and became one team, representing the Red Wings with a fiery, competitive spirit which would have made their NHL counterparts proud.
Twenty-eight NHL-sponsored teams broken down into five divisions (Tiers I-V) competed in a series of round robin games in which the top two finishers in their respective groups qualified for a single-elimination championship round.
"We definitely held our own. We had a couple of tough losses there, but some of it originated because we were brand new playing together with this Grand Rapids team," Detroit's Rico Vitelli said. "We just needed time to adjust and learn each other, but we were able to pull it out, we got to the semifinals. I thought we gave a pretty good fight."
Vitelli, a 14-year veteran of the Sled Dogs, led the Wings in scoring with two goals and two assists in four games.
"I try not to be 'that guy,' I'm all about the team and whatever I have to do to help the team," he said. "It's pretty cool that I did lead the team in scoring. I think it's in part to all my hard work I've put into the 14 years of playing. I try and go out there and do whatever I can and play my hardest to try and help the team win every single game."
Susie Kluting of the Sled Wings was the lone woman on Detroit's 12-person roster and finished second on the team in scoring, notching three points in four games with a goal and two assists.
Playing sled hockey since she was seven years old, Kluting has 16 years of sled hockey experience and though sled teams are mostly co-ed, she is often the only woman on her team.
"It was a little bit (intimidating) because guys have quote-unquote more of the 'athletic ability' kind of thing," Kluting responded when asked what she was feeling heading into the Sled Classic. "So I was kind of worried like, 'Hey, am I ever going to get the puck?' I'm a hockey player and I'll call for it (the puck), but you never know.
"Going into it, I knew I was going to be the only girl and once you're on the ice with all the guys it is kind of a little bit intimidating, but I can hold my own, especially with the hitting."
Nicknamed T-Bone for her penchant of taking numerous T-Bone penalties, Kluting enjoyed playing with the Sled Dogs.
"We have been in the adult league playing against each other for the past six years," she said. "It was different to play with a team you never practiced with before, but we always adapt and make things work.
"When we went into the locker room, even though we weren't a set team we were a team for that weekend."
It was wheeling into Detroit's locker room for the first time where Vitelli and Kluting grasped the reality of their situation.
"The Wings jersey, that's just surreal (wearing it)," Vitelli said, "We had no idea what to expect to begin with and going into that locker room they had all the jerseys hung up in the lockers.
"Wheeling in there and seeing your jersey hung up with your name on it (pause), it was just a surreal feeling.
"Unless you're in the NHL, it's a feeling you just can't replicate."
Like Vitelli, Kluting became awestruck when she wheeled into the Detroit dressing room.
"It was a pretty special feeling. I didn't know we were going to have those jerseys (authentic Red Wings jerseys) so I brought my own," Kluting said. "When I wheeled in there and saw all of our names on the back of those jerseys I was like, 'Wow, this really is a team, even if it's just for the weekend we can make this work and come together and hopefully come out with a few wins, which we did.'"
Detroit was coached by Dan Brennan and Guy Gosselin from USA Hockey. Gosselin was the Wings head coach while Brennan served as his assistant. Brennan, who is the Director of Sled & Inline National Teams and the general manager of the national Paralympic Sled Hockey Team for Hockey USA, says he and Gosselin didn't know what to expect.
"We didn't know about it until a couple of days before the event. What happened was the players are made up of two different organizations so what they wanted to do was to bring in a couple of neutral guys to help out," Brennan said. "And like anything, especially in hockey, it doesn't take long for you to get close to the players. It went from something that we (Brennan and Gosselin) thought was going to be kind of funny and it turned out to be a great experience.
"The guys we met and Susie, they were fantastic. They treated us great and I think they had a lot of fun - at least we sure hope they did."
During Detroit's first contest, Brennan told Kluting she owed him a goal, which became a running conversation between them.
"What was funny I told Susie she owed me a goal in the first game and she would smile and look back at me and say, 'yeah, ok, I'll get one,'" Brennan recalled. "Sure enough, she didn't get a goal until our very last game (a 4-1 loss to Minnesota in the Tier III semifinals), it was our first goal in that game. The whole bench got a kick out of it because she delivered on her promise."
According to Kluting, scoring a goal was always on her mind.
"It was the last game that we played and it was against Minnesota, so it was the home ice for them and we had played them the day before and every time I would go on with my line, Dan (Brennan) would be like, 'You still owe me a goal' and I'd be like 'ok,' but being the only girl there I was like, 'I don't know how much I'm going to get the puck,'" Kluting said. "But every time I would go out, he'd say, 'I still need a goal from you.' Obviously, if he didn't say that it would be my goal to score for the weekend and we were skating and I think it was Rico (Vitelli), he went to shoot the puck and I got the rebound.
"I remember just turning around and I threw my hands in the air and the coaches looked at me and were like, 'Yeah! That's the one we wanted, that's the goal we needed!' So, that was a pretty special moment, especially being able to wear that Red Wings jersey and scoring that goal for the Red Wings."
The Red Wings finished the USA Hockey Sled Classic with a 2-2 record, but it's not their success or failure on the ice that Brennan wants us to take away from the sled hockey Red Wings.
"The bottom line for me is they are all hockey players. They all battle disabilities in their everyday life. Just getting out of bed for them is a workout and all of a sudden, they get out on the ice, it's a level of freedom that even they will say they can't even describe what that feeling is," Brennan said. "To me it's more about allowing them the opportunity to play amongst people with similar disabilities and once they get out there, they're just hockey players and they want to be treated like that; they're very competitive and they look out for each other.
"Guy and I were thrilled to be a part of it because sometimes you volunteer for something and you wind up with some players that don't have that kind of experience. You couldn't fool any of those guys.
"In the room, they knew exactly what they were talking about, they're well-versed in the NHL. They are hockey fans too, so when they take their stuff off, that's a group of people that love to go to Red Wings games and I think they really enjoyed wearing the jersey."
What Brennan expressed was exactly why the Detroit Red Wings Foundation wanted to sponsor a team in the USA Hockey Sled Classic.
"The mission of the Detroit Red Wings Foundation is to support the growth of the sport of hockey throughout the state of Michigan," said Kevin Brown, Director of Community Relations and the Detroit Red Wings Foundation. "That also includes positioning hockey to become the most diverse and inclusive sport in all athletics."
"Initiatives like the USA Hockey Sled Classic not only provide a great opportunity to grow the sport, but also help reinforce our message that hockey is for everyone."
Vitelli and Kluting are thankful for the opportunity provided by the Detroit Red Wings Foundation.
"It was a really cool experience. Getting to wear that winged wheel, like I said, it's something you just cannot replicate anywhere unless you make it to the NHL, and being a sled player, obviously that's out of the cards," Vitelli said.
"In sled hockey, you're always a good sport no matter what, obviously you're there to compete, but you're also there to have fun. Hockey is hockey," Kluting said. "They (the men players) treat me like another player. That was what was special for me, they don't treat me any differently.
"So, that was a nice thing to go out there and play hockey and just be another hockey player."
Hockey players come from all across the globe and in all shapes and sizes, but only a very select few become Detroit Red Wings.
After last weekend's USA Hockey Sled Classic, you can add 12 new names to the Wings' all-time roster, beginning with Rico Vitelli and Susie Kluting.