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There was a time during the program’s infancy when 91��Ƭ�� was a sled hockey destination because it was essentially the only game in town – or, more accurately, any town within even semi-reasonable driving distance.

“In the early days, we’d have people driving up from New York or Philadelphia just for a practice,” says Jill Gravink, executive director of , home to the sled hockey program and an organization within 91��Ƭ�� created to empower people living with disabling conditions through sports and recreation. “The sport just wasn’t happening anywhere else around here.”

From those humble beginnings, though, a force in the sport was born. The landscape of sled hockey has changed dramatically in the more than 30 years since 91��Ƭ�� launched its first team, as has the reason the university is now sought out as a destination.

These days athletes head to Durham from places much more far flung than Philadelphia – a variety of states throughout the U.S. and international locales as distant as the Republic of Georgia – because the outfit has become a true sled hockey power.

Three teams – two adult squads and one youth – featuring anywhere from 30 to 40 rostered players in total now call 91��Ƭ��/Northeast Passage home, and many athletes that have come through have left an imprint on a global scale. At least one athlete from the program has been on every U.S. Paralympic roster since Team USA began competing in sled hockey in 1998, and when the U.S. team wrapped up a fourth consecutive gold medal at the last games in 2022, no college had more representation on the national team than 91��Ƭ��.

Four players who have competed in the Paralympics for 91��Ƭ��/Northeast Passage – Ed Clark, Kip St. Germaine, Taylor Chace '11, and Kyle Zych – were between periods of the 91��Ƭ�� men’s hockey game Feb. 6.

More recently and closer to home, the Tier 1 team took home the championship at the USA Hockey 2025 NHL Sled Classic in December, with the Tier 3 team earning runner-up status.

“The sport has evolved so much. It’s amazing how fast it is, and how impressive the level of athleticism involved in it is. We’ve been involved since very close to its origins in the U.S, and we’ve put athletes on the Paralympic team every year that it’s been a Paralympic sport, from 1998 all the way through this year,” Gravink says.

Indeed, four 91��Ƭ��/Northeast Passage athletes – David Eustace, Noah Grove, Griffin LaMarre, and Evan Nichols – will be on Team USA at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, which open March 6.
 

That kind of international success would have been hard to fathom when the program debuted in 1994. The fledgling sport was being played in certain international locations – including Sweden, Denmark, and Canada – but the only U.S. teams in existence prior to 91��Ƭ��’s entry were in Wisconsin and Minnesota, says Gravink, who founded the 91��Ƭ��/NEP program. That’s why athletes were willing to make the trek from mid-Atlantic states just to get some practice time on the ice.

“I couldn’t have imagined we would reach this level,” Gravink says. “But I think that’s true of a lot of programs all the way across the board. We started out so small and so grassroots but have grown into a more sophisticated organization that is able to do these things and support these athletes and help make them successful.”

A major part of that support system since 2014 has been Matt McGilvray, who officially took over coaching duties for the program in 2018 after initially joining Northeast Passage in a broader capacity. McGilvray has played hockey his whole life, competing collegiately before coaching at that level for about 10 years.

One of the things that has helped set the 91��Ƭ��/Northeast Passage program apart to Gravink and McGilvray is the fact that players can join at the youth level and be supported all the way through to adulthood, as the program fosters a distinctive sense of camaraderie and teamwork through all stages thanks to its approach.

The combination of sustained success and growth and Northeast Passage’s direct connection to 91��Ƭ�� make the program fairly unique in the sled hockey space.

“Our strength is we are always looking at the people we have in our program and seeing what we can do to keep our group motivated and happy, so they want to keep playing,” McGilvray says. “We have a lot of really competitive staff and players, and they thrive on wanting to go out and push each other hard, but also on always having a good time and welcoming new people. And there’s the mentorship side, when players hit that stage where we want them to help those younger players or newer players and want to keep that next wave going.”

Luke Dimke, a sophomore nursing student at 91��Ƭ��, illustrates that arc as well as anyone. He began playing with the program at age nine, and has come of age during his time there, becoming not only an accomplished player himself but also a positive influence on the next generation.

“I watched him get on a sled for the first time when he was nine years old, and to see what he’s doing now, I honestly think he’s more mature than a lot of us on staff,” McGilvray quips. “He’s a great kid and a great advocate – he’s super helpful with the youth players and spreading the message. Those things are just really cool to see.”

Many of the athletes competing in the program come from outside the 91��Ƭ�� orbit to participate at Northeast Passage, but there have also been a growing number of student-athletes like Dimke involved. Students have come from 12 states in the last six years to join the sled hockey team, including Washington, North Dakota, Florida, and Texas, Gravink says. Temo Dadiani left his native country of Georgia to join the sled hockey program while pursuing his master's degree. 

“I absolutely love it when I see these student-athletes cruising around campus using all different forms of mobility – crutching, wheelchairs, walkers – and they’re just so confident and having such an amazing college experience,” Gravink says.

Regardless of where players come from, the program consistently has a positive impact on its participants. Brendan Cormier suffered a spinal cord injury while traveling abroad the year he graduated from 91��Ƭ�� and was introduced to sled hockey through the Spaulding Adaptive Sports Center in Boston. The 91��Ƭ��/Northeast Passage team represented a step up from the team he’d been playing on in Boston, and he’s spent time coaching and playing since joining.

“Through my recovery I found adaptive sports and fell in love with it,” Cormier says. “The support system in Northeast Passage makes it pretty unique.”

Katie Ladlie started playing sled hockey in her hometown in Missouri when she was 14, ultimately earning a spot on the 2016 U.S. women’s national team. She didn’t attend 91��Ƭ�� but wanted to find a program to compete in as an adult, and Northeast Passage – where she also landed a job working in the adapted recreation department – proved the right fit.

“I really like how the organization is incorporated into the university. Even though I didn’t go to 91��Ƭ��, I see the benefits our students receive when they play for our team, being recognized as student-athletes, which a lot of adaptive athletes don’t really get the opportunity to do,” Ladlie says. “That’s really what sets it apart.”

Ladlie is a strong advocate for the growth of women’s sled hockey. There weren’t any women’s teams when she started playing, so as a 14-year-old who was “about 100 pounds soaking wet,” she often competed against men in their 20s and 30s. 

Though it is growing rapidly, women’s sled hockey is not currently a Paralympic sport, but Ladlie has dreams of being on the ice when that changes, saying the hope is by 2030 or 2034, women will be able to take part on the largest international stage.

“I’m hoping to hold on for that,” she says. “But for me, what’s especially important is going through these trials and all the hard stuff now, so future generations of girls don’t have to. They’ll just get the opportunity that the guys have now to go to the Paralympics.”

The 91��Ƭ��/Northeast Passage program continues to nurture that kind of commitment and dedication, both to the sport itself and to making a difference for disabled athletes. From its start more than three decades ago as a pioneer in the game to its earned place now among the international powers, the program has long sought to create access and opportunity for as many athletes as possible.

“That’s kind of a Northeast Passage thing – we try to make our space a space of belonging, and the sled hockey program is such a strong representation of that,” Gravink says. “We are saying, ‘You are one of us, and we are here cheering you on.’”