A Blind Hockey Story

ctranter · November 2, 2010

Good afternoon OFC! I thought I'd share a story about a childhood friend of mine. I grew up in Toronto with a great group of friends. We attended elementary, middle, and high school together, and now we are like brothers. One of my good buds is a young man by the name of Mark Demontis.

Mark is a pretty extraordinary guy. The story is best told from his own voice (for the quick version scroll down to the video), but I'll do my best. At 17, he was living a perfect life. He played AAA hockey, he was class president at York Memorial CI, he was dynamite with the ladies. One day he was golfing with his Dad, and he realized that he couldn't see the pin. After getting checked out he was diagnosed with an extremely rare vision disorder called Leber's Optic Neuropathy (Wikipedia), which left him legally blind. Many people would not have the courage to continue living life to the fullest, but Mark is an inspiration.

Inspired by a dream to play in the NHL, Mark started a charity called Courage Canada. His dream is to expand blind hockey in Canada, develop a nationwide blind hockey organization, and introduce blind hockey to the Special Olympics. In the summer of 2009, Mark set out for the journey of his life. With another buddy of ours, he roller bladed from Toronto, through northern Ontario, the prairies, the rockies, and finally to Vancouver. Those of you in Thunder Bay may recall a big rally he held there on his journey. He has told me some great stories from the trip, but the pictures say it all. He met countless NHLers (most of the Flames), Walter Gretzky, several ex-Oilers, premiers, and the entire cast of Trailer Park Boys (I thought they shot out East?). When the Queen last visited Toronto, he was chosen to represent Canada in giving the Queen her official departure flowers. He works in collaboration with Herb Carnegie, and received tons of support in sponsorship money from Eugene Melnyk.

Here's one of several videos he has made. Does anyone recognize the arena from it? (Hint: you may have seen it in McDonalds commercials with Wayne Gretzky, many Tim Hortins commercials, or a recent musical hockey film :whistling: )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEi98Pw_4UY&feature=player_embedded

If you have a minute, check out his website, add Courage Canada as a friend on facebook, or follow him on Twitter. He is a great guy who is always happy to share some words of wisdom or just chat.

Courage Canada Homepage

Facebook Link

Twitter Link