History of SHI

Pat Flick, who had been involved with minor league hockey since 1970 and who had been affiliated with the Grandravine Athletic Association in Toronto, notices a couple of young boys who always came out to the rink but only to watch their brothers play ice hockey. Flick discovers that these young boys were developmentally challenged. He has this dream - why not ice hockey for the developmentally challenged? So with the help of the Grandravine Athletic Association, he arranges some ice time, and the Grandravine Tornadoes are born.

Fast forward to 1992, while waiting for his flight at Toronto International Airport, Tony Sansone of St. Louis Blues fame reads an article about Flick's team. He also dreams of starting a similar program in St. Louis. For two years, he struggles to find the ice time necessary.

Finally, in January 1994, with the help of Kelly Chase of the St. Louis Blues, Tony launches the Gateway Locomotives. On Thanksgiving weekend, he invites Pat Flick and the Grandravine Tornadoes to St. Louis for a two-team tournament.

In 1995, St. Louis again hosts their Thanksgiving tournament with two new clubs joining Grandravine and the host Gateway Locomotives. They are the Durham Dragons and the Ottawa Valley Ambassadors.

In 1996 representatives from special hockey teams in St. Louis, Denver, New York, Toronto, and Ottawa met in St. Louis to form a league for teams to compete in international play. Special Hockey International is officially launched, with Pat Flick as commissioner and Tony Sansone as President. They establish an annual tournament to be hosted by different teams each year. St. Louis hosted the first annual SHI tournament and then alternated between U.S. and Canadian cities.

In 2002, Mike Dwyer makes SHI truly international by starting a team in London. The Werewolves of London are a part of the Streatham Youth Hockey Club in London, England. Dwyer eventually becomes the president of SHI and still is, with Grandravine Director Joe Rizzuto as a Board member. Rizzuto too, is still a Board member of SHI.

Today, SHI has teams throughout North America and Europe, and the SHI Annual tournament attracts over 70 teams to its three-day festival.

In 2020, COVID shut down the tournament.

But in winter 2023, with The Great Blizz Founder and Executive Director Steve Nearman dreaming of taking his team to the international level, he contacts SHI for an in-person meeting. Nearman drives nine hours to Toronto with his wife Melanie and 15-year-old lop-eared rabbit Harpo and pitches his team to bring back the SHI annual tournament for 2024, the first time in five years.

With Rizzuto in person and two other SHI Board members, including Dwyer, on a ZOOM connection, the Board of SHI awards The Great Blizz with the SHI Boston 2024 special ice hockey tournament. The date was set for April 25-27 at Lovell Arena, south of Boston and north of Cape Cod in Rockland.

The SHI Annual Tournament took Boston like a storm after a five-year hiatus with nearly 500 athletes and 125 coaches. The nearly-new Lovell Arena completely impressed the participants and spectators. The event had all the trimmings - Olympic-style Opening Ceremonies, bowling, golf and hockey simulators, gaming room, competitive hockey games and team dinners prepared on-site by the rink's executive chef. Before the last game concluded, most of the teams who participated indicated that they would return for SHI Boston 2025. 

The event was honored to have legend Tony Sansone drop the puck for the ceremonial face-off between SHI Canadian Rep Joe Rizzuto and SHI President Mike Dwyer at the Opening Ceremonies.