Who’s Bubba?
Bubba is the smaller snowman in our family, and “Assist From Bubba” stemmed from his Bar Mitzvah project back in 2007. He is a junior coach with the NJ Devils Youth Hockey Club DareDevils special needs hockey program, and for his Bar Mitzvah, he raised over $4,000 from nearly 50 donors to support autism related organizations.
The April 22, 2007 “Nick News” show on autism included a short interview with Bubba and some of the other DareDevils junior coaches and players. Assist From Bubba has been recognized by Athletes Against Autism as a supporter of Cure Autism Now.
The rest of this page is Bubba’s view on autism, diversity and special needs hockey. You can read all of our autism-related content through the Autism tag in the blog.
What’s An Assist From Bubba?
I’m a defenseman, and we don’t score a lot of goals. In addition to helping our goalie keep the puck out of our own net, a defenseman can set up scoring plays by passing the puck or taking a shot that gets redirected into the net. When you start a scoring play, you are credited with an assist, sometimes called a “helper” in hockey slang. Assists count equally with goals for scoring statistics in all hockey leagues, because they emphasize teamwork and credit the players who set up the goal scorer.
Assist From Bubba is my chance to help set up scientists, researchers and other organizations involved with autism research and providing services to people with autism. This is your chance to get credited with an assist as well, by supporting causes such as Autism Speaks, Cure Autism Now, and the DareDevils program.
Why Autism Research?
Many of our DareDevils hockey friends have autism. Autism can make it hard to express emotions, so sometimes we communicate by doing hockey drills like passing a puck or working on our skating together.
April is Autism Awareness Month, as well as my birthday (and Patrik Elias’ if you’re scoring at home)
Washington Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig and other hockey players who have children with autism have started Athletes Against Autism as part of Cure Autism Now. Athletes with special needs represent another kind of diversity in sports. The National Hockey League also emphasizes diversity in hockey through the “Hockey is for Everyone” program. I still remember shaking hands in 2004 with Willie O’Ree, the first black player in the NHL and the head of the Willie O’Ree All-Star Weekend for diversity players.
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