Coach Jon Schwartz of the NJ Dare Devils special hockey program is leading the “Everybody Skates New Jersey” cross-Garden State tour this weekend, building on the Hockey Across America and diversity themes. There are 54 rinks in NJ, yet very few offer special needs hockey programs. What Coach Jon and the ESNJ team are asking is simple: each rink should set aside one hour a week for special needs hockey, and as the program draws attention, it will become self-sustaining. The Bubba and I have personally seen the great things done by the DareDevils players and the program, and we’ve been proud supporters for the past several years. At the same time, the DareDevils program is growing, and everyone would benefit from more, local programs that get players involved as mentors and junior coaches, get the rinks involved in the community, and provide more opportunities for special needs players of all jerseys to find a place to play.

The weekend starts Friday morning at the NHL Store on 6th Avenue at 46th street in Manhattan; it then continues to visit every one of the 54 rinks in NJ over the next 54 hours, ending at The Rock on Sunday afternoon when the Kings visit the Devils.

Get involved:

Come to the NHL store and meet EJ Hradek and Bill Daley on Friday, where 20% of the morning’s sales will support special needs hockey.

Visit the web site or Coach Jon’s blog. Follow @54in54 on Twitter.

Sign the petition supporting the ice time allocation for special needs hockey. Join NJ Devils Colin White and Jamie Langenbrunner who have lent their digital sharpies to the cause.

Come see the Bubbas at the Ocean Ice Palace in Brick, NJ, on Sunday morning around 9am, when we’ll be joining the tour for the home stretch.

Remember that NJ’s autism rate is among the highest in the nation, with about one in 94 kids diagnosed along the spectrum of autism. As the common Facebook status thread reads, kids with autism don’t want to be cured, they want to be accepted – what better way to demonstrate acceptance than in one of our most tribal groupings — joining a team. We need more teams for these prospective hockey players to join. That way everybody skates.

Follow the effort on Twitter or on Coach Schwartz’s new blog. Better yet, if you know a special needs athlete, bring them to one of the rinks, and come say “hi” to both Bubbas at the Brick Ice Palace on Sunday, January 31st at 9:00 AM, come to the kick off at the New York NHL store on Friday January 29, or celebrate the end of the tour at the Devils home game that Sunday afternoon (the 31st) against the now-hot LA Kings.

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