Zachary is nearly 10 and in fourth grade. He has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which means that his brain can have trouble controlling his muscles. He is much stronger and more coordinated now, but he's still not cleared to wear ice skates, so this clinic is the only time he gets to go on the ice. Zachary is a huge hockey fan and loves to play floor hockey with his brother at home, but he much prefers to play hockey on ice!
We arrived to Kettler in time to see part of the Caps practice. The Caps haven't played much in the past month, so Zachary was very excited to watch.
As soon as practice wrapped up, we headed down to the ice to get ready to go. Zachary's volunteer Ellen is a firefighter in Northern Virginia. She was so great! And she's being profiled on ABC7 so look for a Zachary cameo in that story soon!
Zachary immediately asked for a stick so he could play hockey. That was the focus of his time on the ice this year. He wants to be scoring goals all the time!
Caps defenseman Taylor Chorney took Zachary for a spin around the ice and even gave him some pointers about how to hold his stick. He was very impressed that Zachary celebrated after scoring a goal. I told him that he likes to emulate what he sees on TV!
We also met Caps defensemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen, as well as Caps forward Jay Beagle. As always, the Caps players are so friendly and warm to all of the kids. We are so appreciative that they take time out of their busy schedules to participate in events like this!
And of course, no Caps event is complete without a visit from Slapshot!
Once again, thanks to both Dreams for Kids DC and the Capitals MSE Foundation for organizing.
Zachary's favorite day of the year! Thank you Jay Beagle, Brooks Orpik, Matt Niskanen & Taylor Chorney!! #ALLCAPS @Capitals @MSE @DreamsforkidsDC @JapersRink @russianmachine pic.twitter.com/srWQ07lGps— Ann-Marie Ward (@martina09) January 30, 2018
Capitals on the ice today, skating with @DreamsforkidsDC, a charity helping kids with physical and developmental disabilities: pic.twitter.com/6sFC4jz7VR— Nancy Chen (@NancyChenNews) January 30, 2018
To see all the photos and videos I took today, please check out my Google photo album. Please don't republish any photos without attribution.
I'll link to stories, photos, and videos of the event as they become available
Thanks for reading!
