Craig Fitzpatrick

Thanks for having me.

It's really good seeing you guys.

And a little background on me getting to know AMI.

AMI was one of the sponsors of the first competitive blind hockey event I ever played in, which was the 2016 Canadian Blind Hockey Championships.

So I very much appreciate you guys' mission.

And it's a thrill to be here with you today.

Well, it's, it's no more dangerous than regulation hockey, I would say.

And if you look at the injury rates, there are other sports that are more dangerous.

So football, wrestling, but hockey is inherently a, it's a, it's a very physical sport.

Blind hockey is supposed to be non-checking.

That's not always true, especially when the Americans and the Canadians get together.

But, but,

I would pivot the word danger to intense and sometimes overwhelming.

But the injury rates in blind hockey are roughly on par with regulation hockey.

Collisions with your own teammates, collisions with the other team, sometimes intentional, sometimes not.

But luckily, we've got really good equipment.

Yeah, let me describe it as a blind person first, and then I'll kind of describe some of the logistics of the game.

So for me, blind hockey is a sport that is a five cents experience.

I've got a little bit more than 5% of my vision left.

I've got Stargardt's disease.