Two Sled Wings make U.S. National Developmental Sled Hockey Team

By Michael Caples – 

Two members of the Grand Rapids Sled Wings’ adult sled hockey team will get a chance to compete with the country’s best.

Defenseman Tyler Anderson (Jenison) and forward Robert Thrailkill Jr. (Grand Haven) have been named to the 2013-14 U.S. National Developmental Sled Hockey Team.

The two Sled Wings took part in USA Hockey’s two-day tryout camp last weekend in New York. Seventeen of the 67 players in attendance were selected for the developmental team, while 18 were selected for the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team.

Anderson and Thrailkill, both 22 years old, were the only Michigan natives selected.

Anderson, who was born with spina bifida, has spent the last three seasons with the U.S. developmental team, along with more than a decade of play with the Sled Wings’ junior and adult squads. He helps coach the Sled Wings’ junior team, and he plays for the Rolling Whitecaps wheelchair softball team and the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital hand cycling team.

Thrailkill, a lance corporal and combat engineer in the U.S. Marine Corps, lost both his legs in an explosion in Afghanistan on Oct. 26, 2010. He spent 24 months recovering at the Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md.

From the Griffins:

The Sled Wings’ junior team, comprised of children and teens who have physical disabilities, is sponsored by the Griffins Youth Foundation in partnership with Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. The Sled Wings became the first junior-level sled hockey team in Michigan upon their founding in 2001, and they have gained a national reputation by winning various prestigious tournaments and continuing to develop high-caliber players. Sled Wing Chris Melton was a teammate of Anderson’s on the U.S. developmental team during the 2010-11 campaign, and Susie Kluting has played the last two seasons with the U.S. Women’s Sled Hockey Team.