Team USA Women’s Sled Hockey Dig In On Day 2
Jamie Benassi, 21, used to think hockey was “the stupidest thing ever.” She was 10, and it took a coach several tries just to get her to watch a Cincinnati IceBreakers sled hockey team practice. Then she got in a sled.
“The second they threw me on the ice, I was like, wow, this is so fun,” she said Friday during the U.S. women’s national sled hockey team’s second day of tryouts at Verona Ice Arena in Verona, Wis.
Learning a New Position
Eleven years later, Benassi is one of the more established names in the U.S. women’s sled hockey pipeline — and she’s relearning a new position. Since the team’s Frontier Series against Canada in April, she’s moved from offense to defense.
“Offense is super fun; it’s very creative,” Benassi said. “Defense is more concrete. You have a job, and you have to do it.”
She called the switch a good challenge and said this tryout feels more competitive than her first.
“We have more girls that are on the rise right now,” Benassi said.
With one more day remaining and roster spots still very much up for grabs, it’s natural to look for any read on where you stand — but Benassi said the coaching staff isn’t tipping its hand.
Asked whether they’d dropped any hints about who’s making the cut, she didn’t hesitate.
“They’re secretive,” she said, laughing.
Rebuilding From The Sled Up
Meanwhile, Milena Sobie, 20, has spent the past two years rebuilding herself from the sled up. She made the national team as an alternate in 2024 after less than a year in the sport, skating on a piece of plywood in a program-issued sled with wooden sticks that broke after her first session.
“I remember they gave me so many pointers on the ice, and at first I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, they probably think I suck,’” Sobie said. “I look so ghetto out here.”
Her pins kept falling out mid-tryout, and other players had to keep handing her their own sticks just to keep her going.
Sobie has rebuilt nearly everything since. Carbon sticks. A new bucket. A custom orthotic boot from a hanger clinic to manage a leg-length difference caused by spina bifida.
“I literally have worked so hard on this sled,” she said.
Sobie also set aside the sport of track and field, which she once assumed would carry her through college at the University of Arizona.
She said she worked with her athletic director to move her scholarship to sled hockey instead, ahead of a collegiate program the school is planning to launch — though she was quick to add that nothing is official until August 2028.
“I was going to quit hockey before I tried out in 2024,” Sobie said. “Then, I made it as an alternate, and I realized I actually have potential in this sport.”
She said regular ice time with the Phoenix Coyotes Sled Hockey club team taught her the parts of the game muscle alone can’t.
“I’ve always muscled through hockey. Now I have to really think about the strategic part of it,” Sobie said.
Into the Afternoon
That mix of experience and reinvention carried into Friday’s early practice, the second of three two-a-day sessions on the schedule before the afternoon’s game.
By the time players took the ice for the scrimmage, several had swapped jerseys entirely — moving from one team to the other or changing numbers from Thursday’s game. Coaches offered no explanation for the shuffle, leaving players to adjust on the fly.
Team White carried Thursday’s momentum into Friday’s rematch, jumping to a 5-0 lead through the first period before Team Red got on the board in the second period with a Catherine Faherty goal.
Robynne Hill and Kelsey DiClaudio each added third-period goals for Team White, and the team closed out a 7-2 win over two 40-minute periods, a longer format than Thursday’s game. DiClaudio, who scored five goals in Thursday’s scrimmage, added another Friday to stay near the top of the tryout’s scoring pace heading into Saturday’s final day.