Air Force Veteran John O’Connell Named 2025 USA Hockey Disabled Athlete of the Year

John O'Connell got picked for the 2025 USA Hockey Disabled Athlete of the Year. He's 62. Lives in Toms River, New Jersey. This award came because he keeps playing hockey even though he can't see much at all — legally blind.

Every week, O'Connell makes a grueling trip to play with the New Jersey Warriors, a team built for disabled military veterans. Four hours one way. He rides buses and trains from Toms River all the way to Bridgewater Ice Arena, tapping his white cane as he goes.

"It was a real honor," he said, according to NewJerseyDevils.com. "You're invisible to the world as a blind person. It's just nice that somebody recognizes you. That somebody sees you."

O'Connell spent 23 years, four months, and 11 days in the U.S. Air Force. His missions? Humanitarian flights across the globe, bringing supplies when earthquakes hit, floods destroyed homes, or famine struck.

His vision works a bit straight ahead, but the sides? Gone. At night, he sees almost nothing. The problem crept up over ten years — his retinas breaking down bit by bit.

"When you go blind, everyone tells you the things you can't do," he said. "You can't fly an airplane. You can't drive a car. You can't work. You can't do this; you can't do that. It's just no, no, no, no. But when it came to hockey, no one ever said no to me."

O'Connell started playing as a kid in Brooklyn and Staten Island. His dad, Raymond, was a police officer who brought him to a rink by his station on Coney Island. In high school, O'Connell played varsity — switching between defenseman and center.

A doctor at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins worked with Paralympic athletes and told him to try Blind Hockey in Washington, D.C. That connection brought him to the New Jersey Warriors. Now he plays left wing.

Last year, O'Connell and the Warriors didn't lose a single game. They won the USA Hockey Warrior National Championship Tier 5 title. Ted Curtin, who helped start the program, put his name in for this award.

O'Connell sits on the New Jersey Commission for the Blind State Rehabilitation Council. Veterans elected him to the board for the Blinded Veterans Association, where he also works on the Adaptive Sports and Recreation Committee. Twice he's spoken before the New Jersey State Senate, pushing lawmakers to help veterans get transportation.

Monday night, O'Connell will stand as the Devils' Hero during Military Appreciation Night.