Toni Gillen has loved hockey all her life. 

A night nurse at Gillette Children’s Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, Gillen has spent her professional career caring for other people. 

Gillen has combined that compassion with her enthusiasm for hockey to make the sport as accessible as possible for the last two decades. The result has been the creation of multiple special and disabled programs throughout Minnesota that have benefited thousands of people. 

“I’m not sure I realized I was on that mission when I first started,” Gillen said. “Looking back at two decades, it just kind of all grew organically. For me, to have those kids and adults who spent the majority of their lives having doors closed for them, I wanted to help not only open that door but kick it down, so it never closed again.”

Gillen is the director of Minnesota Diversified Hockey, which provides programming and equipment for people of all ages to play multiple diversified hockey groups. The list includes Warrior hockey, sled hockey, special hockey, deaf and hard of hearing and blind hockey. 

Gillen said she has a list of “seven or eight” other programs she’d like to start because there are additional groups of players that could be included in the game.

“I work with people who have all different kinds of abilities,” Gillen said. “Some people might be blind or deaf, and a lot of times, they have a combination of almost all of it. When I started working with special and sled hockey, we were starting to look at Warrior hockey and I got calls about people interested in playing so we said ‘Absolutely, of course we can add them.’”

The NHL recently recognized Gillen for her work, as she was one of three U.S. finalists for the league’s annual Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award. The award is given to an individual who, through the sport of hockey, has positively impacted their community, culture or society.

“I met Willie once or twice, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be nominated for something like that,” Gillen said. “I’m not the hero. If you ever had to be with a kid from dawn to dusk and see what it takes just to get them out of bed sometimes … those are the heroes. What was special about the nomination was that I got to tell thousands of people about these athletes and have that passion spread to more people. It’s another opportunity to get more support and recognition and hopefully more kids who say they can do this.”

The award is named after former NHL forward Willie O’Ree, who on Jan. 18, 1958, became the first Black player to compete in the league with Boston. O’Ree, a Hall of Famer, is the first hockey player to receive a Congressional Gold Medal. For more than two decades, O’Ree has been a force for inclusion and used his platform to teach life skills and share values of the game like building character, perseverance, teamwork and dedication.

The oldest of four siblings, Gillen grew up in a hockey-obsessed household in Austin, Minnesota. Her brothers all played the sport. Her family also had various roles within the Austin Mavericks, a former junior hockey team in the area. Her mother was the secretary, her dad was a team manager and the family hosted players at their house if they needed a place to stay. 

However, girls couldn’t play hockey when Gillen was growing up. That’s one reason why she’s dedicated to making hockey available to anyone who wants to play it in Minnesota. 

“I grew up as one of those kids who didn’t belong,” Gillen said. “I understood what it was like to not be invited to the birthday party, or to get picked last in kickball and that’s what drew me into the profession I went into.”

Gillen said she doesn’t see much of a difference between her job as a nurse and her work with Minnesota Diversified Hockey.

“It’s all about making sure someone ends their day better than it starts,” she said.

Gillen hopes the program continues to thrive long after she’s gone.

“I could’ve never done this by myself,” Gillen said. “It really is a community and we have to have the volunteers and families and their willingness to jump on board. For me, it’s a thank you to Minnesota hockey, USA Hockey and every volunteer, athlete and everyone else to get us to where we are, and to make sure we’re still there 50 years from now.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.