Annual Rockin Hockey event continues to grow

Several years ago, former MTA Events Center manager Steve MacSwain and Theresa Savel, a longtime special education teacher in the Mat-Su Borough School District, put together a special event.

Rockin Hockey.

The idea was to give students in the district with special needs the opportunity to hit the ice and enjoy a day of adaptive hockey. Special needs students are paired with high school hockey players from across the Valley, and together they get in on the action. The event has continued to grow throughout the years, and earlier this month the 2025 Rockin Hockey attracted its largest group ever.

Sixty-four students had the opportunity to participate, and 64 hockey players joined them on the MTA Events Center ice.

“I’m so thankful for his vision,” event organizer Christine Greco said of MacSwain, while praising the efforts of MacSwain and Savel to create this tradition. “I’m so thankful that even after they’ve both moved on, we’re able to continue to do that.”

Greco said Rockin Hockey typically draws between 20 and 35 students each year, with an equal number of hockey players from the area high school programs. Greco said everyone was thrilled with the total this year.

“To me, it gets better and better each time,” she said. “It’s so neat to see the results. I’m loving hearing the stories from the teachers, how excited their students were, and how they continue to talk about it.”

Greco said she’s excited to see the tradition MacSwain and Savel created continue to grow, thrive and give students a special activity and memory.

“It’s super special it continues, that it continues to grow and be 100 percent positive,” Greco said. “There’s nothing that’s not positive about the event, from the students, the teachers, the families that come watch, to all of the hockey players, all of the volunteers.”

Greco said Palmer Lions Club, KUUK Water and Kids Kupboard were key sponsors this year. Kids Kupboard provided lunch. Tlingit and Haida created T-shirts for the 2025 event.

Greco said the event was also dedicated to the memory of Nikki Ver Kuilen, a longtime special education teacher in the district who brought her students to the event in past years. Ver Kuilen died just before the Rockin Hockey event in 2024.

“Last year some of the teachers brought a chair with a poster with her name on it, and sat it on the ice,” Greco said.

This year, Greco said, a tribute to Ver Kuilen was included on the sleeve of the Rockin Hockey T-Shirt.

Contact Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.