Northeast Passage

12/19/2025

⛄️ Happy holidays from Northeast Passage! 🎄
As we wrap up the year, we’re incredibly grateful for our community and the impact we’ve made together. Happy holidays to all of our participants, supporters, colleagues and friends. We hope you have a joyous holiday season and a wonderful new year!

📊 Take a look at our FY25 (July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025) Annual Report to see the impact you helped make: nepassage.org/about/annual-report

As you reflect on your end-of-year giving, we invite you to consider making a gift to Northeast Passage. Your support helps ensure that we can continue creating inclusive, life-changing experiences in the year ahead: givecampus.com/campaigns/46803/donations/new

📌 Office note: The Northeast Passage office will be closed December 24–January 4.

Wishing you peace, joy, and good health in the new year—and thank you for being part of our journey. 💙


University of New Hampshire
UNH College of Health and Human Services
Recreation Management and Policy at UNH

12/18/2025

🌟 Grateful for Our Partners at Swim With a Mission (SWAM)! 🇺🇸🫶

Northeast Passage is honored to receive a $90,000 grant from Swim With a Mission (SWAM) to continue supporting veterans through our PATH Community-Based Recreational Therapy program.

PATH serves veterans facing challenges related to health, mobility changes, mental illness, substance use disorder, and su***de risk, using recreation-based interventions led by NEP therapists to promote connection, resilience, and overall well-being within their communities.

Thank you, SWAM, for your continued trust and commitment to those who have served. Together, we’re creating meaningful pathways to health, purpose, and connection—one experience at a time.

Swim With A Mission

12/17/2025

❄️❄️Another a epic afternoon of adaptive skating at at the Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth!⛸️⛸️

Strawbery Banke Museum
Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond

12/16/2025

The Northeast Passage Wildcats traveled to Longueuil, Quebec, last weekend to compete in the 2025 Parasports Invitational 🇨🇦

Facing tough competition, the team gained valuable experience, sharpened their offensive and defensive skills, and returned motivated and ready to build on it. With more road tournaments ahead and a collaborative home tournament with CT/New York in New Haven coming up, the Wildcats are focused on their mission to return to Nationals this April. 🐾💪

Let's go cats! 😸

NEP Wheelchair Rugby

12/15/2025

12/15/2025

Big weekend on the ice for the Northeast Passage NESHL Atlantic Sled Hockey team! 🏒❄️

Competing in Auburn, Maine, the team skated to two strong league wins—defeating the Boston Ice Storm 4–2 and shutting out the New England Ice Warriors 1–0. With those victories, the Atlantic team remains atop the standings the Atlantic Division, carrying an impressive record with just one loss so far this season.

Strong play, smart ex*****on, and plenty of momentum as the season continues—nice work, Atlantic team! 🔥


Northeast Passage Sled Hockey

12/12/2025

The weather may be chilly, but the vibes at Puddle Dock Pond were 🔥 this week. Adaptive skating with NEP never disappoints!

12/11/2025

🚨 NEP Competitive Sports Update! 🚨
It’s been a busy stretch for NEP athletes across multiple sports, and we’ve got a lot to celebrate!

🏆 POWER SOCCER – HOME TOURNAMENT RECAP
Last weekend, NEP hosted an 8-team Power Soccer tournament at the UNH Hamel Rec Center!

Wildcats (3–1 overall):
• W 2–0 vs CIVA
• W 5–1 vs Boston Brakers
• W 5–1 vs NE FC
• L 1–0 vs NE FC (Trophy Game)

Thundercats (1–2–1 overall):
• L 3–1 vs Commonwealth Cruisers
• W 2–1 vs Vermont Chargers
• T 1–1 vs Commonwealth Cruisers
• L 1–0 vs Vermont Chargers

👏 Congratulations to NE FC for winning the A Flight and to the Vermont Chargers for winning the B Flight!

😼 WHEELCHAIR RUGBY – NORTH OF THE BORDER!
From Dec 12–14, the NEP Wildcats Wheelchair Rugby team is headed to Longueuil, Canada, for the 2025 Parasports Invitational. They’ll face the Ottawa Stingers, Team British Columbia, and two Québec teams—and take part in a clinic introducing new athletes to the sport. Good luck, Wildcats!

🏒 SLED HOCKEY – NESHL ACTION IN MAINE
This Saturday (12/13), the NEP NESHL Atlantic team travels to Auburn, ME for league play:
• 10:30 AM vs Boston ICE Storm
• 3:00 PM vs New England Warriors

WE ARE IN THE FINAL STRETCH of the Comp Sports Challenge (four more days)!!!
Support NEP athletes with a donation to your favorite NEP competitive sports program: tinyurl.com/nep2025csc

It’s a big week for NEP athletes—good luck to all of our teams competing near and far! 💪⚽️🏐🏒


Northeast Passage Sled Hockey
Northeast Passage Power Soccer
NEP Wheelchair Rugby

12/10/2025

Big shoutout to one of our adaptive archery participants for sharing some awesome photos from last week’s indoor archery event at Coyote Creek Archery in Rochester, NH! 🎯🏹

And yes—we’ve got the proof—she hit the bull’s-eye... way more than once! Love seeing that focus and follow-through pay off.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for another fantastic session. We'll be back at Coyote Creek on the 19th!

12/09/2025

Last night at the UNH President’s Community Skating Party, Northeast Passage was thrilled to support the fun by providing adaptive ice skating equipment—ensuring people of all abilities could skate together at the Whittemore Center. ❄️⛸️

Athletes from the UNH Men’s and Women’s Hockey Teams jumped right into ice sleds themselves and also lent a hand as pushers, helping others experience the joy of skating. NEP Sled Hockey student-athletes were also on the ice teaching folks how to propel the sleds and cheering them on every glide of the way.

One UNH faculty member with a disability who used an ice sled for the first time to skate independently shared, “This is the most free I’ve felt in so long.”
Moments like that are exactly why we do this work.

It was also an awesome opportunity for community members without disabilities to try adaptive equipment and see what inclusive recreation is all about.

Thank you to everyone who came out for skating and holiday fun with the Wildcat Community. We loved being part of such a festive and welcoming campus tradition! 💙🤍😸



UNH Kinesiology Department
UNH Women's Hockey
UNH Men's Hockey
UNH Wildcats
University of New Hampshire
UNH College of Health and Human Services
Recreation Management and Policy at UNH

12/08/2025

🏒 NEP Sled Hockey Comes Up BIG at the USA Hockey 2025 NHL Sled Classic! 🏆

What a weekend on Long Island for our Northeast Passage Sled Hockey athletes representing the Boston Bruins

Our Tier 1 team battled their way to a 2–1 victory and brought home the Tier 1 Championship against the Canadiens de Montréal!
🔥 Goals by Jeffrey Bauman and Daniel Malloy sealed the win and the title!

Our Tier 3 Bruins also had an incredible run—making it all the way to the Tier 3 Championship game and finishing second place after a hard-fought 1–2 matchup against the Arizona Coyotes
💪 Francis Leo put the Bruins on the board with the team’s lone goal.

We’re incredibly proud of the heart, determination, and sportsmanship our athletes showed throughout the tournament. Way to represent Northeast Passage and the Bruins on the national stage! 🖤💛

Support NEP sled hockey: tinyurl.com/csc2025hockey

12/05/2025

Why do we take TREK students to the rock gym? Because the wall is the perfect classroom. 🧠💪

Climbing offers incredible therapeutic benefits:

Motor Planning: Figuring out where to place hands and feet.

Trust Building: Relying on the belayer and equipment.

Confidence: The immediate reward of reaching new heights.

Recreational Therapy is about using the activities we love to build the skills we need for life and having fun doing it!