Rochester Ice Cats host Rochester Friendship Festival

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — The Rochester Ice Cats hosted the Rochester Friendship Festival for teams around the state.

Over 300 athletes from 16 Hockey teams around the States and Canada traveled to Rochester for the tournament on Sunday. Each team is with the American Special Hockey Association and consists of individuals with developmental disabilities.

Assistant Coach of the Rochester Ice Cats, Ryan Konko said, ” We really want to show that hockey is for everybody. We teach people how to skate, we teach the finer skills of hockey. It’s a lot about team building too and being a part of something. A lot of our athletes that come in they might not have a lot of those social abilities but we work with them and at the end of the season they have a great group of friends and it’s like a family to them.”

The Rochester Ice Cats’ goal for this event was to provide ice hockey training for people with developmental disabilities on each team.