The “St. Petersburg Elks,” the first amputee hockey team playing upright ice hockey ever, came in Helsinki, Finland, for a demonstration match on September 29, 2001. The players on this hockey team have survived injuries, many from landmines and other arms during the war in Afghanistan. They now play internationally to raise awareness about prosthetic advancements and arms violence prevention.

The Russian team was invited by the Organizing Committee of the International Conference on Small Arms Prevention, Helsinki, September 27-30, in collaboration with the IPRLS, Veterans of the Recent Wars – Together, and the International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in recognition of its unique role both in disabled sports and in the peace movement.

Officials from the Finnish Paralympic Committee, Finnish Sports Federation, Finnish Ice Hockey Association, Finnish Association of Sports for Disabled, and Respecta, Ltd., a major provider of prosthetic services in Finland, held a special meeting with the IPRLS and the Russian Crew aimed to promote the Amputee Hockey in Finland.

Amputee Hockey was initiated by the IPRLS and St Petersburg Albrecht Institute of Prosthetics in September 1999 in Russia. In December 1999, the Elks came to Boston, Massachusetts, to play with a team of able-bodied US Postal Servicemen. Attention of the press, specialists and amputees in the US helped establish a team of amputees in Boston. A historical match of Russian and American amputees took place on May 10, 2000, during the IIHF World Championship in St. Petersburg, Russia. The match was the first step towards the Paralympics.

Alexei Balakhontsev, Captain of the Elks, and a landmine survivor of the Afghan War in 1985, received a Medal of Honor from Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills at the Second States Parties Meeting on Landmine Victims Assistance, September 12, 2000, Geneva, Switzerland.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) included a Russian-US-Canadian tournament in the program of the Ban Landmine Week in Washington, DC, March 7-11, 2001.

The US sponsors of the “St. Petersburg Elks” are the IPRLS, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, the Ohio Willow Wood Co., Mt. Sterling, OH, New England Sinai Hospital, and Franklin Sports, both located in Stoughton, MA.