She is a motivational speaker, an amputee, athlete, humanitarian, and goalie for the gold medal winning U.S.A. Para Ice Hockey team.
On this episode of the Supercast, we meet West Jordan High School graduate Hope Bevilhymer. We hear Hope’s inspirational story of tragic challenges in life to hard-earned triumphs. And, you’ll find out what happens when we hit the ice with this elite athlete.
Audio Transcription
I play para, I talk to you about …. we’re in a sled.
No one has beaten you at net in international competition.
Correct. I'm a three-time world gold medalist. Living, breathing, sweating hockey from all year. Amputation wasn't the end for me, it was just the beginning. But it could have been the end for me if I chose to have a PDN.
[MUSIC]
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She is a motivational speaker, an amputee, an athlete, a humanitarian, and a goalie for the gold medal-winning USA para ice hockey team. On this episode of the Supercast, we meet West Jordan High School graduate Hope Bevelheimer. We hear Hope's inspirational story of tragic challenges in life, leading her to hard-earned triumphs. And you'll find out what happens when we hit the ice with this elite athlete.
[MUSIC]
We're here at the Accord Ice Center to talk with Hope and Austin about hockey. Introduce yourselves a little bit and let's get into it.
My name is Hope Bevelheimer. I played for the para ice hockey women's team. So I play in a sled and I'm a three-time world gold medalist.
I'm Austin Facer. I've never won a gold medal in anything. I do a podcast called SLC Puck and just a local hockey content creator doing all kinds of goofy stuff with hockey here in Utah.
Hope, how did you get started in hockey?
It was prior, I'm an amputee, it was prior to my amputation. I was born with club feet so I had more braces. I couldn't walk much. It was a lot of pain and stuff like that. And so my roommate at the time, she was a recreational therapist actually for the Salt Lake County. And so she had an adaptive program that they were starting and piloting back in 1999 and wanted to see if I wanted to participate. So I got in a sled of September 1999.
Playing hockey since the 1900s.
Yes. For us, older generation, yes, the 1900s.
That's right. And you went to West Jordan High School.
Talk to me about your time at West Jordan High.
Well, I was a little different student. I had 29 surgeries before I had amputated. So all my high school, junior high and school years were spent in and out of the hospital. And so I had a lot of support from the school teachers and things like that. They would show up at my house on a Monday. I wasn't homeschooled. I called it hospital schooled. They would show up at my school/house on Monday, give me a load of the work, teach me if they needed to teach me, and then come back on Friday, pick up all the work, and then give me tests and all that stuff. And then when I was in school, very supportive. I had to be in a wheelchair sometimes. I know-- I don't know if West Jordan still has it, but there was an elevator. So I had a key to the elevator, like all sorts of things.
There is an elevator, yes.
So I was an elevator rider, all those things, but they made accommodations for me. And it was difficult because we didn't have Google. We didn't have all that stuff back when I was going into school. I graduated in '95, so none of this technology we had then. It was just more difficult to try to learn on your own. Because I had support from the teachers, but I was mostly in the hospital most of the time.
Tell me about World Cup competition. You're a three-time gold medalist. Just in November, you beat Canada in Norway.
That's really exciting. Talk to me about that trajectory.
We have, I've played international competition for a decade. USA Hockey took us over in 2019, so we were privately, they were trying to get this going back when I started. But 2019, USA Hockey took us over, and then that's when we started doing bigger international competition. Then COVID took over. And then we got put on hold for a little bit, but I went to Czech Republic, I've been to Norway twice, I've been to all the places in Canada, but I have not lost an international competition. When I've been in net, nobody has won against me.
No one has beaten you at net in international competition.
Correct. I have beat all international competitions for a decade.
So that is a feat that I'm very excited about.
Yeah, that is impressive. So you started in 2019, and then everything was put on ice during COVID, or off ice during COVID, and then back on ice after COVID.
Never defeated. That's incredible.
The last one we just played, we went to Canada to do a border battle. We call it the border battle, it's just us and Canada. We just go head-to-head, play a three-series. It was a close game, it was four to three. So yeah, I let three goals in, but they still didn't beat me.
Are Canadians polite even in hockey?
They don't think so. And they definitely don't like losing.
No, and then I like chirping in their head, so that makes it worse for them.
Yeah, it's the trash talk. Is there a hockey trash talk?
There is plenty of trash talk.
Chirp is the term for trash talk in hockey. It's a big part of the game. A good chirp, yeah.
Because as a goalie, your skill is about 15%, your body is another percent, but it's a lot of mental. You have to be in your game when you're in goal. You have to have your head space on. If you don't, it's going to be a mess. So I like to get into other people's head space, so they have a messy game.
Austin, tell me about how you got started in hockey.
Yeah, when I was younger, I was really into hockey movies, and The Mighty Ducks was a favorite of mine. I talk about that quite frequently on my podcast. I could probably recite the whole movie line by line. Around that same time, being like eight or nine, the Olympics were here, and there was a bigger conversation about hockey. I remember I just would beg my mom to take me to public skate at the old Bountiful Bubble Rec Center, which no longer exists. But that turned into playing and then playing all throughout high school. Kind of got out of the hockey scene for a little bit, just as an adult, just working in sports and different kinds of jobs. Kraig Williams, who is actually on your team at the Jordan School District, was a boss of mine at the Salt Lake Bees. So did a lot of sports-related jobs there. And then when the hockey club came to town, I just kind of put everything together with my sports background and love of hockey as a kid and built SLC Puck, which is a podcast that I do twice a week now.
That's fantastic. And where can people find that?
You can find it way too easily. That's kind of the goal. It's on YouTube, Apple, Spotify. I have all the social media handles too at SLC Puck. So I try to put stuff out and bother people on their phones as much as possible.
I see that USA on your shirt stands for unity, sacrifice, and attitude. Talk to me about that.
It is that. You have to have a close-knit team. You have to sacrifice many sacrifices. For a decade for playing, I was telling my friends and stuff like that, I haven't had a real vacation because all my vacation hours go to USA Hockey because I have a regular job. So you have to dedicate. It's off-ice training. It's on-ice training. I’m living breathing sweating hockey all year. They're like, "When's your season off?" I'm like, "It's not off." On the off-season, we have to still condition and do all the things.
Tell me what has been the greatest positive impact that hockey's had in your life.
Oh, it has saved my life many a time. It just has given me... It's given me hope. It's given me things to look forward to. I never thought I would be starting back in '99. Did I ever think I would be at this level of competition? No, it never crossed my mind. But the ability to just be able to participate in something that's a team effort and a group effort and you're all friends and off-ice, on-ice, all those things, the closer the team is, the better it turns out.
I think there's just so many great life lessons that can be learned with hockey. Probably just all sports in general, but I think hockey really amplifies these attributes you need to be a successful adult. You can learn as a kid. I think there's a certain assertiveness that you learn in hockey. There's teamwork, problem-solving. Never say never. Never surrender kind of attitude. There was a game last night in the Stanley Cup final where the Edmonton Oilers were trailing by three goals in the first period. They came back and scored four unanswered goals to win four to three. I think there's a lot of mental fortitude that you can take from that and apply to everything.
I'm sure Hope has seen that in her life, just the skills that she's learned on the ice. I feel that way too, apply to anything you do.
I know with hockey, what I love about hockey is every second counts. Every second, it could be .4 of a second and somebody can score. It's such a great game. That's the thing about football, the last two minutes, if they're up like whatever, the game's pretty much over. Two minutes and they could be up three, it still doesn't matter. We've got two minutes to make this happen.
The team comes together. If you just don't have that positive attitude, everybody will just . . .
When you think about it, the penalty is that you don't get your whole team. The penalty is that when you say every minute counts, it's that you lose minutes with a teammate.
It makes a more interesting game, I think, when there's penalty minutes. I have played many times three on my side and they've got the power play and I've had to play hard. You just got to be on your skill in your game and just have a good game. Every game's different, too. It not, I'm going to go walk out here and play and it's going to be exactly like the last game. Nope, it's never the same game. You can score in the corner, you could get a penalty. I've not played two games that have been the same.
[MUSIC]
Stay with us when we come back. We're on the ice going for a goal.
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Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.
Does your student want to become a veterinarian, commercial pilot, programmer? Maybe they want to make a difference as a dental assistant. These are just some of the programs offered as part of Career and Technical Education, CTE, in Jordan School District. CTE provides the technical skills needed to prepare students for future employment or for a successful transition to post-secondary education. Career and Technical Education provides work-based learning opportunities. We partner with industry experts to offer apprenticeships and internships with students working in the real world at real jobs while going to school. The CTE experience starts in our elementary schools with the Kids' Marketplace and grows through middle and high school. To explore all CTE has to offer in Jordan School District, visit cte.jordandistrict.org today and let's get your child started on the pathway to a profession.
[MUSIC]
Just telling him the irony is I think I started here.
Yeah, because I played at the Accord in County Rec, but the County Rec didn't open until late '99.
And I read that County Rec is how you got started in hockey.
Yeah, it was the recreation program, adaptive sports.
Yeah. Yeah, fantastic. Tell me about your equipment here before we head out on the ice.
So I play para ice hockey and what that is is we're in a sled and we have to have sticks. Regular, we call the regular players, the forwards or the defense have two sticks that have these picks on the bottom. So they propel with those picks.
They use those picks and they kind of skate with both of them.
So it's two sets of three spikes that are on the end of the handle of the stick.
So you use this to propel yourself?
But because I'm a goalie, I can't hold another stick. So we stick spikes on it. So when I propel on the ice, I push with this.
So and this is your, this is the glove.
Yeah, just normal glove. Standard glove. We just take a shoe.
It doesn't look standard. It looks like it comes from a horror movie or something.
It does. It can be a horror movie.
Wow, because it's just very complex. It's got all these spikes on it.
And wow, can I try it on?
I'm left-handed. So normally that would be.
Yeah, you would yell back. And this is just a standard one. There's nothing special about the back. Yeah, throw that one on.
It's actually kind of heavy.
Yeah, they're heavy a little bit.
Even just holding it. Okay.
Now try to close your hand in it.
I'm not even going to try. Yeah. That's wow. Okay.
So yeah, we play a little different than we call them standups. So standup hockey plays a little different than we do.
But yeah, you propel yourself with two picks and then the goalies have spikes. And the regular players have blades like standup players do on the bottom of their sleds. The bottom of my sled has plastic blades.
So why does the bottom of your sled have plastic blades?
So I can go slide side, front, and backwards all over the place.
So I can propel in circles. I can do all sorts of things.
So if I had standard blades like the regular, like the rest of the players do, I would only be able to go forwards and backwards. Because they're in a sled, they can't pick up their foot to step over.
So goalies have different equipment head to toe.
Different mask, different.
Oh, the mask is the same.
Chest protectors are the same.
Gloves are the … glove and blocker are the same. The only thing is that we have to have is add spikes, the spikes on the glove. Yeah, we have to add spikes. So everything else is the same. You ready for this? I told him not to be nice. He doesn't have to be nice.
Austin's going to go full out here. Let's see what he's got. Let's see what he's got. You have spikes and he doesn't. So, you know …
He's fine. I'll just hit him in the shin guards.
Hit him in the shin guards. All right. Well, at least you warned him.
I did. It won't be that violent.
[NOISE SHOTS AND RETURNS]
We're watching these shots on goal from Austin right now. And I'm going to ask Hope about this, but it looks like the sled doesn't block any of the shots in and of itself. But she's blocking every shot as it comes in. There it goes. He did get one past her just then. You can see the spikes on the back of her glove really are an important part of her being able to move. We just came off the ice. Impressive work. Austin, you just tried out the sled. How did that go?
It was hard. I mean, like the upper arm strength that you must have to push yourself around and the balance is like pretty, pretty outrageous. But yeah, it's so so impressed by what you can do. It's I mean, learning how to skate is hard enough itself. But learning to skate in a sled is like another level.
And for your mind to be blown, goalies have six-inch blades. Regular players have an inch.
So mine are further apart so I don't tip so much. I can control the tip. They're like way smaller than I am.
Now you're strapped into the sled, like you said, so you don't fall out of the sled. But I saw you take some of those dives and you just popped right back up. It would be 15 minutes for me to get back up on that.
That's usually a new player. You'll see them because they don't know how to control the sled. It will just slide underneath you. The idea is just to ….. that's the core pop. You just push yourself up and swivel your hips out.
So the blades are in place and constructed so you can slide when you want to. But then you can control that you're not going to slide when you don't want to.
Yeah, that will never happen for me.
OK, so it's pretty impressive.
Tell me one more bit of slang from what's another hockey term that we probably wouldn't know.
So many good ones. Usually call like the sweat like the jerseys like a sweater or like the real lingo is like a tarp.
Yeah, you got your sweater, your tarp.
Yep. But the helmet is a bucket.
The way you stick handle, I guess like in basketball, maybe you'd call it like a crossover, but you call it like a dangle in hockey. There's a whole language.
And then in a goalie world, I call them all ringers or dingers when I get hit in the head so hard, it sounds like bells are going off in my head. Ringer dinger.
Yeah. None shall pass in the way of the pipes as long as I'm in there.
None shall pass. You just kind of put your stick down like Gandalf. You shall not pass.
None shall pass in the way of the pipes as long as I'm in there.
Now, Hope, you do public speaking as well. Tell us about that aspect of your career.
I do that just because I have gone through a lot of adversity in my life. There's the feet. There's all sorts of things that have happened in my life. But I often feel that individuals get a little down on themselves and life can be hard and life can be troublesome. I just want to inspire and give people hope that they will be able to at least go on. I mean, amputation wasn't the end for me. It was just the beginning. But it could have been the end for me if I chose to have a BDM.
I just like to want to give word out to the community and people that there is hope and there is resilience in this world. And it's not all, you all have a life. We've all had problems in our lives and things have happened. And it can get hard. But as long as you have a great attitude and positive attitude about it, it works great for you.
Well, thank you both for taking the time to talk with me today, even just taking the time to gear up. I know it takes a while to get ready to be on the ice. So thanks for taking your morning with us. And it's inspiring and exciting to talk with both of you.
Well, this is a great opportunity. I just think it's great that we all be able to get out here, get on some ice. You know, I love the ice. You love the ice. Like, it's just a new home. This has been an awesome opportunity and I appreciate the Supercast. I appreciate Austin. So this has been great.
Let's do it again. Absolutely.
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Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today.” We'll see you out there. Bye-bye.
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