On a hockey rink, inspirational Northlake man is nearly unbeatable
Certain athletes leave one astonished by their capacity and ability.
Brody Roybal of Northlake, West Leyden High School Class of 2016, is one of these athletes.
Roybal is one of the world’s top sled hockey players. A forward on the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team the past 11 seasons, Roybal, 26, was born a congenital bilateral amputee, without a femur in either leg. His body ends at his pelvis.
With Team USA he’s earned three gold medals at the Paralympic Games, the first in 2014 at Sochi. He was 15 years old, a high school sophomore.
He added Paralympic gold at Beijing in 2022 and at Pyeongchang in 2018, when he was named the tournament’s best forward and MVP after scoring 10 goals with 7 assists.
Roybal will go for a fourth gold at the 2026 Milan Cortina Paralympic Games, provided he advances through tryouts to make the Team USA roster of 17 players. The competition gets tougher every year, though the best players can enjoy long careers.
His next big event is the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championship in Buffalo, May 24-31.
More immediately he’ll play in the Reeve Hockey Classic, a two-game series against Canada on Feb. 19-20 in Massachusetts to support the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.
In December, Roybal helped Team USA beat Canada 4-1 in the championship of the 2024 Para Cup in Prince Edward Island. The Americans outscored opponents 39-8 to go 5-0 and win a ninth straight Para Cup.
In 145 games for Team USA, Roybal has scored 123 goals with 128 assists for 251 points.
He set a United States record over the 2017-18 season with 48 points in 17 games. Video game numbers.
Speaking from Nashville, where he lives and trains, Roybal nonchalantly addressed accomplishments like being named March of Dimes Inspirational Athlete at the 2015 Comcast SportsNet Sports Awards in Chicago.
“It’s just living life at this point,” Roybal, who lives in Nashville with his girlfriend, Nicole Garriga. They’ve known each other since they were classmates at Roy School in Northlake.
“I’ve definitely gotten to do some cool things, which is nice, but it’s just me living my life and trying make the most of it,” he said.
Roybal said several Team USA players have moved to Nashville to train, including Lyons Twp. and College of DuPage graduate Josh Misiewicz. Once a hockey player at St. Mary’s University in Minnesota, Misiewicz is a double above-knee amputee injured while on patrol in Afghanistan as a Marine.
Growing up, Roybal tried cycling, triathlon, basketball, softball. He even wrestled at Leyden, convinced by friends impressed by his upper-body strength.
Nothing clicked like sled hockey. He started at 8, at the Addison Ice Arena with the Chicago Hornets, who now skate at the Mt. Prospect Ice Arena.
“I like the physicality a lot, that was really fun,” Roybal said. “I like the speed of the game and it was cool to be on a level playing field with everyone. It just really came naturally to me when I started playing, I think that’s why liked it more.”
He found it “really, really cool” to be a gold medalist while still in high school, but Roybal takes all that he’s done, and all that he will do, in stride.
“I think all the games, honestly, they have own little things that make them special,” he said. “But at end of the day just being able to compete for your country and to go out there and play at the highest level, it’s always special.”
Congratulations
A couple high school halls of fame recently inducted new classes.
On Jan. 25 Wheeling welcomed track and cross country coach Tim Falconer, baseball and football player Mike Rucinski, baseballer Bren Spillane, and basketball star Ashley Wilson.
On Feb. 1, West Aurora’s athletic hall of fame welcomed tennis and badminton player Laura Henry Cahill, multiple-sport athlete Don Landgraf, basketball star Austin Real, all-state tennis player Shannon Brooks Rutherford, and Josh Zinzer, a multisport speed burner.
An upcoming induction is Friday at Central High School in Burlington, in the main gym at around 6:30 p.m. Maggie Gannon, Ray Hunnicut, Jordan King, Clint Kliem, Austin Macias, Brett Porto, Zach Schutta and Nick Termini will get their due.
The Rockets also will induct their 2012 Class 2A boys track champion 3200-meter relay and their 2017 Class 2A third-place girls soccer team.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com