December 8, 2025 • 25 mins
Some stories hit like a clean snap pass: direct, fast, and aimed at the open ice ahead. That is the energy we bring to our conversation with Pete Perzel, president of the Capitol Beltway Warriors, a veteran hockey nonprofit serving the National Capital Region. From the first whistle, we delve into how a simple idea—putting skates on veterans and giving them a team—became a powerful engine for purpose, connection, and mental health.
We talk through the nuts and bolts of the program: a 120-member roster, two main skill tiers, and year-round ice time that keeps players engaged and accountable. Newcomers get coaching and mentorship without being thrown into the deep end, and seasoned skaters find real leadership opportunities. The culture is both competitive and respectful, featuring non-checking games, disciplined play, and a clear focus on safety. We also get practical about the costs of the sport—why a good stick can run up to $400, how ice rental adds up, and what it takes to outfit beginners, so money never blocks healing. Along the way, we celebrate inclusivity, featuring veterans and active-duty personnel, all services and ranks, with women seamlessly integrated into the lineup. On the ice, there is no rank—only trust, timing, and the next shift.
You will hear about an upcoming game at the Piney Orchard Ice Arena near Annapolis and how national warrior tournaments create a wider network of support through USA Hockey. If you know a veteran who skated as a kid in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin—or someone who always wanted to try—send them this episode and the link. If you want to help, donations keep doors open, cover gear, and expand access for those who need the team most. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more veterans find their tribe on the ice. Then visit capitalbeltwaywarriors.org and, yes, bang on that donate button.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Larry Zilliox (00:29):
Good morning.
I'm your host, Larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run.
And this week our guest is PetePerzel.
He's the president of theCapitol Beltway Warriors, which
is a hockey team of veterans,wounded warriors here in the
(00:52):
DMV.
When I heard about this fromanother guest, podcast guest, I
said, that's pretty amazingbecause I've never heard of
anything like that.
And it's um, I guess it's ait's just a a unique and
unusual, awesome way to getveterans connected to the
community.
(01:12):
Pete, welcome to the podcast.
Hey, Larry, thanks a lot.
This is awesome.
Let me start by one of thequestions that uh I asked most
of my guests.
Now you're prior service army.
I am.
Okay.
So why did you join the armyand not the air force?
Pete Perzel (01:29):
Well, I didn't know there was an air force at that
time.
I thought it was just army.
Actually, I joined when I was18 years old, like most of us
do, I suppose.
I walked into my dining roomand the recruiter was sitting at
our dining table.
Now, I had no exposure to anyarmy thing, but my parents set
(01:51):
this up and I really didn't havea choice.
Army.
Larry Zilliox (01:55):
Okay, so when I've worked on about that,
right.
I was gonna say, when I'veheard this story before, it's
usually that the barons wantedyou out of the house.
Pete Perzel (02:05):
Well, they they recognized an amazing
opportunity financially.
So they wanted to keep mearound the house, actually.
I went to the University ofConnecticut, and at that time,
the National Guard inConnecticut, I joined the
National Guard initially.
They offered a tuition waiver.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yes.
Pete Perzel (02:23):
And the you know what cha-ching dollar signs go
away with with with parents onthat.
So the recruiter was there,joined the join the service, get
a free ride at UConn.
Wow, and off I went.
Wow.
Larry Zilliox (02:37):
Okay.
That that's a good reason to doit.
Yeah, for sure.
That's great.
Okay, so talk about the CapitolBeltway Warriors and just
exactly what it is, how how itcame to be.
Pete Perzel (02:51):
Right.
How it came to be.
I was not there when it came tobe.
I've been the president now forthe past three years, um, and a
member probably for about four.
It began in 2017 as anonprofit.
Uh, we are still a nonprofit,to provide an outlet for
(03:13):
veterans and active duty servicemembers locally in the national
capital region uh through thesport of hockey.
So there was a recognition atthat point to provide kind of a
gap filler, I would say, uh, interms of support to veterans
that our DoD wasn't able toprovide.
(03:33):
And it's not necessarily theDoD's fault in that sense.
It's just it is what it is.
They can't cover down, theycan't cover all the bases on the
intricacies of caring for ourveteran community.
And through the sport of icehockey, we recognize this would
be an avenue to, you know,provide support to a certain
(03:57):
community of veterans that playhockey.
Right.
But you don't have to playhockey, you come to learn, play
hockey.
So it's kind of branched outinto that.
So it wasn't just distinctive,oh, you can only do this if you
play ice hockey, right?
We're we're here to teach youhow to do that, but it's more
than that, right?
Larry Zilliox (04:14):
How big is it just one team?
Is it a a group of differentteams?
How many people are how manyveterans are?
Pete Perzel (04:22):
So we have roughly 120 members and it is a hockey
team.
It's an organization, first andforemost, but it is a hockey
team.
We have two basic hockey levelteams.
We have more of a an upperskilled level and a lower
skilled level hockey team.
So as we um go throughout ourhockey season, we recognize our
(04:44):
opponents, okay, they're acertain level, so we gauge that.
You know, winning matters in asense, but that definition goes
a little bit further for me.
Um, it's not about crushing theopponent necessarily, it's
about the experience, and wewant to ensure that the
experience at our hockey gamesfor our veterans are complete,
(05:05):
and that does relate to theskill level.
So we have elite players, youknow, playing a lower kind of
game, that might not be anenjoyable experience in that
sense.
Sure.
So we have two teams, 120members.
Um, they're all locally here inthe NCR.
Some do travel um, you know,over an hour to get to the the
practices.
(05:26):
We practice, um, ourheadquarters, we'll call it, is
at the Tucker Roads uh Ice ranknear the Nashville Harbor.
That's where we're kind of likebased out of.
We conduct four hockey sessionsa month, whether it would be
practices uh that are coached orgames.
(05:46):
And we also do externaltournaments where we travel
worldwide, mostly local U.S.
tournaments, regional,Pennsylvania, Johnstown
tournament we just did.
Uh, we um participate innational events that are hosted
by the US USA HockeyOrganization, which is a big
(06:06):
proponent of disabled warriorhockey.
So we're kind of tied in withthat.
Um, there are probably over 60organizations like us in the
nation, and we all converge onthese national tournaments to
play each other.
A lot of the teams areassociated with their local NHL
teams, you know, Pittsburgh orname them the NHL team.
(06:30):
We are not.
Larry Zilliox (06:31):
Yeah.
Listeners, I just want toclarify one thing.
Myself and Pete use someabbreviations you're probably
not familiar with, so I'm justgonna give you the the basically
break it down for you.
I I had said the DMV, which isDelaware, Maryland, and
Virginia, and Pete had mentionedthe uh NCR, which is the Nap
(06:52):
National Capital region.
So for our listeners who aren'tin this area, that's what those
mean.
And we'll try not to use thosekind of acronyms any any
further.
For somebody like myself whodoesn't play hockey, uh, doesn't
watch hockey, doesn't knowanything about hockey, other
(07:12):
than the people that I know whowatch hockey, especially
go-to-live hockey games, arenuts about it.
120 hockey players seems like alot.
Every time I've caught uh somegame on TV, it seems like each
side adds about five or sixpeople out there.
So do you do you kind of rotatethem in?
Pete Perzel (07:33):
We do rotate them in.
It's about availability.
Um, we have kind of a check-instatus for the games in
particular.
You know, you you're looking ata max roster of like 18 players
that can participate.
Yes, there are five hockeyplayers at a time on the ice.
Uh the sport of ice hockey isso invigorating and fast and
(07:53):
fast moving, and uh that werotate them out, right?
So you can have these 18players out there for an hour
and a half just killing it onthese sprints that they're
doing.
So it's it's uh, but to toanswer your point there of 120
members, there's a rotation.
We have operations directorthat gets involved with
(08:14):
selecting the teens, who gets toplay, who's played last, that
kind of thing.
So the opportunity is there foreverybody.
Is this a year-round thing?
It is a year-round thing.
12 months, uh, four times a uha month is our goal for our
touch points for our veterans.
Um, that's when we can reallyhave a lot of participation at
our practices.
Right.
(08:34):
Uh, we have more than 18 therethat we could have up to 30
people on the ice.
So um, they're not all 120 orcoming out.
Uh it's based on their personalschedules and their
availability.
Um, but it is a year-roundthing.
Um, summer, uh hockey's kind ofdeveloped into a year-round
sport now.
(08:54):
Uh, you know, traditionally itwas just like wintertime cool,
cold, right?
It's outdoors, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, you know, that kindof thing.
But now ice ranks need to maketheir money, of course, uh, and
they're able to supply icehockey year-round, uh,
summertime.
Larry Zilliox (09:09):
When you're not playing games, but you're sort
of practicing, are the moreadvanced players kind of
mentoring the this the ones thatare beginning or have come to
try and learn how to playhockey?
Pete Perzel (09:21):
Yes.
Um, we do have that happeningduring it.
It is difficult to run like apractice with the multi-skills.
We have a whole mentorshipthing there to to help our our
our new players.
Um, but a lot of times we'vesegmented our practices for like
an upper skill practice, lowerskill.
There's safety issues.
(09:41):
It is so fast when youconsider, you know, you can get
up to 20 plus miles per hour onthe ice if you're super skilled.
Imagine getting, you know, runinto by that.
And you just gotta be have yourhead on a swivel, right?
Larry Zilliox (09:54):
Yeah, well, for sure.
So how does this game go down?
Now you're you're playinganother team, not veterans, and
do we still see the theaggressive contact sport that it
is when you turn on the TV andsee a professional game where
they're just beating the hellout of each other?
(10:15):
Is that going on at this level?
Pete Perzel (10:18):
I would say jokingly, in our minds, we think
we're playing an NHL uh game.
We're out there, but it is notas physical.
Uh it's physically demanding.
Right.
It is a physical uh sport.
However, our games arenon-checking.
Uh, so we don't uh have thatfull-on checking that happens.
Larry Zilliox (10:38):
Right.
Pete Perzel (10:38):
It is physical, no doubt about it.
The rest of it's there, theemotions.
You know, we don't we do not umencourage fighting, which is
part of a hockey culture thing,but allowed.
Right.
Not really allowed in ourcommunity in our games when we
play, and it's a rare thing.
That's just an emotional heatedthing.
It is very physical.
Yeah, yeah.
Larry Zilliox (10:59):
Listeners, I want to direct your attention to the
webpage.
It's capitalbeltwaywarriors.org.
O-R-G.
And go there and take a look.
You're gonna find a way todonate.
And my regular listeners know,bang on that donate button and
give what you can.
Um, a nice five thousand dollardonation would be great.
(11:20):
I think that would pay for a uha good number of hockey sticks.
I don't know what a hockeystick costs, but I mean it is
just wooden, so you can probablyget a lot of them.
I don't know.
Pete Perzel (11:31):
No, are they are they not just wooden?
That is an awesome uh point uhyou're making.
It is not uh uh inexpensive.
They cost up to $400, the bestones.
What are they?
Titanium?
They are practical.
Well, actually, you you yes,some of them have a titanium
mesh built in.
Um, there's so much technologyinvolved with these sticks now,
(11:53):
the way they progress from awooden stick.
That's what I had as a kid.
Yeah, there's you know, youhave 20 different varieties of
curves, uh, different uhflexing.
So you can get cheaper sticksthan 400, but I would say the
the the good high-quality sticksthat you can purchase are gonna
be be you know 150 and above.
And part of part of our soulleaves our body when one of our
(12:15):
sticks breaks on the ice.
We have to have extra ceremonyfor a little ceremony, uh, you
know, that kind of thing.
We cry a little bit.
Uh it's okay.
It's okay.
Larry Zilliox (12:27):
Well, okay, so there you have it.
Then sticks are expensive, sothey're gonna need all the
donations you can give them.
Um, holy cow.
I just that's crazy.
Let's talk about the veteranthat comes to you.
Yeah.
Of course, prior service.
Uh, is there a particular agegroup that they fall into or
(12:48):
conflict or no?
Pete Perzel (12:50):
So we are unique.
There is another warrior-likeorganization in in our area, and
that's awesome.
But we are different that weaccept both active duty and uh
veterans.
So, really, the baseline formembership to be part of our
program is that you had to havea DD214.
Technically, you could haveserved one day, you're in, we
(13:14):
got you, right?
That that's we recognize thatyou you raised your right hand,
you committed, we honor that,right?
So we're here for you.
So it's all ages, we have uhall ranks.
There's no rank on the ice, bythe way.
There's no, hey general, canyou pass me the puck?
That doesn't work out.
So we have admirals, we haveall types, all services, all
(13:37):
status.
We are considered a disabledveterans hockey team.
Uh, when we go to thesetournaments, I was uh mentioning
earlier.
That's a disabled uh veteransuh tournament situation where
you have to be 10% disabled toqualify for that.
But in general, it's like everyflavor military.
We're out there.
So people do come to us, theyseek us out, they they love
(14:00):
hockey firstly, they're PCSinginto the region, permanent
change of station, they'rethey're moving, right?
And so they want to continuetheir hockey experience.
So they look our club up, orthere are retirees or veterans
that need help or transitioningum military members, and that's
really where we get the bestbang of our buck and our mission
(14:23):
vision focus, you know, mind,mind, body, soul uh approach to
our organization and what wereally do.
I think when we leave themilitary, we lose a little bit
of our meaning and life a littlebit, and the transition can be
rough.
Larry Zilliox (14:40):
Purpose and tribe, we the Yep.
Pete Perzel (14:43):
And we provide the purpose and tribe.
We have that high adrenalinesupport sport, which is the your
military service.
That's what you did.
It was high adrenalineactivities.
We have that.
We have the tribe, we havesaved lives.
I'm gonna say it we have.
It's mainly a mental healththing, but also a physical
(15:04):
thing.
Um, and it gets people movingagain.
So there's a health healthaspect when it comes to
physical.
Um, you're out there on theice, but um mentally, the
invisible challenge, uh, takingcare of veterans.
Um, we have definitely providedfor that.
And when I talk about we'refilling a gap, transition
(15:25):
assistance, when when you gothrough a transition in the
military, um, it is a quickprocess.
You go to the class, it'sengaging, but there's a lot of
there's a lot being thrown atyou, but you can't really
process uh leaving the militaryafter 20 plus years in two
weeks.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah.
Pete Perzel (15:44):
It it takes a year to discover what you need and so
forth and so on.
So anyway, we're there as anoutlet in that sense.
Yeah.
Larry Zilliox (15:53):
So just so our listeners are clear, you don't
need to be a disabled veteran toplay.
It it's open to all veterans.
Correct.
Okay.
Where uh I guess your eliteteam are these uh veterans in
active duty who like grew up inMinnesota and just you know,
(16:16):
Boston, places where they playeddiscs since they were four
years old.
I'm right.
So you don't have many guysfrom Louisiana that are are
playing on your elite team.
Pete Perzel (16:26):
I don't think we do.
I will tell you that to becomea skilled hockey player, you
have to usually learn the sportat a young age.
I started when I was two yearsold.
I'm not gonna say I'm an eliteplayer, but these players that
are the elite ones, um, they'vestarted at a young age.
They were in a program, theyhad parents that supported them.
(16:46):
I will tell you that the sportof hockey is not cheap, as we
just discovered with the hockeysticks.
Yeah.
Ice time and so forth, it allcosts a lot of money and the
time it takes for parents to getout there and so forth.
So you've got your parentssupporting you.
So these players, they continuethe sport of hockey as they
grow up and they enter, youknow, they get into a high
(17:08):
school situation where they theyhave a competitive team, and
then they a lot a lot of themhave played like a college uh
either club or at an academy orsomething like that.
So those are our elite guy guysand gals.
But we do have beginners thatare quite surprising.
I mean, the the military is soadaptable to ever, you know,
you've served, you you canadapt, right?
You can learn quickly, yougotta learn quickly.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah.
Pete Perzel (17:30):
I'm so blown away and impressed by a lot of our
new members that are justlearning the play.
We have a lot of people justlearned three years ago, four
years ago, and they're out therelearning and making an impact
on the ice.
The sport of hockey requiresintelligence.
We talk we talk a lot abouthockey intelligence.
And so you have the hockeyintelligence, but your body
(17:51):
can't necessarily get there,right?
Um, necessarily.
But do each of these uh serviceacademies have hockey teams?
Sure.
Uh West Point's got a team, uh,the Navy's got a team, Air
Force has a team.
Wow, they have their ownrivalries, just like the
football situation.
Um, yeah.
And so they they're in theirown categories in the NCAA and
(18:15):
so forth.
Right.
Larry Zilliox (18:16):
Listeners, again, that webpage is capitalbeltway
warriors.org.
Go to the webpage, check outeverything they got going, and
you guys have a Facebook pagetoo.
We do.
All right.
And so check that out.
Uh share it with everybody,especially if you if you know a
veteran who had played hockeygrowing up, is looking for a way
(18:41):
to connect.
Please forward that link tothem.
Put them in touch with this.
And you know, they might not beplaying hockey now, but I
guarantee you they grew up inthe northern tier states.
They played hockey as a kid.
They skated.
I don't know how they did it.
I tried to skate one time aboutkilled myself.
(19:02):
My ankles weren't.
They weren't in, they werelike, no, we don't want any part
of this.
Um, but uh yeah, if they grewup in, you know, North Dakota,
Pennsylvania, uh, Wisconsin, uh,Minnesota, they played hockey
going up.
And so put them in touch withthis organization, say, hey,
(19:25):
check it out.
I know you've got some eventscoming up, and this is one of
the things that I I was reallyinterested in.
Where can the public go tosupport the team when it plays?
Pete Perzel (19:39):
Right.
Yeah, we need our fans, right?
Yeah, that's important.
Our next game is on the 13th ofDecember at 8 30 p.m.
And we're playing at the PineyOrchard Ice Arena near
Annapolis.
Uh, we're we're uh gonna be uhplaying against the Anna Rundle
uh County Police Department.
That should be a fun game,right?
(20:00):
Playing some uh law enforcementguys and gals, so uh that
should be interesting, butthat'll be a very competitive
game.
That's gonna be our more comcompetitive lineup.
Larry Zilliox (20:10):
Let me let me just stop you there because
something you just mentioned.
You were gonna play againstthese cops.
Yeah.
Guys and gals.
Sure.
Do you have any female veteranswithin the team?
Pete Perzel (20:21):
Absolutely.
It's everybody.
We welcome everybody.
And we do, and we havecompetitive females, uh They're
highly skilled, amazing players.
And again, they grew upplaying.
They grew up playing.
Uh they're so brothers probablyin psychology.
Yeah.
Wow.
So we welcome them and it'sseamless what they provide.
Larry Zilliox (20:44):
Okay.
So you have that one um uhcoming right up the 13th of
December in uh near Annapolis.
Any others?
Pete Perzel (20:51):
We do have a local, we'll call it local for uh um
local, um, the St.
James uh sports facility inSpringfield, Virginia.
It's a big complex.
They have two ice rinks there.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Wow.
Pete Perzel (21:02):
We're gonna be uh playing a warrior hockey kind of
showcase on the 27th ofDecember at 6 30 p.m.
Public would be welcome there,but we're doing it as part of
the um Gonzaga High School boysteams.
They host a tournament therecalled the Purple Puck
Tournament, and they ask us tojoin them to recognize, you
(21:26):
know, the warrior commute uhcommunity and what we do.
So this is gonna be a veryspecial game.
Right.
We're gonna allow, or we're notallowed, but we're we want to
play with the boys.
So we've invited some of theboys to play on our team.
So we're playing each other onthis game.
The Capital Beltway Warriorswon.
We'll play against the twoteam, and then we'll have some
(21:46):
of the boys mixed in from uh thetournament.
So there's about I can'tremember how many teams, but
maybe 12 uh teams are coming tothis tournament, maybe more.
But we'll they'll have one boyfrom each team be part of our
team.
So is that a whole weekend?
It is a the tournament is awhole weekend.
Yeah, uh, we'll be there on theSaturday night.
(22:07):
You can come out and watchthat.
We'll have our we'll have ourown setup there or CBW uh booth
or whatnot, and you can learnabout us there and see hockey uh
locally.
Perhaps uh it's local for you.
So that's a fun event.
Larry Zilliox (22:21):
And do these type of games like that, is there an
admission fee?
Is this open to the public?
It's open.
Pete Perzel (22:28):
Uh I believe it, yeah.
It I'm not sure about this one.
Uh this one should be free too.
It's all open.
All our games would be uh opento the public in a sense, unless
it's a special fundraiser kindof thing.
But um in general, yes.
Right, okay.
But that's a good place forthem to donate too.
Yeah, absolutely.
Come there, see it firsthand,talk to us.
(22:49):
Yeah, uh, even if you're uh uhuh a hockey player that wants to
do it, come out and check itout.
Larry Zilliox (22:54):
Okay.
Well, that's great.
And uh listeners, you can findmore information on their
Facebook page for any of theupcoming events.
Um, start to follow them sothat you get notified of when
there's going to be an event.
If you're a veteran and you'reinterested in playing, reach out
to them uh through the webpage,which again is capitalbeltway
(23:15):
warriors.org.
While you're there, make adonation, please donate.
Um these uh it's a hundred andtwenty-member team.
They travel, they teach, theythe camaraderie has got to be
amazing, but it's not free.
So they really do need yourdonations.
(23:36):
And I guarantee you that if yougo to one of these games,
you're gonna want to donatebecause you're gonna see what
it's all about, and you'reyou're really gonna get a
first-hand view of how amazingthis organization is.
And it's unlike any others.
I mean, there's about 50,000veteran service organizations
around the country.
And how many of them have youheard of like this that are
(24:00):
playing hockey, that are doingthis kind of work in the
community and getting veteransout, not isolating, getting them
into that tribe based on anactivity that they grew up with
or a sport that they've come tolove.
And uh that's why they needyour support.
(24:22):
This this organization needs tocontinue, it needs to be
funded, and uh they're justdoing, you know, just wonderful
work.
So Pete, I can't thank youenough for coming out and
sitting down with us and tellingus all about this uh this great
organization.
Larry, it's been a pleasure.
Appreciate it.
Well, listeners, we'll haveanother episode for you next
(24:46):
week, Monday morning, 0500.
You can find us on all themajor podcast platforms.
We're on YouTube and WreathsAcross America Radio.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
Good morning.
I'm your host, Larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run.
And this week our guest is PetePerzel.
He's the president of theCapitol Beltway Warriors, which
is a hockey team of veterans,wounded warriors here in the
(00:52):
DMV.
When I heard about this fromanother guest, podcast guest, I
said, that's pretty amazingbecause I've never heard of
anything like that.
And it's um, I guess it's ait's just a a unique and
unusual, awesome way to getveterans connected to the
community.
(01:12):
Pete, welcome to the podcast.
Hey, Larry, thanks a lot.
This is awesome.
Let me start by one of thequestions that uh I asked most
of my guests.
Now you're prior service army.
I am.
Okay.
So why did you join the armyand not the air force?
Pete Perzel (01:29):
Well, I didn't know there was an air force at that
time.
I thought it was just army.
Actually, I joined when I was18 years old, like most of us
do, I suppose.
I walked into my dining roomand the recruiter was sitting at
our dining table.
Now, I had no exposure to anyarmy thing, but my parents set
(01:51):
this up and I really didn't havea choice.
Army.
Larry Zilliox (01:55):
Okay, so when I've worked on about that,
right.
I was gonna say, when I'veheard this story before, it's
usually that the barons wantedyou out of the house.
Pete Perzel (02:05):
Well, they they recognized an amazing
opportunity financially.
So they wanted to keep mearound the house, actually.
I went to the University ofConnecticut, and at that time,
the National Guard inConnecticut, I joined the
National Guard initially.
They offered a tuition waiver.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yes.
Pete Perzel (02:23):
And the you know what cha-ching dollar signs go
away with with with parents onthat.
So the recruiter was there,joined the join the service, get
a free ride at UConn.
Wow, and off I went.
Wow.
Larry Zilliox (02:37):
Okay.
That that's a good reason to doit.
Yeah, for sure.
That's great.
Okay, so talk about the CapitolBeltway Warriors and just
exactly what it is, how how itcame to be.
Pete Perzel (02:51):
Right.
How it came to be.
I was not there when it came tobe.
I've been the president now forthe past three years, um, and a
member probably for about four.
It began in 2017 as anonprofit.
Uh, we are still a nonprofit,to provide an outlet for
(03:13):
veterans and active duty servicemembers locally in the national
capital region uh through thesport of hockey.
So there was a recognition atthat point to provide kind of a
gap filler, I would say, uh, interms of support to veterans
that our DoD wasn't able toprovide.
(03:33):
And it's not necessarily theDoD's fault in that sense.
It's just it is what it is.
They can't cover down, theycan't cover all the bases on the
intricacies of caring for ourveteran community.
And through the sport of icehockey, we recognize this would
be an avenue to, you know,provide support to a certain
(03:57):
community of veterans that playhockey.
Right.
But you don't have to playhockey, you come to learn, play
hockey.
So it's kind of branched outinto that.
So it wasn't just distinctive,oh, you can only do this if you
play ice hockey, right?
We're we're here to teach youhow to do that, but it's more
than that, right?
Larry Zilliox (04:14):
How big is it just one team?
Is it a a group of differentteams?
How many people are how manyveterans are?
Pete Perzel (04:22):
So we have roughly 120 members and it is a hockey
team.
It's an organization, first andforemost, but it is a hockey
team.
We have two basic hockey levelteams.
We have more of a an upperskilled level and a lower
skilled level hockey team.
So as we um go throughout ourhockey season, we recognize our
(04:44):
opponents, okay, they're acertain level, so we gauge that.
You know, winning matters in asense, but that definition goes
a little bit further for me.
Um, it's not about crushing theopponent necessarily, it's
about the experience, and wewant to ensure that the
experience at our hockey gamesfor our veterans are complete,
(05:05):
and that does relate to theskill level.
So we have elite players, youknow, playing a lower kind of
game, that might not be anenjoyable experience in that
sense.
Sure.
So we have two teams, 120members.
Um, they're all locally here inthe NCR.
Some do travel um, you know,over an hour to get to the the
practices.
(05:26):
We practice, um, ourheadquarters, we'll call it, is
at the Tucker Roads uh Ice ranknear the Nashville Harbor.
That's where we're kind of likebased out of.
We conduct four hockey sessionsa month, whether it would be
practices uh that are coached orgames.
(05:46):
And we also do externaltournaments where we travel
worldwide, mostly local U.S.
tournaments, regional,Pennsylvania, Johnstown
tournament we just did.
Uh, we um participate innational events that are hosted
by the US USA HockeyOrganization, which is a big
(06:06):
proponent of disabled warriorhockey.
So we're kind of tied in withthat.
Um, there are probably over 60organizations like us in the
nation, and we all converge onthese national tournaments to
play each other.
A lot of the teams areassociated with their local NHL
teams, you know, Pittsburgh orname them the NHL team.
(06:30):
We are not.
Larry Zilliox (06:31):
Yeah.
Listeners, I just want toclarify one thing.
Myself and Pete use someabbreviations you're probably
not familiar with, so I'm justgonna give you the the basically
break it down for you.
I I had said the DMV, which isDelaware, Maryland, and
Virginia, and Pete had mentionedthe uh NCR, which is the Nap
(06:52):
National Capital region.
So for our listeners who aren'tin this area, that's what those
mean.
And we'll try not to use thosekind of acronyms any any
further.
For somebody like myself whodoesn't play hockey, uh, doesn't
watch hockey, doesn't knowanything about hockey, other
(07:12):
than the people that I know whowatch hockey, especially
go-to-live hockey games, arenuts about it.
120 hockey players seems like alot.
Every time I've caught uh somegame on TV, it seems like each
side adds about five or sixpeople out there.
So do you do you kind of rotatethem in?
Pete Perzel (07:33):
We do rotate them in.
It's about availability.
Um, we have kind of a check-instatus for the games in
particular.
You know, you you're looking ata max roster of like 18 players
that can participate.
Yes, there are five hockeyplayers at a time on the ice.
Uh the sport of ice hockey isso invigorating and fast and
(07:53):
fast moving, and uh that werotate them out, right?
So you can have these 18players out there for an hour
and a half just killing it onthese sprints that they're
doing.
So it's it's uh, but to toanswer your point there of 120
members, there's a rotation.
We have operations directorthat gets involved with
(08:14):
selecting the teens, who gets toplay, who's played last, that
kind of thing.
So the opportunity is there foreverybody.
Is this a year-round thing?
It is a year-round thing.
12 months, uh, four times a uha month is our goal for our
touch points for our veterans.
Um, that's when we can reallyhave a lot of participation at
our practices.
Right.
(08:34):
Uh, we have more than 18 therethat we could have up to 30
people on the ice.
So um, they're not all 120 orcoming out.
Uh it's based on their personalschedules and their
availability.
Um, but it is a year-roundthing.
Um, summer, uh hockey's kind ofdeveloped into a year-round
sport now.
(08:54):
Uh, you know, traditionally itwas just like wintertime cool,
cold, right?
It's outdoors, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, you know, that kindof thing.
But now ice ranks need to maketheir money, of course, uh, and
they're able to supply icehockey year-round, uh,
summertime.
Larry Zilliox (09:09):
When you're not playing games, but you're sort
of practicing, are the moreadvanced players kind of
mentoring the this the ones thatare beginning or have come to
try and learn how to playhockey?
Pete Perzel (09:21):
Yes.
Um, we do have that happeningduring it.
It is difficult to run like apractice with the multi-skills.
We have a whole mentorshipthing there to to help our our
our new players.
Um, but a lot of times we'vesegmented our practices for like
an upper skill practice, lowerskill.
There's safety issues.
(09:41):
It is so fast when youconsider, you know, you can get
up to 20 plus miles per hour onthe ice if you're super skilled.
Imagine getting, you know, runinto by that.
And you just gotta be have yourhead on a swivel, right?
Larry Zilliox (09:54):
Yeah, well, for sure.
So how does this game go down?
Now you're you're playinganother team, not veterans, and
do we still see the theaggressive contact sport that it
is when you turn on the TV andsee a professional game where
they're just beating the hellout of each other?
(10:15):
Is that going on at this level?
Pete Perzel (10:18):
I would say jokingly, in our minds, we think
we're playing an NHL uh game.
We're out there, but it is notas physical.
Uh it's physically demanding.
Right.
It is a physical uh sport.
However, our games arenon-checking.
Uh, so we don't uh have thatfull-on checking that happens.
Larry Zilliox (10:38):
Right.
Pete Perzel (10:38):
It is physical, no doubt about it.
The rest of it's there, theemotions.
You know, we don't we do not umencourage fighting, which is
part of a hockey culture thing,but allowed.
Right.
Not really allowed in ourcommunity in our games when we
play, and it's a rare thing.
That's just an emotional heatedthing.
It is very physical.
Yeah, yeah.
Larry Zilliox (10:59):
Listeners, I want to direct your attention to the
webpage.
It's capitalbeltwaywarriors.org.
O-R-G.
And go there and take a look.
You're gonna find a way todonate.
And my regular listeners know,bang on that donate button and
give what you can.
Um, a nice five thousand dollardonation would be great.
(11:20):
I think that would pay for a uha good number of hockey sticks.
I don't know what a hockeystick costs, but I mean it is
just wooden, so you can probablyget a lot of them.
I don't know.
Pete Perzel (11:31):
No, are they are they not just wooden?
That is an awesome uh point uhyou're making.
It is not uh uh inexpensive.
They cost up to $400, the bestones.
What are they?
Titanium?
They are practical.
Well, actually, you you yes,some of them have a titanium
mesh built in.
Um, there's so much technologyinvolved with these sticks now,
(11:53):
the way they progress from awooden stick.
That's what I had as a kid.
Yeah, there's you know, youhave 20 different varieties of
curves, uh, different uhflexing.
So you can get cheaper sticksthan 400, but I would say the
the the good high-quality sticksthat you can purchase are gonna
be be you know 150 and above.
And part of part of our soulleaves our body when one of our
(12:15):
sticks breaks on the ice.
We have to have extra ceremonyfor a little ceremony, uh, you
know, that kind of thing.
We cry a little bit.
Uh it's okay.
It's okay.
Larry Zilliox (12:27):
Well, okay, so there you have it.
Then sticks are expensive, sothey're gonna need all the
donations you can give them.
Um, holy cow.
I just that's crazy.
Let's talk about the veteranthat comes to you.
Yeah.
Of course, prior service.
Uh, is there a particular agegroup that they fall into or
(12:48):
conflict or no?
Pete Perzel (12:50):
So we are unique.
There is another warrior-likeorganization in in our area, and
that's awesome.
But we are different that weaccept both active duty and uh
veterans.
So, really, the baseline formembership to be part of our
program is that you had to havea DD214.
Technically, you could haveserved one day, you're in, we
(13:14):
got you, right?
That that's we recognize thatyou you raised your right hand,
you committed, we honor that,right?
So we're here for you.
So it's all ages, we have uhall ranks.
There's no rank on the ice, bythe way.
There's no, hey general, canyou pass me the puck?
That doesn't work out.
So we have admirals, we haveall types, all services, all
(13:37):
status.
We are considered a disabledveterans hockey team.
Uh, when we go to thesetournaments, I was uh mentioning
earlier.
That's a disabled uh veteransuh tournament situation where
you have to be 10% disabled toqualify for that.
But in general, it's like everyflavor military.
We're out there.
So people do come to us, theyseek us out, they they love
(14:00):
hockey firstly, they're PCSinginto the region, permanent
change of station, they'rethey're moving, right?
And so they want to continuetheir hockey experience.
So they look our club up, orthere are retirees or veterans
that need help or transitioningum military members, and that's
really where we get the bestbang of our buck and our mission
(14:23):
vision focus, you know, mind,mind, body, soul uh approach to
our organization and what wereally do.
I think when we leave themilitary, we lose a little bit
of our meaning and life a littlebit, and the transition can be
rough.
Larry Zilliox (14:40):
Purpose and tribe, we the Yep.
Pete Perzel (14:43):
And we provide the purpose and tribe.
We have that high adrenalinesupport sport, which is the your
military service.
That's what you did.
It was high adrenalineactivities.
We have that.
We have the tribe, we havesaved lives.
I'm gonna say it we have.
It's mainly a mental healththing, but also a physical
(15:04):
thing.
Um, and it gets people movingagain.
So there's a health healthaspect when it comes to
physical.
Um, you're out there on theice, but um mentally, the
invisible challenge, uh, takingcare of veterans.
Um, we have definitely providedfor that.
And when I talk about we'refilling a gap, transition
(15:25):
assistance, when when you gothrough a transition in the
military, um, it is a quickprocess.
You go to the class, it'sengaging, but there's a lot of
there's a lot being thrown atyou, but you can't really
process uh leaving the militaryafter 20 plus years in two
weeks.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah.
Pete Perzel (15:44):
It it takes a year to discover what you need and so
forth and so on.
So anyway, we're there as anoutlet in that sense.
Yeah.
Larry Zilliox (15:53):
So just so our listeners are clear, you don't
need to be a disabled veteran toplay.
It it's open to all veterans.
Correct.
Okay.
Where uh I guess your eliteteam are these uh veterans in
active duty who like grew up inMinnesota and just you know,
(16:16):
Boston, places where they playeddiscs since they were four
years old.
I'm right.
So you don't have many guysfrom Louisiana that are are
playing on your elite team.
Pete Perzel (16:26):
I don't think we do.
I will tell you that to becomea skilled hockey player, you
have to usually learn the sportat a young age.
I started when I was two yearsold.
I'm not gonna say I'm an eliteplayer, but these players that
are the elite ones, um, they'vestarted at a young age.
They were in a program, theyhad parents that supported them.
(16:46):
I will tell you that the sportof hockey is not cheap, as we
just discovered with the hockeysticks.
Yeah.
Ice time and so forth, it allcosts a lot of money and the
time it takes for parents to getout there and so forth.
So you've got your parentssupporting you.
So these players, they continuethe sport of hockey as they
grow up and they enter, youknow, they get into a high
(17:08):
school situation where they theyhave a competitive team, and
then they a lot a lot of themhave played like a college uh
either club or at an academy orsomething like that.
So those are our elite guy guysand gals.
But we do have beginners thatare quite surprising.
I mean, the the military is soadaptable to ever, you know,
you've served, you you canadapt, right?
You can learn quickly, yougotta learn quickly.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah.
Pete Perzel (17:30):
I'm so blown away and impressed by a lot of our
new members that are justlearning the play.
We have a lot of people justlearned three years ago, four
years ago, and they're out therelearning and making an impact
on the ice.
The sport of hockey requiresintelligence.
We talk we talk a lot abouthockey intelligence.
And so you have the hockeyintelligence, but your body
(17:51):
can't necessarily get there,right?
Um, necessarily.
But do each of these uh serviceacademies have hockey teams?
Sure.
Uh West Point's got a team, uh,the Navy's got a team, Air
Force has a team.
Wow, they have their ownrivalries, just like the
football situation.
Um, yeah.
And so they they're in theirown categories in the NCAA and
(18:15):
so forth.
Right.
Larry Zilliox (18:16):
Listeners, again, that webpage is capitalbeltway
warriors.org.
Go to the webpage, check outeverything they got going, and
you guys have a Facebook pagetoo.
We do.
All right.
And so check that out.
Uh share it with everybody,especially if you if you know a
veteran who had played hockeygrowing up, is looking for a way
(18:41):
to connect.
Please forward that link tothem.
Put them in touch with this.
And you know, they might not beplaying hockey now, but I
guarantee you they grew up inthe northern tier states.
They played hockey as a kid.
They skated.
I don't know how they did it.
I tried to skate one time aboutkilled myself.
(19:02):
My ankles weren't.
They weren't in, they werelike, no, we don't want any part
of this.
Um, but uh yeah, if they grewup in, you know, North Dakota,
Pennsylvania, uh, Wisconsin, uh,Minnesota, they played hockey
going up.
And so put them in touch withthis organization, say, hey,
(19:25):
check it out.
I know you've got some eventscoming up, and this is one of
the things that I I was reallyinterested in.
Where can the public go tosupport the team when it plays?
Pete Perzel (19:39):
Right.
Yeah, we need our fans, right?
Yeah, that's important.
Our next game is on the 13th ofDecember at 8 30 p.m.
And we're playing at the PineyOrchard Ice Arena near
Annapolis.
Uh, we're we're uh gonna be uhplaying against the Anna Rundle
uh County Police Department.
That should be a fun game,right?
(20:00):
Playing some uh law enforcementguys and gals, so uh that
should be interesting, butthat'll be a very competitive
game.
That's gonna be our more comcompetitive lineup.
Larry Zilliox (20:10):
Let me let me just stop you there because
something you just mentioned.
You were gonna play againstthese cops.
Yeah.
Guys and gals.
Sure.
Do you have any female veteranswithin the team?
Pete Perzel (20:21):
Absolutely.
It's everybody.
We welcome everybody.
And we do, and we havecompetitive females, uh They're
highly skilled, amazing players.
And again, they grew upplaying.
They grew up playing.
Uh they're so brothers probablyin psychology.
Yeah.
Wow.
So we welcome them and it'sseamless what they provide.
Larry Zilliox (20:44):
Okay.
So you have that one um uhcoming right up the 13th of
December in uh near Annapolis.
Any others?
Pete Perzel (20:51):
We do have a local, we'll call it local for uh um
local, um, the St.
James uh sports facility inSpringfield, Virginia.
It's a big complex.
They have two ice rinks there.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Wow.
Pete Perzel (21:02):
We're gonna be uh playing a warrior hockey kind of
showcase on the 27th ofDecember at 6 30 p.m.
Public would be welcome there,but we're doing it as part of
the um Gonzaga High School boysteams.
They host a tournament therecalled the Purple Puck
Tournament, and they ask us tojoin them to recognize, you
(21:26):
know, the warrior commute uhcommunity and what we do.
So this is gonna be a veryspecial game.
Right.
We're gonna allow, or we're notallowed, but we're we want to
play with the boys.
So we've invited some of theboys to play on our team.
So we're playing each other onthis game.
The Capital Beltway Warriorswon.
We'll play against the twoteam, and then we'll have some
(21:46):
of the boys mixed in from uh thetournament.
So there's about I can'tremember how many teams, but
maybe 12 uh teams are coming tothis tournament, maybe more.
But we'll they'll have one boyfrom each team be part of our
team.
So is that a whole weekend?
It is a the tournament is awhole weekend.
Yeah, uh, we'll be there on theSaturday night.
(22:07):
You can come out and watchthat.
We'll have our we'll have ourown setup there or CBW uh booth
or whatnot, and you can learnabout us there and see hockey uh
locally.
Perhaps uh it's local for you.
So that's a fun event.
Larry Zilliox (22:21):
And do these type of games like that, is there an
admission fee?
Is this open to the public?
It's open.
Pete Perzel (22:28):
Uh I believe it, yeah.
It I'm not sure about this one.
Uh this one should be free too.
It's all open.
All our games would be uh opento the public in a sense, unless
it's a special fundraiser kindof thing.
But um in general, yes.
Right, okay.
But that's a good place forthem to donate too.
Yeah, absolutely.
Come there, see it firsthand,talk to us.
(22:49):
Yeah, uh, even if you're uh uhuh a hockey player that wants to
do it, come out and check itout.
Larry Zilliox (22:54):
Okay.
Well, that's great.
And uh listeners, you can findmore information on their
Facebook page for any of theupcoming events.
Um, start to follow them sothat you get notified of when
there's going to be an event.
If you're a veteran and you'reinterested in playing, reach out
to them uh through the webpage,which again is capitalbeltway
(23:15):
warriors.org.
While you're there, make adonation, please donate.
Um these uh it's a hundred andtwenty-member team.
They travel, they teach, theythe camaraderie has got to be
amazing, but it's not free.
So they really do need yourdonations.
(23:36):
And I guarantee you that if yougo to one of these games,
you're gonna want to donatebecause you're gonna see what
it's all about, and you'reyou're really gonna get a
first-hand view of how amazingthis organization is.
And it's unlike any others.
I mean, there's about 50,000veteran service organizations
around the country.
And how many of them have youheard of like this that are
(24:00):
playing hockey, that are doingthis kind of work in the
community and getting veteransout, not isolating, getting them
into that tribe based on anactivity that they grew up with
or a sport that they've come tolove.
And uh that's why they needyour support.
(24:22):
This this organization needs tocontinue, it needs to be
funded, and uh they're justdoing, you know, just wonderful
work.
So Pete, I can't thank youenough for coming out and
sitting down with us and tellingus all about this uh this great
organization.
Larry, it's been a pleasure.
Appreciate it.
Well, listeners, we'll haveanother episode for you next
(24:46):
week, Monday morning, 0500.
You can find us on all themajor podcast platforms.
We're on YouTube and WreathsAcross America Radio.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!