An eastern Iowa native is preparing to take to the ice at the Paralympic Winter Games which begin this week in Milan, Italy. Kevin McKee grew up in Davenport. He was born with a rare spinal condition and has used a wheelchair his entire life. McKee says he started playing sled hockey at around 10 years old. He says he plays other adaptive sports but loves the speed and physicality of sled hockey.

(As said) “What makes this sport so hard is you have to use your hands to not only skate but then to puck handle, pass, shoot,” McKee says, “and also maneuver so you don’t get your head taken off when people are trying to hit you.”

McKee won gold medals in sled hockey in 2014, 2018 and 2022. He says the sled hockey team hopes to repeat in 2026, especially after the American women’s and men’s hockey teams won gold last month.

(As said) “So there’s a little bit of pressure, but I think it’ll be good too,” he says, “because I don’t think our team’s had that kind of pressure over the last four years. I mean, we’ve been pretty dominant at the world level.”

Speaking on Iowa Public Radio’s “Talk of Iowa,” McKee says he feels fortunate to be on the 2026 Paralympic team. He had emergency surgery on a broken femur in October after breaking it in practice in the Czech Republic.