{"id":144118,"date":"2024-01-01T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=144118"},"modified":"2024-01-01T08:30:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-01T14:30:57","slug":"northlands-stewart-thriving-in-college-hockey-realm-despite-battling-physical-adversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/01\/01\/northlands-stewart-thriving-in-college-hockey-realm-despite-battling-physical-adversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland’s Stewart thriving in college hockey realm despite battling physical adversity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Ben Stewart is thriving in college hockey despite battling physical adversity. (Photo Credit: Andrew Birko\/Northland Athletics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ben Stewart was born without most of his right arm, and yet, it hasn\u2019t stopped Northland\u2019s rising hockey star from playing the game he loves, and perhaps more importantly, thriving in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The thing about the missing arm is that Stewart has never seen it as a roadblock to anything he has done in life, including playing hockey.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI never really thought of it as something that was going to hold me back,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cIt was just another reason to get better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to say the approach has worked for Stewart, who is the leading scorer for the Lumberjacks, punching in three goals and dishing out six assists.<\/span><\/p>\n

He came to Northland from Ohio, where he won a state championship in 2021, and knew coming in that he\u2019d have a shot to play right away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGoing in I knew if I came in hot, I could earn a spot and I\u2019ve been able to do that and keep a good lineup spot going,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThe results haven\u2019t been coming team wise, but it\u2019s been a really good first year as a player.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It was never necessarily a challenge for Stewart to play the fast-paced game of hockey with just one arm. It wasn\u2019t viewed as a handicap, but rather just something that was a normal part of life for him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was born without, so everything growing up, it\u2019s all I knew,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cOnce I figured out what worked, we did that until we found something that worked better. I\u2019ve always found more and more ways to make it work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It took time at the beginning to find what worked best as far as using the hockey stick went.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was initially about finding how everything was going to work. To get to a point where I had a good foundation to build off of,\u201d Stewart said.<\/span><\/p>\n

When he was on the ice as a child, it was next to impossible to get him off it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then again, hockey is kind of in his DNA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had two older brothers and a dad that played. I was born into it,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cMy parents always joke that I learned to skate before I learned to walk fully.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Stewart isn\u2019t just a hockey player either. He played baseball and soccer growing up as well. He also golfs. In fact, he was on the golf team at Northland in the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI golf with my buddies back home, and when I got up to school, I was playing with some guys who were on the team, and they said I should try out,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cI showed up the next day and I was on the team. It was a great experience. I hope to do it again next year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as hockey goes, he said the transition to the college level was relatively smooth, noting the biggest adjustment was \u2018probably the speed of the game.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially in the WIAC. It\u2019s a fast game. You have to make decisions even faster,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cIt\u2019s always good to know what is happening now so you don\u2019t have to think about that when you get the puck. You can just make plays.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Northland ended the first half of the season at 1-14, including an 0-7 mark in the WIAC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stewart intends to continue to work hard at his game and is hopeful the Lumberjacks can have a strong second half.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to work on my all-around game and help the team get a few more wins,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cI plan to work hard over the summer, too, to get ready for next season.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben Stewart was born without most of his right arm, and yet, it hasn\u2019t stopped Northland\u2019s rising hockey star from playing the game he loves, and perhaps more importantly, thriving in it. The thing about the missing arm is that Stewart has never seen it as a roadblock to anything he has done in life, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":144126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[820],"coauthors":[821],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNorthland's Stewart thriving in college hockey realm despite battling physical adversity - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ben Stewart was born without most of his right arm, and yet, it hasn\u2019t stopped Northland\u2019s rising hockey star from playing the game he loves, and perhaps\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144118\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Northland's Stewart thriving in college hockey realm despite battling physical adversity - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ben Stewart was born without most of his right arm, and yet, it hasn\u2019t stopped Northland\u2019s rising hockey star from playing the game he loves, and perhaps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144118\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-01T14:00:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-01T14:30:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/stewart.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Lester\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brian Lester\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/01\/01\/northlands-stewart-thriving-in-college-hockey-realm-despite-battling-physical-adversity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/01\/01\/northlands-stewart-thriving-in-college-hockey-realm-despite-battling-physical-adversity\/\",\"name\":\"Northland's Stewart thriving in college hockey realm despite battling physical adversity - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/01\/01\/northlands-stewart-thriving-in-college-hockey-realm-despite-battling-physical-adversity\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/01\/01\/northlands-stewart-thriving-in-college-hockey-realm-despite-battling-physical-adversity\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/stewart.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-01T14:00:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-01T14:30:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4f8b63db8eb234f6bf20426e8e69119\"},\"description\":\"Ben Stewart was born without most of his right arm, and yet, it hasn\u2019t stopped Northland\u2019s rising hockey star from playing the game he loves, and perhaps\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/01\/01\/northlands-stewart-thriving-in-college-hockey-realm-despite-battling-physical-adversity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/01\/01\/northlands-stewart-thriving-in-college-hockey-realm-despite-battling-physical-adversity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/01\/01\/northlands-stewart-thriving-in-college-hockey-realm-despite-battling-physical-adversity\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/stewart.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/stewart.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1338,\"caption\":\"Ben Stewart is thriving in college hockey despite battling physical adversity. 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