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How A Veteran Hockey Team Builds Tribe, Health, And Hope

• Larry Zilliox • Season 3 • Episode 136

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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.

Larry Zilliox:

Good morning. I'm your host, Larry Zilliox, Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run. And this week our guest is Pete Perzel. He's the president of the Capitol Beltway Warriors, which is a hockey team of veterans, wounded warriors here in the DMV. When I heard about this from another guest, podcast guest, I said, that's pretty amazing because I've never heard of anything like that. And it's um, I guess it's a it's just a a unique and unusual, awesome way to get veterans connected to the community. Pete, welcome to the podcast. Hey, Larry, thanks a lot. This is awesome. Let me start by one of the questions that uh I asked most of my guests. Now you're prior service army. I am. Okay. So why did you join the army and not the air force?

Pete Perzel:

Well, I didn't know there was an air force at that time. I thought it was just army. Actually, I joined when I was 18 years old, like most of us do, I suppose. I walked into my dining room and the recruiter was sitting at our dining table. Now, I had no exposure to any army thing, but my parents set this up and I really didn't have a choice. Army.

Larry Zilliox:

Okay, so when I've worked on about that, right. I was gonna say, when I've heard this story before, it's usually that the barons wanted you out of the house.

Pete Perzel:

Well, they they recognized an amazing opportunity financially. So they wanted to keep me around the house, actually. I went to the University of Connecticut, and at that time, the National Guard in Connecticut, I joined the National Guard initially. They offered a tuition waiver.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Pete Perzel:

And the you know what cha-ching dollar signs go away with with with parents on that. So the recruiter was there, joined the join the service, get a free ride at UConn. Wow, and off I went. Wow.

Larry Zilliox:

Okay. That that's a good reason to do it. Yeah, for sure. That's great. Okay, so talk about the Capitol Beltway Warriors and just exactly what it is, how how it came to be.

Pete Perzel:

Right. How it came to be. I was not there when it came to be. I've been the president now for the past three years, um, and a member probably for about four. It began in 2017 as a nonprofit. Uh, we are still a nonprofit, to provide an outlet for veterans and active duty service members locally in the national capital region uh through the sport of hockey. So there was a recognition at that point to provide kind of a gap filler, I would say, uh, in terms of support to veterans that our DoD wasn't able to provide. And it's not necessarily the DoD's fault in that sense. It's just it is what it is. They can't cover down, they can't cover all the bases on the intricacies of caring for our veteran community. And through the sport of ice hockey, we recognize this would be an avenue to, you know, provide support to a certain community of veterans that play hockey. Right. But you don't have to play hockey, you come to learn, play hockey. So it's kind of branched out into 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 you how to do that, but it's more than that, right?

Larry Zilliox:

How big is it just one team? Is it a a group of different teams? How many people are how many veterans are?

Pete Perzel:

So we have roughly 120 members and it is a hockey team. It's an organization, first and foremost, but it is a hockey team. We have two basic hockey level teams. We have more of a an upper skilled level and a lower skilled level hockey team. So as we um go throughout our hockey season, we recognize our opponents, okay, they're a certain level, so we gauge that. You know, winning matters in a sense, but that definition goes a little bit further for me. Um, it's not about crushing the opponent necessarily, it's about the experience, and we want to ensure that the experience at our hockey games for our veterans are complete, and that does relate to the skill level. So we have elite players, you know, playing a lower kind of game, that might not be an enjoyable experience in that sense. Sure. So we have two teams, 120 members. Um, they're all locally here in the NCR. Some do travel um, you know, over an hour to get to the the practices. We practice, um, our headquarters, we'll call it, is at the Tucker Roads uh Ice rank near the Nashville Harbor. That's where we're kind of like based out of. We conduct four hockey sessions a month, whether it would be practices uh that are coached or games. And we also do external tournaments where we travel worldwide, mostly local U.S. tournaments, regional, Pennsylvania, Johnstown tournament we just did. Uh, we um participate in national events that are hosted by the US USA Hockey Organization, which is a big proponent of disabled warrior hockey. So we're kind of tied in with that. Um, there are probably over 60 organizations like us in the nation, and we all converge on these national tournaments to play each other. A lot of the teams are associated with their local NHL teams, you know, Pittsburgh or name them the NHL team. We are not.

Larry Zilliox:

Yeah. Listeners, I just want to clarify one thing. Myself and Pete use some abbreviations you're probably not familiar with, so I'm just gonna give you the the basically break it down for you. I I had said the DMV, which is Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, and Pete had mentioned the uh NCR, which is the Nap National Capital region. So for our listeners who aren't in this area, that's what those mean. And we'll try not to use those kind of acronyms any any further. For somebody like myself who doesn't play hockey, uh, doesn't watch hockey, doesn't know anything about hockey, other than the people that I know who watch hockey, especially go-to-live hockey games, are nuts about it. 120 hockey players seems like a lot. Every time I've caught uh some game on TV, it seems like each side adds about five or six people out there. So do you do you kind of rotate them in?

Pete Perzel:

We do rotate them in. It's about availability. Um, we have kind of a check-in status for the games in particular. You know, you you're looking at a max roster of like 18 players that can participate. Yes, there are five hockey players at a time on the ice. Uh the sport of ice hockey is so invigorating and fast and fast moving, and uh that we rotate them out, right? So you can have these 18 players out there for an hour and a half just killing it on these sprints that they're doing. So it's it's uh, but to to answer your point there of 120 members, there's a rotation. We have operations director that gets involved with selecting the teens, who gets to play, who's played last, that kind of thing. So the opportunity is there for everybody. Is this a year-round thing? It is a year-round thing. 12 months, uh, four times a uh a month is our goal for our touch points for our veterans. Um, that's when we can really have a lot of participation at our practices. Right. Uh, we have more than 18 there that we could have up to 30 people on the ice. So um, they're not all 120 or coming out. Uh it's based on their personal schedules and their availability. Um, but it is a year-round thing. Um, summer, uh hockey's kind of developed into a year-round sport now. Uh, you know, traditionally it was just like wintertime cool, cold, right? It's outdoors, yeah. Yeah, yeah, you know, that kind of thing. But now ice ranks need to make their money, of course, uh, and they're able to supply ice hockey year-round, uh, summertime.

Larry Zilliox:

When you're not playing games, but you're sort of practicing, are the more advanced players kind of mentoring the this the ones that are beginning or have come to try and learn how to play hockey?

Pete Perzel:

Yes. Um, we do have that happening during it. It is difficult to run like a practice with the multi-skills. We have a whole mentorship thing there to to help our our our new players. Um, but a lot of times we've segmented our practices for like an upper skill practice, lower skill. There's safety issues. It is so fast when you consider, you know, you can get up to 20 plus miles per hour on the ice if you're super skilled. Imagine getting, you know, run into by that. And you just gotta be have your head on a swivel, right?

Larry Zilliox:

Yeah, well, for sure. So how does this game go down? Now you're you're playing another team, not veterans, and do we still see the the aggressive contact sport that it is when you turn on the TV and see a professional game where they're just beating the hell out of each other? Is that going on at this level?

Pete Perzel:

I would say jokingly, in our minds, we think we're playing an NHL uh game. We're out there, but it is not as physical. Uh it's physically demanding. Right. It is a physical uh sport. However, our games are non-checking. Uh, so we don't uh have that full-on checking that happens.

Larry Zilliox:

Right.

Pete Perzel:

It is physical, no doubt about it. The rest of it's there, the emotions. You know, we don't we do not um encourage fighting, which is part of a hockey culture thing, but allowed. Right. Not really allowed in our community in our games when we play, and it's a rare thing. That's just an emotional heated thing. It is very physical. Yeah, yeah.

Larry Zilliox:

Listeners, I want to direct your attention to the webpage. It's capitalbeltway warriors.org. O-R-G. And go there and take a look. You're gonna find a way to donate. And my regular listeners know, bang on that donate button and give what you can. Um, a nice five thousand dollar donation would be great. I think that would pay for a uh a good number of hockey sticks. I don't know what a hockey stick costs, but I mean it is just wooden, so you can probably get a lot of them. I don't know.

Pete Perzel:

No, are they are they not just wooden? That is an awesome uh point uh you're making. It is not uh uh inexpensive. They cost up to $400, the best ones. 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 technology involved with these sticks now, the way they progress from a wooden stick. That's what I had as a kid. Yeah, there's you know, you have 20 different varieties of curves, uh, different uh flexing. So you can get cheaper sticks than 400, but I would say the the the good high-quality sticks that you can purchase are gonna be be you know 150 and above. And part of part of our soul leaves our body when one of our sticks breaks on the ice. We have to have extra ceremony for a little ceremony, uh, you know, that kind of thing. We cry a little bit. Uh it's okay. It's okay.

Larry Zilliox:

Well, okay, so there you have it. Then sticks are expensive, so they're gonna need all the donations you can give them. Um, holy cow. I just that's crazy. Let's talk about the veteran that comes to you. Yeah. Of course, prior service. Uh, is there a particular age group that they fall into or conflict or no?

Pete Perzel:

So we are unique. There is another warrior-like organization in in our area, and that's awesome. But we are different that we accept both active duty and uh veterans. So, really, the baseline for membership to be part of our program is that you had to have a DD214. Technically, you could have served one day, you're in, we got you, right? That that's we recognize that you you raised your right hand, you committed, we honor that, right? So we're here for you. So it's all ages, we have uh all ranks. There's no rank on the ice, by the way. There's no, hey general, can you pass me the puck? That doesn't work out. So we have admirals, we have all types, all services, all status. We are considered a disabled veterans hockey team. Uh, when we go to these tournaments, I was uh mentioning earlier. That's a disabled uh veterans uh tournament situation where you have to be 10% disabled to qualify for that. But in general, it's like every flavor military. We're out there. So people do come to us, they seek us out, they they love hockey firstly, they're PCSing into the region, permanent change of station, they're they're moving, right? And so they want to continue their hockey experience. So they look our club up, or there are retirees or veterans that need help or transitioning um military members, and that's really where we get the best bang of our buck and our mission vision focus, you know, mind, mind, body, soul uh approach to our organization and what we really do. I think when we leave the military, we lose a little bit of our meaning and life a little bit, and the transition can be rough.

Larry Zilliox:

Purpose and tribe, we the Yep.

Pete Perzel:

And we provide the purpose and tribe. We have that high adrenaline support sport, which is the your military service. That's what you did. It was high adrenaline activities. We have that. We have the tribe, we have saved lives. I'm gonna say it we have. It's mainly a mental health thing, but also a physical thing. Um, and it gets people moving again. So there's a health health aspect when it comes to physical. Um, you're out there on the ice, but um mentally, the invisible challenge, uh, taking care of veterans. Um, we have definitely provided for that. And when I talk about we're filling a gap, transition assistance, when when you go through a transition in the military, um, it is a quick process. You go to the class, it's engaging, but there's a lot of there's a lot being thrown at you, but you can't really process uh leaving the military after 20 plus years in two weeks.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Pete Perzel:

It it takes a year to discover what you need and so forth and so on. So anyway, we're there as an outlet in that sense. Yeah.

Larry Zilliox:

So just so our listeners are clear, you don't need to be a disabled veteran to play. It it's open to all veterans. Correct. Okay. Where uh I guess your elite team are these uh veterans in active duty who like grew up in Minnesota and just you know, Boston, places where they played discs since they were four years old. I'm right. So you don't have many guys from Louisiana that are are playing on your elite team.

Pete Perzel:

I don't think we do. I will tell you that to become a skilled hockey player, you have to usually learn the sport at a young age. I started when I was two years old. I'm not gonna say I'm an elite player, but these players that are the elite ones, um, they've started at a young age. They were in a program, they had parents that supported them. I will tell you that the sport of hockey is not cheap, as we just discovered with the hockey sticks. Yeah. Ice time and so forth, it all costs a lot of money and the time it takes for parents to get out there and so forth. So you've got your parents supporting you. So these players, they continue the sport of hockey as they grow up and they enter, you know, they get into a high school situation where they they have a competitive team, and then they a lot a lot of them have played like a college uh either club or at an academy or something like that. So those are our elite guy guys and gals. But we do have beginners that are quite surprising. I mean, the the military is so adaptable to ever, you know, you've served, you you can adapt, right? You can learn quickly, you gotta learn quickly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Pete Perzel:

I'm so blown away and impressed by a lot of our new members that are just learning the play. We have a lot of people just learned three years ago, four years ago, and they're out there learning and making an impact on the ice. The sport of hockey requires intelligence. We talk we talk a lot about hockey intelligence. And so you have the hockey intelligence, but your body can't necessarily get there, right? Um, necessarily. But do each of these uh service academies 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 own rivalries, just like the football situation. Um, yeah. And so they they're in their own categories in the NCAA and so forth. Right.

Larry Zilliox:

Listeners, again, that webpage is capitalbeltway warriors.org. Go to the webpage, check out everything they got going, and you guys have a Facebook page too. 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 hockey growing up, is looking for a way to connect. Please forward that link to them. Put them in touch with this. And you know, they might not be playing hockey now, but I guarantee you they grew up in the 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 about killed myself. My ankles weren't. They weren't in, they were like, no, we don't want any part of this. Um, but uh yeah, if they grew up in, you know, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, uh, Wisconsin, uh, Minnesota, they played hockey going up. And so put them in touch with this organization, say, hey, check it out. I know you've got some events coming up, and this is one of the things that I I was really interested in. Where can the public go to support the team when it plays?

Pete Perzel:

Right. Yeah, we need our fans, right? Yeah, that's important. Our next game is on the 13th of December at 8 30 p.m. And we're playing at the Piney Orchard Ice Arena near Annapolis. Uh, we're we're uh gonna be uh playing against the Anna Rundle uh County Police Department. That should be a fun game, right? Playing some uh law enforcement guys and gals, so uh that should be interesting, but that'll be a very competitive game. That's gonna be our more com competitive lineup.

Larry Zilliox:

Let me let me just stop you there because something you just mentioned. You were gonna play against these cops. Yeah. Guys and gals. Sure. Do you have any female veterans within the team?

Pete Perzel:

Absolutely. It's everybody. We welcome everybody. And we do, and we have competitive females, uh They're highly skilled, amazing players. And again, they grew up playing. They grew up playing. Uh they're so brothers probably in psychology. Yeah. Wow. So we welcome them and it's seamless what they provide.

Larry Zilliox:

Okay. So you have that one um uh coming right up the 13th of December in uh near Annapolis. Any others?

Pete Perzel:

We do have a local, we'll call it local for uh um local, um, the St. James uh sports facility in Springfield, Virginia. It's a big complex. They have two ice rinks there.

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Pete Perzel:

We're gonna be uh playing a warrior hockey kind of showcase on the 27th of December at 6 30 p.m. Public would be welcome there, but we're doing it as part of the um Gonzaga High School boys teams. They host a tournament there called the Purple Puck Tournament, and they ask us to join them to recognize, you know, the warrior commute uh community and what we do. So this is gonna be a very special game. Right. We're gonna allow, or we're not allowed, but we're we want to play with the boys. So we've invited some of the boys to play on our team. So we're playing each other on this game. The Capital Beltway Warriors won. We'll play against the two team, and then we'll have some of the boys mixed in from uh the tournament. So there's about I can't remember how many teams, but maybe 12 uh teams are coming to this tournament, maybe more. But we'll they'll have one boy from each team be part of our team. So is that a whole weekend? It is a the tournament is a whole weekend. Yeah, uh, we'll be there on the Saturday night. You can come out and watch that. We'll have our we'll have our own setup there or CBW uh booth or whatnot, and you can learn about us there and see hockey uh locally. Perhaps uh it's local for you. So that's a fun event.

Larry Zilliox:

And do these type of games like that, is there an admission fee? Is this open to the public? It's open.

Pete Perzel:

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 open to the public in a sense, unless it's a special fundraiser kind of thing. But um in general, yes. Right, okay. But that's a good place for them to donate too. Yeah, absolutely. Come there, see it firsthand, talk to us. Yeah, uh, even if you're uh uh uh a hockey player that wants to do it, come out and check it out.

Larry Zilliox:

Okay. Well, that's great. And uh listeners, you can find more information on their Facebook page for any of the upcoming events. Um, start to follow them so that you get notified of when there's going to be an event. If you're a veteran and you're interested in playing, reach out to them uh through the webpage, which again is capitalbeltway warriors.org. While you're there, make a donation, please donate. Um these uh it's a hundred and twenty-member team. They travel, they teach, they the camaraderie has got to be amazing, but it's not free. So they really do need your donations. And I guarantee you that if you go to one of these games, you're gonna want to donate because you're gonna see what it's all about, and you're you're really gonna get a first-hand view of how amazing this organization is. And it's unlike any others. I mean, there's about 50,000 veteran service organizations around the country. And how many of them have you heard of like this that are playing hockey, that are doing this kind of work in the community and getting veterans out, not isolating, getting them into that tribe based on an activity that they grew up with or a sport that they've come to love. And uh that's why they need your support. This this organization needs to continue, it needs to be funded, and uh they're just doing, you know, just wonderful work. So Pete, I can't thank you enough for coming out and sitting down with us and telling us all about this uh this great organization. Larry, it's been a pleasure. Appreciate it. Well, listeners, we'll have another episode for you next week, Monday morning, 0500. You can find us on all the major podcast platforms. We're on YouTube and Wreaths Across America Radio. Until then, thanks for listening.

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Larry Zilliox | Veteran Podcast Host

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