By Liam Centrella
Peter Gintoli, a junior at Salve Regina, weighs in at 175 pounds and, as he puts it, is “just under 5’8”. He is a member of the Salve Men’s Ice Hockey Team. Considered to be “undersized” by many, his talent is exemplified in the 24 points he scored his freshman season and the 26 he scored in his sophomore year. He is from Monroe, Connecticut, and is one of four siblings in a family that he likes to call a “family full of hockey.” Peter manages to excel in school and athletics even though he faces something most people do not know about. He has Melnick Fraser Syndrome.
A symptom of the syndrome is loss of hearing, and at birth Gintoli had lost 50% of his hearing in his left and right ears. Since that time, the syndrome has progressively worsened as now he has lost 60% of his hearing in his right ear and 80% in his left. The hereditary disease, which is carried on his mother’s side, was something that he would realize early on in his life. In kindergarten Peter was the only boy running around with a “harness around my chest down to my hips that had a monitor in the center with wires running to my ears.”
Gintoli’s condition never made him think twice about being able to play sports, specifically the game he loves: hockey. Gintoli said “I never thought about that, I just tried to play like the other kids and I never let it stop me, it was something you just have to deal with.”
For Gintoli what most call impairment has lead to something he could never imagine.
Gintoli is a member of Team USA for the Deaf “lympics” as he calls it, traveling to places like Canada, Finland, and, soon, Russia. Under the coaching of decorated Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer, the team plays internationally representing the USA as a member of the AHIHA- American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association. Describing it as a “cool” experience, Gintoli said he values all that he has learned and looks forward to contributing to future players and members of AHIHA.
With the season approaching Gintoli only has two things on his mind: representing Salve and working hard both on and off the ice. The rest is just noise.
