Growing up in Poplar Bluff, Billy Hampton never had the chance to go ice skating, much less learn how to play hockey.
Hampton, 45, now lives in Crystal City with his wife Kendra and their two sons. Crystal City, despite its nickname, “Glasstown,” has no ice except what winter storms leave on streets and driveways.
But Hampton did learn to skate and he was wearing No. 86 for the St. Louis Blues Warriors in the Gateway Warrior Classic tournament Feb. 14-16 at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights.
“I still look like Bambi on ice,” Hampton said before playing for the Blues Warriors Gold team. “I still fall down, but I understand the game more.”
The Blues Warriors are the area chapter of the USA Warriors Ice Hockey Program Inc., a national nonprofit group that organizes ice hockey competition “for those wounded in the defense of the United States,” as stated on its website. It “provides a recreational, therapeutic experience and education” for military veterans with a disability rating. The Blues Warriors include five teams and around 150 players, several of whom live in Jefferson County.
On Valentines Day, the Blues Gold team faced off with the Tulsa Warriors. Hampton’s team scored with 18 seconds left in the game, but the Oklahomans held on for a 5-4 victory. Later that day, the Blues lost to the Alaska Warriors 3-0. The weekend was highlighted by a group of Blues Warrior all-stars playing a team of alumni from the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League.
I interviewed three veterans at the tournament: Hampton; Anthony Courtway, 43, who lives in the Jefferson R-7 school district with his wife Stephanie and their four children, and Eli Gosney, 39, a Windsor graduate who lives in Imperial. All three served in the Army, and Courtway had a stint in the Marines before that.
They each said playing for the Blues Warriors helps them manage their physical and mental health challenges sustained while on active duty. They have developed a love for the sport and the continued connection with fellow vets, who each have a different story to tell.
Hampton is on full medical retirement from the Army. In 2009 in Afghanistan, while serving in the 87th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, Hampton was seriously wounded when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device and he suffered numerous broken bones and a concussion.
“I can’t run anymore,” Hampton said. “I don’t have any mobility in my left ankle.” But he doesn’t let it bother him as he plays winger. He said the prospect of not being able to play sports with his sons motivated him to try hockey. He bought some “cheap” skates and learned to skate in Kirkwood.
Hampton said he practices with the team once a week. The Blues provide the equipment and uniforms for the players.
“I go as hard as I can (in practices and games) because I don’t want to waste anybody’s time,” he said. “It gets me out of my chair and I get to be with folks who understand what it’s like to be in the military.”
Billy met Kendra in Cape Girardeau when she was a student at Southeast Missouri State University. He had family in Crystal City, so after they got married, they settled there.
“(Crystal) has a small-town feel and the city (St. Louis) is just north of here,” he said. “(Kendra) loves the Blues and she’s the reason I got into hockey.”
Before Courtway joined the Blues Warriors, it had been 20 years since he played for Fox High in the Mid States Club Hockey Association. The Blues Warriors have become so popular with veterans that Courtway was on their waiting list for two years. He joined the active roster last summer.
Courtway was honorably discharged from the Marines in 2001 but re-entered military service with the Army in 2006, saying civilian life was too chaotic. He was in a transportation unit and deployed to Kuwait in 2008. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he was medically retired in 2009.
Playing for the Blues Warriors helps Courtway stay connected with fellow veterans. He works at the Crystal Oaks nursing home in Festus as a medical technician and plays center and wing on the Blues Warriors.
“We lift each other up,” he said. “I’m not as reserved when I’m around them,” he said.
Living with PTSD can be a daily struggle.
“It’ll hit me and all I want to do is be alone,” Courtway said. “When you have a job and kids, that’s hard to deal with – depression and anxiety. You worry about everything (and) nothing at the same time. That’s subsided since I started playing hockey.”
Gosney was an Army Ranger. I served in Army Airborne/Infantry but never went to Ranger school – something I’ve always regretted. Wearing the black and gold Ranger tab signifies completing one of the most physically intensive combat training programs in the country. It garners instant respect.
Gosney was deployed to the Middle East in the mid-2000s. His late brother, David, a Windsor graduate who died in 2022, served two tours in Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne. When he left the Army, David worked for the State Department at the American consulate in Iraq and the U.S. embassy in Israel, and also was a sniper instructor in Saudi Arabia.
After his discharge from the Army, Gosney struggled with bouts of PTSD, alcoholism and substance abuse. He said a residential treatment program in Marion, Ill. saved his life.
Not wanting to relive his experiences in the Army through writing or talking about them, Gosney started drawing. He entered a contest through the Veterans Administration creative arts program and said he took second place at a national show.
“After David died, I turned tragedy into talent through my art,” he said. “I do it in my brother’s name.”
His art recently was on display at the Gateway Warrior Classic as well as the Schlafly Beer Art Inside Festival and was featured on local television by Fox 2 News. Sales of his artwork help fund programs to prevent veteran suicide.
Thanks to his art and association with the Blues Warriors, Gosney has been sober for 10 years.
“This (Blues) is a program I never knew I needed,” he said. “People are always saying, ‘Eli, you’re too much.’ I know what it’s like to lose a brother (and) friends. My life hit bedrock and I climbed out of it.”