Tyler Brown, 5, of Greensburg, spent about 90 minutes Sunday gliding around the ice rink at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center on Neville Island, with the help of a metal support, a chair and some friends, learning to skate and swing a hockey stick.

He had started the adventure with much trepidation, telling his mother Brandy he was "scared" as he was equipped with pads, helmet and bulky insulated hockey gloves.

By the end of the session, Tyler was rosy-cheeked, tired and hungry but was hooked enough on the icy activity to commit to becoming an "Iceberg."

That means Tyler, who has cerebral palsy, will join a group of about 35 special needs athletes who have formed the Steel City Icebergs, an ice hockey team sponsored by the Greater Pittsburgh Special Hockey Association.

The team is open to individuals with autism, Down syndrome, traumatic brain injury, mitochondrial diseases and other cognitive disabilities.

The Icebergs formed about a year ago as a result of the efforts of Stephanie Maust, of Butler, and spent much of their first year practicing.

The team competed for the first time in May, when it traveled to the USA Hockey National Disabled Festival in Laurel, Md. The Icebergs were among 50 teams of disabled hockey players who competed in nine divisions.

On Sunday, the team held its second annual skate-a-thon at the Robert Morris facility, which it considers its home ice. The skate-a-thon was held to raise money for the organization and to allow special needs individuals the chance to try out the sport.

During its first year, about 35 athletes from throughout Western Pennsylvania, ranging in age from 4 to 56, joined the team, Mrs. Maust said. It is coached by Jarron Gass, of Kittanning, who had coached Mrs. Maust's son on a club hockey team.

Mr. Gass said he had helped coach a special hockey team in Maryland in 1999 when he was in college and had been looking for an opportunity to do so here when Mrs. Maust approached him with the idea.

Mrs. Maust decided to form the team after Alex Weber, 15, a friend of her son's, was unable to continue playing ice hockey in community leagues because he has Down syndrome.

Alex's father Jeff said Alex was able to play in community ice hockey leagues in the Butler area for several years with players who were several years younger than he was. Eventually he got too big to play with the younger players, but was unable to compete with players his own age because of the aggressiveness of the game at that level.

So when Mrs. Maust heard about the USA Special Hockey Association, she set to work putting together a local team for Alex and others like him. Players on special hockey teams are not permitted to have physical contact on the ice.

Mrs. Maust said the team's practices are spent with volunteers -- many from local youth hockey leagues -- working with the special athletes at their individual skill levels. "It was amazing to see how quickly the disabled athletes were able to learn to skate," Mrs. Maust said.

When the team competed at the national festival in Maryland, it was able to send onto the ice 15 team members who did not need assistance, Mr. Gass said.

In the coming season, the team plans to travel to Montgomery and Bucks counties for games and to Massachusetts in April for an international tournament.

Mr. Gass said it's also been amazing to watch the special athletes as they bond and become a team. "At the beginning of the season, they didn't talk to each other. But now they talk and work together all of the time. It's been really cool to see that," Mr. Gass said.

The Pittsburgh Special Hockey organization, through donations, has collected enough used hockey equipment to outfit any player who wants to join the team.

"That made a big difference for us because we would not be able to afford this," said Kristin Gallagher of Jefferson Hills, whose son plans to join the Icebergs. Mrs. Gallagher is the office manager for the Autism Center of Pittsburgh in Mt. Lebanon and has three autistic children.

Her son, Shawn, 10, who has Asperger's syndrome, gave Sunday's skating and hockey lesson a sound endorsement: "It was the best time of my life," Shawn said as he unlaced his skates.

Shawn is hoping to play goalie for the Icebergs.

And don't let anyone tell Nicole Mullins, 5, of Baldwin Borough, that hockey is a boys' sport.

The pint-sized skater, who has bent femurs and uses a walker, spent 90 minutes on the ice on Sunday, also with the assistance of a metal glider and volunteers, determined to finish out the session even though her tiny legs were giving out at times.

"You just can't stop her," said Nicole's father, Vollie.

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