QUEBEC -- Josh Pobursky may be only 14, but with no feet and only one normal hand, he is a hockey player like no other.

Determination, courage and wholesome fun are often associated with hockey.

With Josh Pobursky, the values take on a special meaning, especially after the game's image was tainted this week when the Vancouver Canucks' Todd Bertuzzi deliberately slammed an opponent's face into the ice.

"I love the game. I love how it is fast, how it is physical, how it has speed," the young player said in an interview yesterday. "When Todd Bertuzzi almost broke [Colorado Avalanche] Steve Moore's neck, that's not what it's about."

Playing as a left-winger with the Allen Park Bantam AA hockey team near Detroit, Michigan, Josh's dream was to meet his hockey idol, former Colorado Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy. The U.S. television program Hang On to the Dream heard about it and recruited Josh to be on the show. The teenager was on his way to becoming a hockey inspiration.

Mr. Roy is part owner of the Quebec Major Junior League hockey team Quebec Remparts and he welcomed the Pobursky family with open arms. Not only was Josh invited to spend part of this weekend with his hockey hero, he also got the opportunity to dress and skate with the team during practice yesterday morning,

"This is a great. Josh is an inspiration," Mr. Roy said after the practice yesterday. "It tells anyone with a handicap, in fact it tells everyone, to never stop trying, to never stop pursuing your dream."

The dream of playing hockey, let alone practising on the same ice as his hockey legend, is everything Josh has ever wanted to do.

"I was born to play hockey," he told his grandfather at the age of 5. His mother said he never stopped pursing that ambition. "This is what hockey is all about," Kim Pobursky, 38, said as she watched with pride as her son took practice with the Remparts. "The game of hockey needs more of this."

It was a devastating blow to the family when they learned at birth that their son's feet were defective. They were amputated when Josh was 13 months old. Surgery was also required to separate two fingers on his right hand that were webbed together.

But it didn't take long for his father Mark, 38, to realize that he had an exceptional son. Doctors said he would likely be confined to a wheelchair and have limited mobility. But only a few months after the operation, Josh was walking with prosthetic feet. He did it on his own without rehabilitation. A few years later he learned to rollerblade. And by the age of 7 he was skating, determined to become a hockey player. Today, the 15-pound prostheses are part of his equipment and he has learned to adapt and master the game. "I'm just lucky I can walk. I'm not in a wheelchair," he said.

"If there is a lesson in this for any kid it is to just go out there and have fun," Mr. Pobursky said. "Do what you want to do. Don't think you can't do it. Go out and be a kid and enjoy yourself. Because you only got one shot at it."

As Josh took passes and drove to the net with the puck, he showed the intensity and passion that characterizes hockey. That too, Mr. Roy said, is a natural part of the game. That too, he noted, was part of the Bertuzzi incident. "But there is a downside to always asking guys to be on the edge. There will be frustrations. And coaches are as responsible as the players," he said.

But the controversy didn't seem to matter right now for Josh, still overwhelmed by meeting his idol. The handicap just seemed to disappear with every move, with every shot on the net.

"It's unbelievable what this kid can do on the ice," said Remparts goalie Jean-Michel Filiatrault. "He is more tough mentally that anyone his age and that will help him in the future."

For Josh, the Bertuzzi incident has not weakened his belief that the game will always remain fun, the only sport he ever really wanted to play.

" There is still a lot of great in the game. Look at these kids that are playing right now," Mr. Poburski said as he watched his son skate. "It's still for fun."