A trailer holding equipment for wheelchair hockey players was stolen this week from its outdoor storage location in Shakopee.

The theft occurred late Wednesday or early Thursday from outside a business on Eagle Creek Boulevard, according to the Minnesota PowerHockey League, the trailer's owner.

The equipment in varying degrees of condition was found about 25 miles to the north on a road near Wayzata High School, said league official Craig McClellan. Some of it was fine, but various items had been run over by vehicles and damaged.

The trailer was holding padded boards, hockey sticks, hockey nets, jerseys, speaker equipment, a scoreboard and other items McClellan said.

He said that the equipment inside was worth several thousand dollars, and he valued the trailer at $3,000.

A lock that had been cut off was left behind where the trailer was chained to a fence at Carburetion and Turbo Systems, said Steve Onsum, a league board member who played when it started in 1996. The business, owned by the parents of one of the league's players, was allowing the trailer to be stored there in the off-season, Onsum said.

The league, whose players use electric-powered wheelchairs and compete in a gym using a whiffle ball, starts its season on April 28 at the Crystal Community Center.

The fully enclosed trailer is white, has one axle, and has blue PowerHockey logos on its sides. Anyone with information about its whereabouts or the theft itself is asked to call Shakopee police at 952-233-9400, or contact the league at (763) 535-4736 or craigm@powerhockey.com.

"We'll have to find a way to make do," Onsum said. While sticks and other standard hockey equipment is easy to replace, the boards are custom-made, presenting a challenge to get new ones in time for the season's start, Onsum added.

The league had another trailer stolen from a different metro location about three years ago. That trailer and its contents were never recovered, Onsum said.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482