By Lauren McNabb
It came home with a silver, but that’s as good as gold in the eyes of Canada’s National Men’s Sledge Hockey Team.
Although the 2-0 loss to Norway wasn’t what it had hoped for, the team came back from the 1998 Paralympic Games in Nagano, Japan, with more than a silver medal. It came back with recognition.
“It’s never easy to win a silver medal,” says Tom Goodings, coach of the 15-member team. “But we’ve proved something to the rest of the world and to Canada. Next time we’re coming back even stronger.”
The team moved up from its third-place finish at the 1994 Lillehammer games. Now with a silver medal under their belts, Goodings hopes sledge hockey will begin to shine. Despite the 40 to 50 clubs across the country, he says Canadians know very little about the sport.
“North Americans in general need to open their eyes,” says Goodings. “They should see these athletes out there, giving it their best.”
Designed for the disabled, sledge hockey is played with the same rules as regular ice hockey. Instead of skating, players sit on sleds with skate blades under their seats. Two 75-cm sticks are used to shoot the puck as well as to propel and manoeuvre the sledge. Although anyone can play sledge hockey, only players with a disability can participate at the international level.
Todd Nicholson, captain of Team Canada, has played sledge hockey for the past nine years. He got involved in the sport in 1987 after a car accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Although he has played at the international level before, Nagano was the ultimate experience for the 29-year-old amateur.
“We do it for the love of the game,” says Nicholson. “Being able to put Canada’s jersey over my head was a kid’s dream.”
Dreaming of Olympic glory is something many physically disabled athletes have been unable to do in the past. Lack of public knowledge concerning sports for the disabled has made the road to success difficult for games like sledge hockey. Nicholson and Goodings hope the increased media coverage sledge hockey received at the Paralympics will help change the misconception about disabled athletes.
“I try to encourage a lot of people to do the best they can do,” said Nicholson. “I may be disabled, but there is nothing that someone else can do that I can’t.”
Larry Hogan, assistant coach to the national team, has been working to make the sport more accessible to all Canadians. Hogan says people just need to see the game played once to realize how exciting and similar it is to regular ice hockey.
That’s why the organization is currently working on a project to make the connection between the two. Next season, it plans to have local teams give sledge hockey demonstrations during intermissions of Ontario Hockey League games. An exhibition at an Ottawa Senators game prior to the Olympics was a huge success.
“These guys are athletes and can play this sport as best as anyone can,” says Hogan. “Hopefully, with more knowledge about the sport, people will soon see that and recognize the talent and dedication involved.”
With more than 50 members, the Ottawa-Carleton Sledge Hockey and Ice-Picking Club has teams for the junior, intermediate and senior levels, as well as a house league for intermediate and senior players.