Dario Balca, Centretown News
Ottawa Power Wheelchair Hockey League players prepare for the spring playoff tournament. The players of the Ottawa Power Wheelchair Hockey League are gearing up for their playoff season.
In addition to their own playoff games, they are fundraising for their trip to the competitive Canadian national tournament this summer, for which the roster was selected at the end of February.
The league’s president, Donna Haycock, says the coming few months will have twin goals: awareness and fundraising.
“There’s not a lot of sports out there for people with limited mobility,” Haycock says, adding they wanted to show Ottawa more about the sport.
To that end, the league is hosting a celebrity game on March 28 at the Algonquin College gymnasium.
The players will include local media personalities, players from the Ottawa Redblacks, and, for the first time, Steven Fletcher, MP for the Manitoba riding of Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia and Headingley and the first quadriplegic to serve in the House of Commons.
Power hockey was designed as a sport people with limited mobility can play.
Unlike sledge hockey, which requires a lot of upper body strength, people in power chairs can play this version because it focuses more on the maneuverability of the chair.
The players range from those who have almost total mobility to those who have none. Players with limited mobility tape their sticks to their wheelchairs.
The league has become a popular weekly institution among Ottawa’s disability community. Founded in 2009 with just a few players, the league now boats 40 players and four teams and hopes to continue to grow in the coming years.
“What we’re doing is breaking down barriers to participation,” says Haycock.
Kevin Schleyer will coach the tournament team.
“The first time I watched power hockey, I was in awe of the skill level of the players,” Schleyer says.
This will be Schleyer’s first time as head coach of a tournament team, and he has high hopes.
“Obviously our goal is to win the tournament, but we also want to represent Ottawa as best we can,” Schleyer says.
He says picking a tournament roster has to take into account a combination of skill level, and strategy.
“Everybody gets involved and brings different skill sets to the table,” Schleyer says.
Although the weekly games are mostly for fun, “the intensity ramps up for the tournament” and he wants his roster to reflect that through picking the most passionate players who work best as a team.
Blaine Cameron, one of the players selected to go to the tournament, says he is looking forward to working with Schleyer.
“He really knows how to develop players,” Cameron says.
For Cameron, going to play power hockey every Sunday is the highlight of his week.
“What I love about hockey is the chance to play an organized sport on a team,” says Cameron. “I had never had an opportunity like that before.”
He says the tournament play is a step above the regular season play.
“League play can be intense but tournament play always is,” says Cameron.
He encourages anyone who wants to come give the league a try.
“The camaraderie from being on a team has really made a big difference in my life,” says Cameron. “There’s nothing like the feeling I get when playing.”