YORKTON - Saskatchewan hockey fans should be gearing up to enjoy a major event as the 2023 World Para Ice Hockey Championship is scheduled for Moose Jaw May 28-June 3.
This is the first time that the championship will be played in Canada.
“It’s historic really,” said national team member Tyler McGregor who readers may recall was in Saskatchewan Feb. 9 at Echo Valley Provincial Park as part of the Cross-Canada Sledge Skate of Hope. The event was part of a Canada wide effort inspired by and as a tribute to one of Canada's most enduring national heroes, Terry Fox. The Skate of Hope had McGregor having set a personal goal of skating his sled 42 kilometres (a marathon) in each of Canada's provinces raising money for the Terry Fox Foundation in 2023.
The Skate for Hope project now complete, McGregor is looking ahead to playing for a World Championship on home ice.
“In the sports entire existence in Canada we’ve never hosted a World Championship,” he told Yorkton This Week in a recent interview.
While the Paralympics might trump the championship in prestige, McGregor said the upcoming event is certainly “the next best thing.
“It’s really exciting to have a tournament of that magnitude hosted in Canada.”
McGregor said the sport of para hockey is going to be the big winner through the exposure of the event which he said will not just be in Moose Jaw, but across Saskatchewan and Canada.
“For the sport moving forward this is huge,” he said.
The championships are big for the Canadian team.
“It seems like it’s been so long since we played in front of fans,” he said, adding in this case family and friends can attend more easily so that is huge for the team.
In McGregor’s decade with Team Canada he said big events have largely been played in Europe or Asia.
“People had to get up at crazy hours to see us play,” he said.
Rising in the middle of the night might be OK for family and friends, but it is harder to get the eyes of casual fans on the game.
“Many people are aware of our sport, but never watched a game,” said McGregor.
Playing on Canadian ice “will just increase exposure for our sport,” offered McGregor, adding “once people see the sport on TV, or especially in-person, they’re instantly intrigued and hooked by the sport and want to come back and see more.”
What fans will see in Moose Jaw is eight of the top national para hockey teams in the world.
While that has still traditionally meant Canada and the U.S. battling for gold and silver, there are a couple of dark horses McGregor said fans should watch for.
China, after taking bronze when hosting the most recent Paralympics has sort of gone off the radar.
“I’m really curious to see how China’s developed,” said McGregor.
Then there is the Czech Republic.
“They’ve done such an excellent job of developing the sport in their country,” said McGregor. “. . . They just try to get as many people as they can onto a sled to introduce them to the sport.”
That effort is paying off as the country strives to join the world’s top tier teams.
So with more countries looking to compete for medals, does that put pressure on Canada on home ice?
McGregor said in any version of hockey Canada is expected to win, but this time the team; management, coaches and players are taking a different tact.
“We’ve been doing a really good job this season of just focusing on us, or putting ourselves in a position to go win a gold medal,” he said.
In the past the gold was all too important at times, suggested McGregor adding they hope the more relaxed approach will be the difference maker.
“We’re just showing up every day being the best version of ourselves and as a team,” he said, adding the approach is all about relieving some of the pressure typically on Canadian hockey teams on an international stage.
Then there is the legacy of the event in Moose Jaw which McGregor said is exciting too.
The arena in Moose Jaw is being made accessible for para hockey players, which McGregor said can be the impetus for all sort of possibilities for the sport.
“Whether it’s a local team, or a place for provincial athletes, or other national events, they’ll have a facility that’s accessible to us. That’s so exciting,”
Tickets for the 2023 World Para Ice Hockey Championship went on sale to the public on March 29 at HockeyCanada.ca
