Le développement de jeunes joueurs accroît la profondeur du Canada en parahockey sur glace

Russ Herrington, the head coach of Canada’s Para ice hockey team, says he’s icing a group with more depth and confidence for the upcoming world championships which get underway Saturday in Buffalo, NY.

For the first time in seven years, Canada enters the worlds as the defending champions after its victory last May in Calgary. In that final, the Canadians defeated their archrival USA 2-1 in the final.

Last week, Hockey Canada announced its roster for the worlds and 16 of the 17 players who were in Calgary are back. Of those 17, seven were not on the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games team.

‘’Our younger players have taken a really big step forward this season,” Herrington told CPC at a preparatory camp this past weekend in Toronto. ‘’This has made us a deeper team in terms that the gap has shrunk between our best players and least experienced players.”

Herrington is likely referring to players such as Vincent Boily of Alma, Que., Micah Kovacevich of Edmonton, Mathieu Lelièvre of Lévis, Que., Shawn Burnett of McMasterville, Que., and 17-year-old Gavin Baggs of Paradise, N.L., who have all emerged on the team since Beijing 2022.

Corbin Watson of Kingsville Ont., a two-time Paralympian (2014, 2018) returned to the national team for the 2023-24 season to give Canada great goaltending depth with Adam Kingsmill of Smithers, B.C.

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With the world championships close to the border, there is no doubt there’ll be a strong Canadian contingent in Buffalo, but Herrington says it’s going to be a different situation compared to being at home in both 2024 and 2023 (Moose Jaw, Sask.).

‘’It’s close enough to the border and the vast majority of our roster being Ontario or Quebec residents, we will still have a pretty good representation of Canadian fans. But we will still be in the minority there.

‘’We are going to have to find a different way to navigate that environment. Certainly given how hungry the Americans are to reclaim the title it’s going to be hostile. It’s something that I hope that we figure out how to use the energy of the crowd in the right direction for us in key moments.”

Veteran defenceman Rob Armstrong of Ottawa says most of the team is venturing on new territory both literally and figuratively with only six players that were part of the last world champion team in 2017.

‘’This is very different because we haven’t been defending champs in seven years,’’ said Armstrong, 28, a law and history graduate at Carleton University now working for Heritage Canada. ‘’There might be an added pressure trying to defend the title, but for us, we’re just going to go out and play our game, play hard play like it’s playoff hockey in the NHL.”

With great team leaders like Armstrong, as well as Tyler McGregor, Dominic Cozzolino, Adam Dixon and Liam Hickey, all three on the 2017 world champion squad, Herington presents a well-rounded group.

‘’Those guys, they lead by example,” said Herrington, about the team veterans. “The number one thing was showing the less experienced players what it means to be a high performance athlete. And then the second part of it now is those guys have been through so many different situations that they’re able to manage their emotions and stick to the game plan when it gets most chaotic and the pressure rises the most.

‘’That ability to keep the rest of the players calm and focused and on task has really paid off for us through this quadrennial.’’

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Canada opens the preliminary round Saturday against Germany at 5 p.m. (ET), followed by South Korea on Sunday at 5 p.m. and China on Tuesday May 27 at 10 a.m.

Group B features Czechia, Norway, Slovakia and the United States.

Czechia and China, third and fourth and vastly improved at the last two worlds, are expected to battle for bronze once again.

The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals on Friday May 30 with the medal matches on Saturday May 31 at 1:30 p.m. for the bronze and 5:30 p.m. for gold. The top-five teams qualify for the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

All 20 tournament games will be available for free via livestream at USAHockeyTV.com.

All games are at the LECOM Harborcenter.

For more information: https://hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/men/para-hockey/2024-25/world-championship/stats/team-rosters?teamid=249

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