It was a double dose of hockey glory at the 2010 Winter Olympics for Canada. Our women’s team captured a gold medal that was never in doubt, while the men took home a prize of equal value with a memorable overtime triumph. Now, Canada just needs one more hockey gold to complete the ultimate Vancity hat trick – sledge hockey gold, that is.
So long as a little snow and ice remains in the tropical paradise of Vancouver, the 2010 Paralympic Games will run from March 12-21. This 10-day spectacle features elite athletes with physical disabilities or visual impairments competing in alpine and cross-country skiing, biathlon, wheelchair curling and, the granddaddy of them all, sledge hockey.
If you haven’t witnessed sledge hockey, you’re missing a fast-paced, take-no-prisoners frenzy of a sport. The rules are almost identical to those of able-bodied hockey, with a few minor variations. Sledge players sit on sleds affixed to skate blades. They use two sticks, with hockey blades at one end and jagged metal picks at the other, to shoot the puck and propel the sled (and, when provoked, to swat opponents).
Thanks to unprecedented coverage from Canada’s (everlasting) Olympic Broadcast Consortium, you can follow the Canadian sledge hockey team’s entire golden quest. In total, 50 hours of Paralympic competition will be available via English and French television channels CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, RDS and RIS Info Sports. The coverage includes daily highlight shows and all of the Canadian sledge hockey games in their entirety (see the full schedule below).
Fifty hours might seem insignificant when compared to the 2250 Olympic hours televised in Canada. But, the Paralympics has always been a more humble affair than its Olympic cousin. With 34 nations competing in five events, as opposed to 82 nations in 15 Olympic events, it’s not realistic to expect equal billing.
Nevertheless, the CTV group has certainly taken a step in the right direction to grow the event. Their coverage far outweighs the eight hours of TV CBC devoted to the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.
CTV’s 2010 Olympic broadcasts also featured various vignettes celebrating the Paralympic athletes and Paralympic movement. They even had ex-Maple Leaf captain Wendel Clark battle the sledge hockey team in his farmyard rink.
That memorable meeting with a true hockey legend (at least in Leaf fans’ eyes) wasn’t the first for the sledge hockey team, though. Last summer, the squad met up with the Canadian men’s and women’s Olympic hockey teams at a joint training camp in Calgary. There, the three teams made a deal to capture three golds for Canada – just one remains uncollected.
Be sure to watch the sledge boys bring it home.
Canada’s Sledge Hockey Schedule
Canada vs. Italy (Mar. 13, 4 p.m. ET, CTV)
Canada vs. Sweden (Mar. 14, 4:30 p.m. ET, Rogers Sportsnet)
Canada vs. Norway (Mar. 16, 11:30 p.m. ET, TSN)
Semifinals (Mar. 18, 3 p.m. ET, Rogers Sportsnet)
Gold Medal Game (Mar. 20, 3 p.m. ET, CTV)
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