Quispamsis, sled hockey players keen for international tourney

Town officials and sled hockey players are excited about the next big event slated for the Qplex in Quispamsis. 

Hockey Canada announced this week that the town will host the 2023 Para Hockey Cup in December.

"This is the next step in that odyssey … of providing high-end hockey for the people of Quispamsis and the Greater Saint John region," said Aaron Kennedy, the town's acting chief administrative officer. 

The town previously hosted three national and international hockey events — the 2016 men's U18 National Club Championship, the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (co-hosted by Saint John) and an exhibition game between the United States and Finland prior to the IIHF World Junior Championship in Moncton a few months ago.

The other three countries that will play in the tournament Dec. 3 to Dec. 9 haven't been officially announced, but invitations typically go out in May and participants are finalized in June, said Spencer Sharkey, a communications manager with Hockey Canada.

"Recent participants have included the United States, which has won seven-straight gold medals at the event, as well as Czechia, Italy and Korea," he said.

There will be 10 games in total, said Kennedy, culminating with the bronze and gold medal games on Saturday, Dec. 9.

The U.S. and Canada are the top two teams in para hockey, said Kennedy. They met in the gold medal match at the Beijing Paralympics last year. 

Many of the same players can be expected to compete in Quispamsis, he said.

"You know the rivalry between Canada and the United States in any type of hockey, whether it's men's or the world juniors or the women's game, in para as well is extremely strong. 

"The two nations don't like each other and especially at the para level, they are by far the top two teams. So one would anticipate to see those two teams in the championship game."

New Brunswickers will likely have at least one local to cheer for. Jacob LeBlanc of Moncton is on the Canadian team, noted Eric Payne, himself a sled hockey player and developer of the sport.

The calibre of hockey will be "incredible," Payne said.

"I play sports with people who've had near death experiences. This isn't played by gingerly timid people, it's life — full on.

"People kind of lower their expectations because that 'para' is involved, but these guys are the real deal. They move that puck around incredibly. So, there's contact. There's been known to be the odd scuffle, we'll call it — a difference of ideas on the ice? It's full-on hockey." 

Payne compared it to watching major junior or NHL games. He hopes the tournament inspires more players to take up the sport.

His personal introduction to para hockey came in 2007 through the Soldier On program. 

Payne was a member of the Canadian Forces when he was in a motor vehicle crash and had his leg amputated above the knee. The program provided opportunities to relearn how to play a number of sports.

Getting back into hockey after his accident opened his eyes to a lot of possibilities, he said.

"There was a lot of 'can't' at that point of my life because you're trying to sort out, what do I do now? Who am I? What do I have the ability to do? What don't I have the ability to do?"

When he got back on the ice he thought, "If I can do this … what else can I do?"

After 23 years in the Forces, he had no intention of leaving. But para hockey "blossomed into a very fruitful retirement."

There's a joke about ex-military guys returning home to drive a Zamboni, said Payne.

"This is a little better."

He was instrumental in building a para hockey program in P.E.I., organized two previous para hockey cups there and now runs a team in the Saint John area called the Fundy Sled Dogs. (In the interim he also went back to college to study journalism.)

The sport of sled hockey, also known as sledge hockey, is flourishing in the Maritimes, he said, with senior teams now in Cape Breton, Bridgewater and Halifax, junior programs at Acadia and in Moncton, and good prospects for new senior teams in Moncton, Dieppe and Fredericton — besides P.E.I..

He hopes a Saint John team will also be able to join the league.

"I do believe this Four Nations Cup will pique an awful lot of interest," said Payne.

Kennedy anticipates the Canada-U.S. game will be sold out. He hopes the medal games will be as well. 

He estimated the economic spinoffs of the tournament for the region at "upwards of $1 million."

He's confident the "robust volunteer base," will come through as it has in the past with trademark "Maritime hospitality."