Para ice hockey stars find new lease on life in coaching

Greg Westlake competed at five Paralympic Winter Games for Canada, becoming one of the biggest stars in his sport.

He retired from his playing days after the Beijing 2022 Games – but he couldn’t stay away from the arena for long. He is now contributing to the national Para ice hockey squad as an assistant for head coach Russ Herrington.

Westlake, the second all-time leading scorer in Team Canada history (175-194—369 in 240 games) and 2006 Paralympic gold medallist, is currently in his second season as an assistant coach.

He capped his rookie coaching season last May with gold at the world championships, Canada’s first in seven years.

“You can tell it’s my favourite thing when I start talking hockey, when I talk Paralympic sport. It’s near and dear to my heart,” said Westlake, from Oakville, Ont. and also involved in broadcasting and TV production as co-owner of Evergreen Productions.

“So for me, the challenges are just the basic things that we all go through. I miss my son, I miss my wife, it’s hard being on the road for 20 Sunday trips and stuff like that.

“That’s difficult.”

Several of the players on Team Canada such as stars Tyler McGregor and Liam Hickey are Westlake’s former teammates, which some may consider either a hindrance or an advantage.

“It’s a bit of both honestly,” he said. “I have to keep reminding myself not to be too close and all that because you have to make tough decisions.

“But overall I like to come at it from a place of positivity.”

McGregor, the captain of the Canadian team, said the hirings of Westlake and Steve Arsenault, a two-time Paralympian, have hugely benefitted the players and head coach Herrington.

‘’They were my mentors,” said McGregor. ‘’When I was just a young immature kid, I looked up to them, and I would literally just watch how they operate.’’

It’s the intricacies and tendencies of the sport in particular that both former players can finely detail.

‘’They bring such a good perspective,” said McGregor. ‘’There’s just little skill sets that they can pick up and they’ve been incredible with our young players in helping them grow and develop.”

One of those rising young stars is Vincent Boily. After his accident, the former major junior hockey prospect’s road to the national team was much harder than expected. But the coaching staff recognized his talents and were patient with him.

‘’They’ve brought a fresh perspective to the game because they know it so well and they were players just like us not that long ago,” said Boily.

While Westlake is behind the bench during the games, Arsenault is the video coach. He is up in the booth during games producing video which provides valuable information to the on-ice coaches between periods, after games, and in training sessions.

‘’Coming into the video department, looking at analytics, and seeing the game from a completely different angle gives me a whole new respect to what the staff do,” said Arsenault, from Spruce Grove, Alta. and hired as an assistant coach in 2020.

“It also makes me a better coach.’’
As one of the backbones of the Canadian blueline, Arsenault posted 21 points as a player with Team Canada, won a pair of world championship gold medals with Westlake (2013, 2015), and earned Paralympic bronze in 2014 and silver in 2018.

“Every aspect of the game is analyzed,” said Arsenault, about his video work. “Everything from breakouts, to forechecks, you name it. It can get even more technical like the analytics piece for efficiency ratings and of course we have a breakdown of our opponents to see where we can gain any advantage.”

Westlake and Arsenault are part of a trend as national team Para athletes continue to join the coaching ranks in Canada.

Just two weeks ago, Trevor Hirschfield was named head coach of the wheelchair rugby team and Tara Llanes is now a coach with the women’s wheelchair basketball NextGen squad.

“I know the learning curve it takes to go from a development player to reaching that next level so hopefully I can provide some insight on that and be a bit of a bridge between the coaches and our players,” said Westlake.

“If I can succeed in that, then hopefully that’s a good thing for us.”