Vincent Boily reaches new heights on and off the ice

TORONTO – It was in 2018 that Vincent Boily made his first foray into Para sport.

Boily was at the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s Paralympian Search with 17 other prospects. It was only eight months after a snowmobile accident left him partially paralyzed and doctors had told him he may never walk again. As a former high level junior hockey player, he was a person of interest for all the Para coaches on hand.

With that athletic package in his background, it seemed that Boily, 18 at the time, would be fast tracked through the Paralympic system in his whatever sport he chose. However, he discovered that reaching a high performance level wasn’t going to be easy.

‘’Getting into high performance sport was a project that was going to require a big commitment,’’ said Boily to CPC in late August at the Hockey Canada Media Day. ‘’I wasn’t ready mentally. I was still a bit in denial at that time.”

Still he tested the Para sport waters for the first time in Para rowing before rolling into Para cycling. He was identified as a NextGen athlete, but the pandemic hit and derailed his training in that sport.

‘’That’s about the time I decided to try Para ice hockey. It took a long journey to get to that point, but I feel I took the necessary steps to get there.”

Since the 2022-23 season, Boily has been a member of the national team competing at three world championships helping Canada to silver in 2023 and 2025 and gold in 2024. With his quickness he is a pesky forward who can impact a game both offensively and defensively.

‘’Since I started Para hockey my mindset has been to go to the Paralympics,’’ he said. ‘’I wanted to make a difference in the sport. Now it feels amazing to see it all coming together.’’

Boily’s hockey career had entered a new chapter. He embraced life once again as a high-performance athlete and has fully integrated into the team culture.

‘’When I joined the team, what stood out was how close everybody was,’’ Boily said. ‘’The culture is built around trust and friendship. They welcomed me right away. Now I feel like I’m part of that leadership group.”

That drive has taken him far away from the rink. In fact, all the way up Mount Kilimanjaro. After Canada’s world title in 2024, Boily, with his arm crutches, tackled the highest peak on the African continent.

On July 28, 2024, after a 90 kilometre seven-day climb he stood atop the 5,895 metre colossus. He was accompanied by 10 other tourist climbers. Four of them did not finish.

‘’At that time, I needed to prove to myself that I was bigger than my disability,’’ he said. ‘’There were days on the mountain when I had no energy left, but I learned when you think you’re done, there’s always more. You can always push a little further.

‘’I did it not just for me but for others with spinal cord injuries.”