Weekend wrap: Canada opens Para ice hockey series against South Korea with victory

LUNENBURG, N.S. – Canada opened a four-game series against South Korea in Para ice hockey on Sunday with a resounding 7-0 victory. The series is a tune-up event for the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games this upcoming March in Beijing.

Rob Armstrong and Zach Lavin scored two goals apiece with singles to Branden Sison, Liam Hickey and Tyler McGregor. It was Sison’s first career goal for Team Canada. Greg Westlake had four assists and James Dunn added three helpers.
Dominic Larocque recorded the shutout.

“We liked how many shots (38) we were able to get and the amount of pressure we were putting on South Korea,’’ said Armstrong. ‘’We might need to work on our defensive zone coverage a little bit, and work on tracking opponents, but that’s why we are here playing these four games. I think we are going to continue to improve throughout the week.”

It’s the second series this fall for the Canadian team. They split a two-game set against the reigning Paralympic champion USA last month.

The Lavin, Westlake, McGregor line was an offensive force on Sunday.

“I am really excited,” said Lavin of playing on a line with Westlake. ‘’Any time you can play with a guy with that kind of experience is obviously beneficial, and I hope I can learn a lot from him and just keep building that chemistry with Greg.”

Westlake, headed to a fifth Paralympic Games at age 35, is invigorated by his teammates.

“This season I am just trying to enjoy every game,’’ he said. ‘’Playing with [Zach] Lavin and Tyler [McGregor] was great because they are such good players, and they make it easy create opportunities. It was fun to be out there, I love going on the hunt, I love trying to create opportunities for teammates and helping them score goals and helping the team win.”

The next game is Tuesday at 9 a.m. (ET) and can be livestreamed on HockeyTV without a subscription.

New victors at Para rowing nationals

A Paralympian and up-and-coming NextGen rowers were among the winners in the Para rowing events this past weekend at the 2021 National Rowing Championships. The competition was held at Elk Lake in Victoria and was the first national regatta held since 2019.

Jessye Brockway of Mill Bay, B.C., was named the top Para rower of the competition for her performance in the PR2 women’s singles sculls event. In August, she combined forces with Jeremy Hall in Tokyo to make her Paralympic debut in the PR2 mixed pairs race. 

In the women’s PR1 singles sculls, Ebba Einarsson, who rows for Sweden and studies at the University of British Columbia, took the gold. Edmonton’s Sierra Roth, a certified personal trainer with a Masters in Kinesiology, was second and Ehren Paterson of North Vancouver was third.

In the men’s PR1 single sculls, Mike Sienen of B.C. was the winner finishing ahead of David Sagal of Alberta.

Click here for the complete results. 

Keely Shaw wins at Para cycling track nationals

Paralympic Games bronze medallist Keely Shaw of Midale, Sask., took gold in the C4 individual pursuit and 500m time trial races this past weekend at the Para cycling nationals held in Milton, Ont., at the velodrome built for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. 

In both events, Shaw defeated national team veteran and two-time Paralympian Marie-Claude Molnar. In the C4 pursuit, Shaw posted a Canadian record of three minutes and 53.539 seconds. That bettered her previous mark of 3:54.245 set in Milton in February.

Other winners were Mel Pemble of Victoria, who competed in Para alpine skiing at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, Carla Shibley and her pilot Meghan Brown, both of Calgary, as well as Lowell Taylor of Lethbridge and his pilot Ed Veal of Toronto.

The full results can be found here.