Not an ordinary post-Paralympic Games season for Canada’s Para nordic skiers

CANMORE, Alta. – Mark Arendz admits that with a world championship on home soil on the horizon he is more focused than usual for a post-Paralympic Games season.

‘’The first year of a Paralympic cycle is at times tough, but having a clear focus, like a world championships at home has made this year a lot easier,’’ said the 28-year-old from Hartsville, PEI. He won a Canadian team record six medals in Para nordic skiing at the Winter Games this past March in PyeongChang.

Canada defeats South Korea at Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup

LONDON, Ont. – Goals from Rob Armstrong, Zach Lavin, James Dunn and Dominic Cozzolino powered Canada to a 4-0 shutout win over South Korea on Wednesday at the Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup.

Canada has now shut out the Koreans in both of their encounters in the tournament’s preliminary round. On Sunday, Canada opened with a 7-0 win over the Koreans, followed by a 3-0 loss to the U.S. on Monday.

Dunn chipped in two assists to go along with his goal, while eight players hit the scoresheet for Canada.

Canadians split first two games at Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup

 

LONDON, Ont. – Team Canada may be bent but they are not broken after a 3-0 loss Monday night to arch-rival USA at the Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup taking place this week at the Western Fair Sports Centre.

The Canadian Para ice hockey team opened the tournament Sunday with a resounding 7-0 win over South Korea. Tyler McGregor from nearby Forest, Ont., notched the hat trick, James Dunn added a goal and three assists while Corbyn Smith, Micah Kovacevich and Cody Dolan also scored once.

Youth movement ignites veterans for 2018-19 Para ice hockey season

CALGARY – When Team Canada gets back into action on Sunday December 2 at the Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup in London, Ont., there’ll be several new faces but also some familiar ones such as forward Billy Bridges and Tyler McGregor.

With those established veterans setting the tone, don’t expect Canada to take its foot off the gas pedal in a post-Paralympic Games season. The plan is pretty much to rebuild and win at the same time, even with nine new players in the line-up from the squad that was iced in PyeongChang.

Coach Spotlight: Staying at the forefront key to success for Jean-Sébastien Labrie

CALGARY – In Vancouver, his troops collected 13 of Canada’s 19 medals. Four years later in Sochi, it was an eight medal haul out of 16. The parade to the podium continued in PyeongChang this past March with 10 more medals.

We are talking about Canada’s amazing Para alpine ski team. The architect for all this success is Jean-Sébastien Labrie, who has masterminded the Para alpine program for Alpine Canada since he took the head coaching helm in 2008.

Paralympic hopefuls post strong results at wheelchair tennis nationals

CALGARY – Rob Shaw and Thomas Venos, strong contenders to represent Canada next summer at the Lima 2019 Parapan Am Games, capped a successful weekend at the Birmingham National Wheelchair Tennis Championships on Sunday. 

Taking place at the OSTEN & VICTOR Alberta Tennis Centre in Calgary, the tournament brought together the nation’s best wheelchair tennis players. 

Paralympian Search in Calgary shows athletes what they can do

One effect of Paralympian Search is turning around an ‘I can’t’ into ‘I can’. 

After his injury, para athlete Shawn Lucas says his life was full of those negativities but sport is one of things that can that can help someone realize their many abilities, and ultimately opened so many doors for him. He wears a ‘Nothing is impossible’ tattoo on his bicep as a reminder. 

Inaugural ParaTough Cup Vancouver a success

ParaTough Cup made a successful debut in Vancouver last Friday, raising a total of $55,000 for the development of parasport in Canada. 

Emceed by Paralympic sit ski legend Josh Dueck and local CTV personality Sonia Beeksma at the Richmond Oval, participants got a taste of how tough parasport can be, rotating through six Paralympic sport-inspired challenges: sitting volleyball, wheelchair curling, a guided run, wheelchair sprint, wheelchair basketball, and Para ice hockey target shooting.

Four athletes elected to CPC Athletes’ Council

Three new members and a returning athlete have been elected to the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s Athletes’ Council following voting this past week. 

Rob Armstrong (Ice Hockey), Jennifer Brown (Athletics), and Alison Levine (Boccia) were elected as new members of the council, while incumbent Tony Walby (Judo) was also selected for another term. 

They will join current members Erica Gavel (Basketball), Kirk Schornstein (Alpine Skiing), and Ross Wilson (Cycling) to form the seven-member Athletes’ Council. 

‘’Prove them wrong’’ – Schornstein sends message to participants at upcoming Paralympian Search

 

CALGARY – Para alpine skier Kirk Schornstein competed at three Paralympic Games in his successful high performance sport career. 

If he had listened to his detractors, that stretch of being on a Canadian national team, travelling to some of the greatest mountains in the world, and participating at not one, not two but three of the globe’s great sport celebration events would have never happened.