British Columbia’s sledge hockey team may have come up short last weekend (May 11-13) at the 2018 Sledge Hockey Canadian National Championships in Vancouver, but they are fired up to improve for next year.
The team has a couple Quesnel connections, with Paralympian James Gemmell as coach and Trevor Adelman playing on the squad.
They placed fourth in a tournament that included teams from Ontario, Alberta and Quebec.
Unfortunately, the line-up was put together at the last minute, placing them at a disadvantage to other provincial teams who have been playing together since September.
“We were pretty far behind,” says Gemmell.
“We got started about a month and a half before this tournament and only had a couple camps, while other teams have been together since September and have played a bunch of games throughout the season.”
He pointed out that while the event started out quite weakly for their squad, they did improve as the weekend progressed.
“We’re looking at it in a positive light,” he says.
“When I first came in, most of the players didn’t know what systems were, so we had to start teaching right from the start.
“I think our improvement overall was unreal. Everybody bonded and started doing what I wanted them to.
“In the next year or two, we’ll have a pretty good chance; it’s just a matter of continuing to develop.”
Trevor Adelman was unhappy that teams from Nova Scotia and Manitoba were unable to make it to the event.
“We would have done a lot better if they had been there,” he says, only half joking.
“Last year we beat both of those teams, as well as Ontario.”
While the results were not what they had hoped for, Adelman is optimistic about the team’s future.
“We’re going to start fresh in September, and we already have training programs in place for this summer, so we can be better next year.”