CALGARY — Canada's para hockey team gets another swing at winning a world championship on home ice.
Canada hosted the world para hockey championship for the first time in 2023 in Moose Jaw, Sask., where the home team took the silver medal behind the United States.
The 2024 edition at Calgary's WinSport Arena, where the Canadians open against Japan on Saturday, provides more familiar territory.
"There's just so much gratitude to have the opportunity to play on home ice at a world championship back-to-back years," said forward Tyler McGregor of Forest, Ont.
"Last year was the first one we ever had the opportunity to host and we're pretty fortunate to have the chance to do that back to back, especially to come back to Calgary where we spend a lot of our time training and preparing as a team. When I started 12 years ago, we'd come out here multiple times a year, so it feels like home base."
Another Canada-U.S. hockey rivalry is cooking on the para front as the two countries have clashed in six straight world finals.
The U.S. has won three straight and also beat Canada for Paralympic gold in both 2018 and 2022. Canada last won a world championship in 2017 in Gangneung, South Korea.
"That rivalry goes back years and years," McGregor said. "There's so much competitive emotion that comes with that, but so much respect as well.
"We've exchanged a lot of gold medals over the years. We've been on the right side of it many times and also been on the wrong side of it many times. That history fuels the rivalry more and more."
The eight-country tournament concludes May 12 with the medal games.
Canada's pool includes Japan, Italy and 2023 bronze medallist Czechia with the defending champions, China, Slovakia and South Korea in the other.
After Saturday's opener versus Japan, Canada faces Italy on Sunday. The top two countries in each pool advance to semifinals.
"Canada-U. S. in any brand of hockey is a top-end rivalry," said Canadian head coach Russ Herrington of Unionville, Ont.
"Both ourselves and the Americans are cognizant of the other teams that are here. China and Czech Republic in particular because that's who performed in the bronze-medal game last year and are certainly nobody to take lightly.
"We haven't played Japan in a long time. We get the Italians who are the next Paralympic hosts. We've got a really good schedule that will test us. Ultimately, we'd like to see the Americans just the once in the final game of the tournament."
Only athletes with an eligible impairment are allowed compete in international para hockey.
The sport features the hard checks and high elbows of the standing version, with skaters sometimes knocked off their sleds.
"That's the part of the sport that I love and I think that's why guys play it," said forward Liam Hickey of St. John's, N.L.
"It's not the only reason, but it definitely adds something to the game. That's another exciting opportunity, for people to get to come see the sport and really see how physical it is."
What's been a biannual hockey championship the last decade is now an annual event.
The 18 countries that play para hockey wanted a yearly world tournament, which gave the World Para Ice Hockey Association the buy-in to hold it every May, said the organization's senior manager Michelle Laflamme.
"There's the confidence that a country will be able to host every year," said Laflamme, who is from Montreal and now based in Germany.
"It helps the athletes knowing it's going to be every year at a specific time for training, financial planning, training camp, high-performance structure. All of the teams know what to expect for their season."
Para hockey is "open" in gender, but only four women have played in the 12 world championships to date, and none are on rosters in Calgary.
Raphaelle Tousignant of Terrebone, Que., was the first woman to make Canada's team last year in Moose Jaw, Sask.
She wasn't included on the 17-player roster in Calgary, but remains in the team's player pool of 24, Herrington said.
Tousignant also played this season for the national para women's hockey team that is part of a movement to get full women's teams into the Paralympic Games.
The 2023 Para Ice Hockey Women's World Challenge in Green Bay, Wisc., featured Canada, the United States, Britain and a Team World.
Laflamme says women's para hockey needs at least eight participating countries, and to have held at least two world championships, to apply for entry into the 2030 Winter Paralympic Games.
"There are lot of moving pieces," she said. "We really need to get the countries behind it."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2024.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
