Paralympic ice sledge hockey

Last Thursday night, March 18th, we went to one of the two Paralympic ice sledge hockey semifinals - USA vs Norway - which was at the Thunderbird Arena at UBC. It was great to finally see an actual Olympic/Paralympic sporting event in person, especially one so entertaining and fast-paced. What a sport - those guys are truly impressive!

Earlier that day, the Canadian sledge hockey team, who were the favourites to win gold, had lost their semifinal to Japan, which was pretty much when the Canadian public stopped paying attention. However, the tournament did of course go on, and the final results two days later were: fourth place to Canada, bronze medal to Norway, silver medal to Japan, and gold medal to the USA. So we saw both the gold- and bronze-winning teams... just not during the actual medal events!

Before the game, Ben and I were trying to figure out which team to cheer for. It was quite a conundrum. Ben ended up deciding to cheer for Norway. I didn't have a strong conviction either way, so I said I'd just cheer for both teams.... ha! However, during the game I found myself quite enthusiastically cheering for the USA, so that was that. Maybe it was something to do with the section full of flag-bearing, face-painted, jersey-wearing, screaming Americans immediately beside me...

The sledge hockey players ranged from those who had had one or both legs amputated, to those who had both legs but were presumably paralysed. All the work is done with their arms - they hold a stick in each hand, and use those to push themselves along the ice on the sledge they are sitting on (which has an ice skate type blade underneath it). The sticks flip over to become the hockey sticks they hit the puck with. Ice sledge hockey is pretty much as brutal as regular ice hockey - crashing into walls, slamming into each other, sticks and pucks going flying, sledges tipping over, etc!

Ice sledge hockey was definitely worth seeing - and only cost $25 per person! It would have been even more exciting had the game been a little closer (USA beat Norway 3-0), but the US team was exceptionally good. In the entire tournament, not a single goal was scored against them by any team. Amazing! My carefully considered strategy as to which team to cheer for definitely worked out. :P

Here are some photos and a video compilation from the match. The USA is wearing white and Norway is in red. Enjoy!

Norway fans...





USA fans...







And the video...

So that's ice sledge hockey - what do you think?!

Click here to see our Winter Paralympics photo album.