Canadians going for gold in Paralympic hockey

And it’s something special to be a part of this now.”

The Canadians put on a show at the Gangneung Hockey Centre, with Liam Hickey, Dom Cozzolino and Greg Westlake scoring one goal each. Corbin Watson and Dominic Larocque shared time in net, making a save apiece, as the Canadians outshot South Korea 24-2.

Canadian coach Ken Babey would like to have seen more parity in a tournament that saw the Americans breeze through the first round, outscoring opponents 28-0.

Canada and the U.S. also have the youngest teams, each averaging about 27.

There are five players over 50 in the tournament, including 61-year-old Japanese netminder Shinobu Fukushima.

“It’s kind of like women’s hockey in the sense that we have to help grow the game, we have to share our knowledge, share some of our resources, because it’s not going to grow unless we do,” he said. a much shorter learning curve than the standup game.

South Korean fans certainly seem to have embraced the game.

Thursday’s crowd, which included South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook, rivalled the attendance for the Canada-U.S. women’s final at last month’s Olympics.

Fans danced and sang along to the blaring K-pop tunes.

Ear-splitting screams erupted with every Korean pass or shot that came near the Canadian net.

Prompted to cheer loudly during one timeout, the screaming reached a cacophonous 106 decibels — about the equivalent on the ears of using a power saw.

“I couldn’t believe how loud it was out there,” said McGregor. “It was almost deafening.” Canada will be gunning for gold on Sunday less than a month after the Canadians wrapped up a disappointing Olympic tournament.

The men were eliminated in the semifinals by Germany, while the women lost to their archrival Americans in a shootout.

McGregor, a former AAA hockey player who lost a leg to cancer, said his team would love to bring hockey gold and glory back to Canada.

“Absolutely, because the past two Games specifically, in Vancouver and Sochi, our team showed up to the Paralympics looking to cap off a triple gold, because our men’s and women’s teams had both left the Games with gold medals,” said the 24-year-old from London, Ont.

“It’s different this time around. We might be the only (Canadian hockey) team leaving Pyeongchang with a gold medal.

“Canadians expect that of us, our country takes a lot of pride in being a leading hockey nation and as a team, we want to bring home a gold medal, because I think it would showcase our sport tremendously back home, it would have a huge impact on the growth of our sport.

“We want solidify our stake as a leading hockey nation.”

Canada had to settle for bronze four years ago in Sochi after losing to the U.S. in the semis.

The Americans went on to win gold, with the Russians, who were banned from Pyeongchang due to doping infractions, claiming silver.