ISLAND TO ISLAND
Arbour, Hickey suit up for P.E.I.
Danielle Arbour of Goulds and Liam Hickey of St. John’s hooping it up in Prince George.
The 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C., marks the second consecutive Games where Team Newfoundland and Labrador hasn’t sent a wheelchair basketball squad to compete.
There are age-eligible players in the province, but those involved simply aren’t developed enough to hit the court with the best in the country.
“This is a very high calibre tournament here. We’ve just got to wait,” says 16year-old Liam Hickey of St. John’s, who was recently named to national senior men’s team.
Fortunately for Hickey and 19year-old Danielle Arbour of Goulds — who will join the national under-25 women’s team at the world championships this coming December — team Prince Edward Island needed some helping filling out its roster for the Games.
“Coming from Newfoundland, I never expected to have a chance to go to the Canada Games with the disabled sports. It’s a great opportunity,” says Hickey.
“It’s fun to play for P.E.I., but deep down inside, we’re representing Newfoundland and Labrador, and we’ll never forget that.”
Added Arbour, “It’s weird not representing Newfoundland and Labrador, but it’s an honour to represent a community that’s not yours. To be in a big tournament like the Canada Games is unreal.”
Hickey has an existing relationship with the Prince Edward Island squad, having competed with them in Maritime league play for the past two years.
Team P.E.I. coach Adam Loo says he’s seen tremendous growth in Hickey’s game over that time.
“He’s come a long, long way. He’s at a very, very elite level now,” says Loo.
“He’s very coachable, he has a great understanding of the game and he’s growing every day.”
Arbour came to join the team through Hickey and his father Todd’s recommendation. P.E.I. was in need of a female player at the mid to low classification in point structure.
“Because NL wasn’t sending a team, and Liam had already gone through the process, we got lucky and (the) Canada Games Council approved it and we were able to pick her up.”
Thus far, Loo has been impressed with what he’s seen from Arbour.
“She’s got good chemistry with the players already, which is great, because this is the first time she’s met some of us.”
P.E.I. could be a dark horse at the Games this week. While they don’t have the player population to draw from as do bigger provinces, Loo feels with Arbour and Hickey on board, as well as three more nationally identified players in Westley Johnson, and Jeremy and Joel Watts, and the abundance of pre-existing chemistry, they’re well positioned to make some noise.
“The one thing that sort of restricts us but at the same time benefits us is the fact we don’t have as many players involved. Where we have some athletes who have been identified and had some exposure at the na- tional level, it makes a smaller province look a lot stronger.
“I think we could have a couple of upsets on the horizon.”
Hickey and Arbour couldn’t be more appreciative of the opportunity to join P.E.I., but both are hopeful Newfoundland and Labrador will have its own eightperson squad for the 2019 Games in Red Deer, Alta.
“We’ve been working very hard to get a Canada Games team entered in from Newfoundland and Labrador for wheelchair basketball and I think we should be ready and well prepared by 2019,” says Hickey.