TOUGH SLEDGING
Canada has gold slip away to rival Americans in parahockey final,
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA— Thirty-eight seconds separated Canada’s parahockey team and the gold medal the Canadians had been chasing for 12 long years.
But gold went to the Americans, and heartbreak to Canada.
Declan Farmer scored twice to power the United States to a 2-1 overtime victory over Canada, a thrilling game that was both a spectacular showcase for the sport and closed the curtain on the Pyeongchang Paralympics.
Canadians won a record 28 medals, beating the country’s previous best of 19 in 2010 in Vancouver. Canada was second to the U.S. (36) in total medals, and tied for second in golds with eight. And while the parahockey team had hoped to make it nine, the veteran play- ers put the gold-medal game, and the four-year journey to get to it, in perspective. “This game was so much more than 45 minutes,” said 33-yearold Billy Bridges, who scored Canada’s lone goal. “It’s unfortunate that our sport only has the showcase of the Paralympic gold medal game, and I really feel proud of the guys that we were in it. But there’s so much more than that that went on today.
“I really feel like we showcased the sport. Unbelievable what these guys can do — on the white team and the red team today. Just unbelievable talent. I really hope that we can take what we did here today and know that we probably inspired a lot of people to get in the game.”
It’s the first time since 1998 that Canada’s hockey program has left the Games with no gold medals.
The Para team’s silver comes almost a month after the Canadian women lost a heartbreaker to the U.S. in the Olympic goldmedal game, and Canada’s men’s team was dispatched by Germany in the semifinals.
Canada’s Para team, which last won gold in 2006 in Turin, came oh so close to the top of the podium. Bridges scored at 12:06 in the first, firing a pass from Ben Delaney into the top corner. Canadian coach Ken Babey, who leaned all tournament on the boards with his players rather than take up the traditional coaching stance at the back of the bench, erupted with joy.
In front of a lively crowd that rivalled last month’s CanadaU.S. final, the Canadians fought off a furious offensive onslaught from the Americans the rest of the way. But with just under a minute to play, Rob Armstrong hit the post on the Americans’ empty net, then Farmer scored with 38 seconds to play to send the game to overtime, and the crowd into a frenzy.
“It’s a game of inches,” said Armstrong, who hung his head on his gloves for the entire medal ceremony. “That’s just something you have to live with. Obviously it will be replaying in my head for a long time.”
Farmer’s game-winner came at 3:30 into overtime. “When that game ended in overtime I think our average age on the ice was maybe 19 or 20, and it’s important for those guys to not hang their head,” captain Greg Westlake said on Canada’s young stars.
“Those guys should be so proud of the effort they gave and the life lessons they’ve learned, being able to turn themselves over to a program, saying ‘I’m going to commit to this, I’m going to work at this every single day.’ ”