Port Colborne becomes para hockey central for Canada
Vale Centre hosting 7-team national championship tournament
Seven teams from across Canada, including host Ontario and defending champion Quebec, are guaranteed a minimum of four games at the 2024 National Para Hockey Championships getting underway Thursday in Port Colborne.
Teams in Group A — Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec — will play three games in pool play and at least one in the elimination round while qualifying in Group B — Manitoba, New Brunswick, Quebec Development — will consist of a double round-robin.
Admission to all games, which will be played at Vale Centre, is free, and every team will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round after two days of qualifying.
A Pool B champion will be decided beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday when the first-place finisher in qualifying faces the winner of a playoff between the second- and third-place teams.
Medal-round games on the A side will be played Sunday morning with the battle for bronze beginning at 9 a.m. and the championship match for the gold at 11:30 a.m.
Eighteen games in all will be played over three days, including six qualifiers on each of the first two days at the co-ed tournament.
Thursday’s schedule has Quebec at Alberta, 9 a.m.; New Brunswick at Quebec Development, 11 a.m.; Ontario at B.C., 1 p.m.; Quebec Development at Manitoba, 3:30 p.m.; B.C. at Quebec, 5:30 p.m.; and Manitoba at New Brunswick, 7:30 p.m.
On tap Friday are ManitobaQuebec Development, 9 a.m.; Quebec-Ontario,11a.m.; Quebec Development-New Brunswick, 1 p.m.; Alberta-B. C., 3:30 p.m.; New Brunswick-Manitoba, 5:30 p.m.; and Ontario-Alberta, 7:30 p.m.
Games in para hockey consist of three, 15-minute periods.
Darren Cunliffe, a former president of the Ontario Sledge Hockey Association and currently an assistant manager with Sledge Team Ontario, praised Vale Centre as an ideal venue for para hockey.
“This facility is second to none. It has the sledge-accessible benches,” he said. “At a normal rink without sledge-accessible benches, the players have to sit on the ice.
“Here, they can come on and off the ice like a regular hockey game.”
Accessible benches also leave the entire ice surface open for hockey instead of setting up “bench blocks” on the ice itself to accommodate players waiting their turn to play.
“You have to be mindful when you’re playing to stay away from the bench area,” Cunnliffe said in citing how the lack of accessible benches can affect the flow of play.
The twin-pad’s main arena is also fan-friendly.
“The seating for spectators is unbelievable,” he said. “People can walk the walking track if they need to stretch their legs.”
Two players from the Niagara region are playing in the tournament. Jessie Gregory, a goaltender for Ontario, lives in Welland while British Columbia forward Sheena Darnley is from Welland and competes for the Niagara Thunderblades at the club level.