Women’s national sledge hockey tryouts coming to Amherstburg
Jessica Matassa has spent years trying to get the Canadian Women’s Sledge Hockey Team to Amherstburg. This weekend, she finally will.
Matassa and over 23 other sledge hockey players from across Canada will suit up at the Libro Centre this Friday through Sunday to compete for a spot on the national 2018-2019 women’s team. Fifteen players will be chosen, and a final roster will be announced in early September.
Matassa, a Windsor native who has been on the team for the past three years, said Amherstburg’s venue is one of the country’s best for the sport.
“It has barrier-free dressing rooms, removable benches, and Plexiglas to let us see the game through the boards,” she said, adding few of the arenas her team has played in internationally are so accessible. The ice, bench, and dressing rooms are all level, she said. Maintenance crews replace the flooring around the rink and in change rooms with synthetic ice so players can get around on sledges barrier-free.
“I’m hoping people will come out and watch us,” said Matassa. “Sledge hockey is one of the fastest growing Paralympic sports, and it’s really easy for spectators to understand, since it has so few differences from able-bodied hockey.” Sledge hockey allows athletes with disabilities to play hockey, said Matassa, who has spina bifida, a birth defect in which the bones of the spine do not form properly around the spinal cord. Sledge hockey players sit close to the ice strapped tightly inside a bucket type seat. An aluminum frame fitted with two skate blades beneath the bucket is attached. Players propel themselves across the ice with two shortened hockey sticks with sharp picks on each end. In this contact sport, players wear the same hockey equipment and protection as able-bodied hockey players. Matassa got into the sport four years ago when a friend suggested she start playing for the Windsor Ice Bullets sledge hockey team. Before then, she competed internationally in wheelchair racing, winning a Paralympic bronze in the 800-metre race in Athens in 2004, and gold medals in the 200m, 400m, and 800m races at the 2007 Para Panamerican games in Rio de Janeiro. She retired from racing in 2009.
“I wasn’t entirely convinced about doing international sports again, but the competitive drive came right back to me.”
So far, too few countries have women’s sledge hockey teams for it to be an official International Paralympic Committee sport, said Matassa. Because of this, Hockey Canada won’t fund qualifying athletes; instead, each player pays thousands of dollars to cover her own costs each season. The financial burden causes some players to take time off from the sport. Men’s sledge hockey, however, has been a Paralympic event since 1994.
Even without the possibility of Paralympic gold, Matassa said she and her teammates always look forward to playing their rivals, USA, who they will meet for a three-game series in February. With checking allowed in women’s sledge hockey, Matassa said games against the American team get quite physical.
“I’ve been known to spend some time in the penalty box against Team USA,” she said.
Two other Windsor athletes, Ashley Goure and Dani McPhee, will also be competing for positions on the team this weekend. Both have been on Team Canada in years past.
On-ice skills sessions will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday. Games will be played from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sunday. The public is welcome to watch the tryouts for free.
I’m hoping people will come out and watch us. Sledge hockey is … really easy for spectators to understand.