TORONTO, Ont. – Hockey Canada announced Sunday the 19 players invited to Canada’s National Sledge Team training camp, Jan. 10-17 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alta.
The training camp will serve as the final step in the selection process for the 2014-15 season.
The players were chosen at the conclusion of a selection camp that ran from Nov. 19-23 at the MasterCard Centre in Toronto. National team hopefuls competed in three Red-White intrasquad games during camp.
The 17 players named to the final roster at the conclusion of training camp will represent Canada at the 2015 World Sledge Hockey Challenge in early February, in a Canadian host city to be announced, and the 2015 IPC Sledge Hockey World Championship, scheduled for April 24-May 2 in Buffalo, N.Y.
“Canada continues to produce world-class sledge hockey talent, which made the decision making this weekend that much tougher,” said Shawn Bullock, senior manager of hockey operations and national teams with Hockey Canada. “We’re extremely pleased with the performances we saw in camp, and we’re excited to move forward with these 19 players.”
Fifteen of the players invited to Canada’s National Sledge Team selection camp helped Canada win bronze at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games last March in Sochi, Russia, and 14 were part of the Canadian contingent that won gold at the 2013 IPC Sledge Hockey World Championship in Goyang, South Korea.
Returning players from Canada’s 2014 Paralympic roster include goaltenders Dominic Larocque (Quebec City, Que.) and Corbin Watson (Kingsville, Ont), defencemen Steve Arsenault (Spruce Grove, Alta.), Adam Dixon (Midland, Ont.), James Gemmell (Quesnel, B.C.), and Derek Whitson (Chatham, Ont.), as well as forwards Brad Bowden (Orton, Ont.), Billy Bridges (Summerside, P.E.I.), Ben Delaney (Ottawa, Ont.), Marc Dorion (Bourget, Ont.), Anthony Gale (Brampton, Ont.), Karl Ludwig (Brampton, Ont.), Tyler McGregor (Forest, Ont.), Kevin Rempel (Dundas, Ont.) and Greg Westlake (Oakville, Ont.).
Three players, Chris Cederstrand (Okotoks, Alta.), Bryan Sholomicki (Winnipeg, Man.) and Kevin Sorley (Petersburg, Ont.), have never played for Canada’s National Sledge Team, and one, Kieran Block (Edmonton, Alta.), has previous national team experience.
For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Sledge Team, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca, or follow along via social media at www.facebook.com/hockeycanada, www.facebook.com/hcsledge, www.twitter.com/hockeycanada and www.twitter.com/hc_sledge.