CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Billy Bridges has seen the evolution of sledge hockey first-hand.
He was involved with the sports six years before it came under the umbrella of Hockey Canada. He was one of the young guys then, now he’s a veteran.
“I was around when we had to pay thousands of dollars just to be on the team and pay for our own travel and accommodations,” the Summerside native recalled. “I had to battle through all of that, and that's why it’s so nice to be a part of where it is now.”
Bridges and his Team Canada teammates go for gold today at 4 p.m. against the Americans in the World Sledge Hockey Challenge final at MacLauchlan Arena.
“When I first joined, we didn't even have Hockey Canada jerseys, and it was kind of just a pipedream,” Bridges said. “We weren’t carded athletes, and nothing was taken care of. It was almost comparable to a beer league or something because everyone had to have full-time jobs. We all had a life outside of hockey, and it was hard to train for it and devote the time. It’s crazy to see where it’s come.”
Now it is a full-time job for most players. They show up at events, and Hockey Canada staff has everything taken care of. And there are no longer five players to a hotel room.
“We really don't have those excuses anymore,” Bridges said, “all we have to do is win some hockey games.”
But with those advancements have come expectations.
Canada invests a lot in the sport, and the players are driven to work hard to achieve the goals, which in Canada are always painted gold.
The sledge hockey team was the only squad to be at the Hockey Canada’s ring gala earlier this year in Saskatoon, Sask., as the lone team to win its world championship.
“That’s not Hockey Canada’s expectation, and I don't think that’s the expectation of any Canadian when it comes to hockey. I think we want gold for everybody.”
That is why the athletes are working hard each day in their home communities to prepare for events like today. Bridges was on the ice for 40 minutes in Charlottetown working on his game the week before his teammates arrived for the tournament.
“I try to drive myself to work as hard during that shift as I would during the final shift at a gold medal game of the Olympics,” he said.
Bridges, 33, has no plans to slow down despite having been on the national team for about 20 years. He’s dropped 30 pounds during the past year and is posting some of the fastest sprint times of his career.
The physical forward with a booming shot credited the knowledge of specialists at the Canadian Sport Institutes for helping him to get in the best shape of his life as he prepares for the upcoming Paralympics in Korea.
“I would love to stay for another four years after this as well,” he said. “As long as I am still contributing to the team and still a good enough player to make it, I would love to keep putting on the jersey and playing the game.”
Bridges thinks back to the players who were involved before him like Peter Hambly and the Hockey Canada brass like Bob Nicholson and Ken Corbett who helped bring sledge hockey under the Hockey Canada umbrella.
“As a disabled athlete, having the chance to be able to be a full-time hockey player, it’s something you never thought would exist as a disabled kid growing up in Canada,” he said. “Now it’s available to teenagers and young people all across the nation.”
Need to know
Billy Bridges
Who – A veteran of the Canadian sledge hockey team. Bridges, who has spina bifida, was 14 years old when he joined the national team.
Island connection – Bridges was born in Summerside. His father, Charles, was in the Air Force and the family moved before Bridges started school.
Family – Son of Charles and Mary. He has two brothers, Danny and Ben, and two sisters, Elissa and Katie. He is married to former women’s national team member Sami Jo Small. They have a two-year-old daughter, Kensi.
Decorated athlete – Bridges helped Canada win the world championship in 2000, 2008, 2013 and 2017. He is a four-time Paralympian (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014). He helped Canada win gold in 2006 and bronze in 2014 at the Paralympics. Bridges was recognized by Sport P.E.I. in 2014 with the Bill Halpenny award, which is presented at the discretion of its board of directors to Island athletes who have excelled at the highest levels of international competition, and is named after P.E.I.'s first ever Olympian. Previous winners include Olympians Kara Grant, Jared Connaughton, Heather Moyse and Mark Arendz.
Source – http://paralympic.ca/billy-bridges
Did you know? Bridges dropped the puck before the Charlottetown Islanders game with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Nov. 28. It was the first time he has had the opportunity to participate in such a pre-game ceremony.
“I was getting so nervous I was practising my faceoffs because I’m a centreman, so I knew I couldn't just lay the thing out, I needed to snap it down,” he said, but “I got the thumb’s up from the refs” afterwards.
The latest – Bridges is part of the Canadian team competing at the World Sledge Hockey Challenge at the MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown.
Today’s schedule
Bronze medal game
1 p.m. – Italy vs. Korea.
Gold medal game
4 p.m. – Canada vs. USA.
A brief history of the sport in Canada
– In 1979, Dick Loiselle, a former director of the 1976 Toronto Olympiad, brought back a sled from Europe, given to him by Rolf Johansson, a Paralympic gold medallist in wheelchair track and field and one of the inventors of sledge hockey.
– Sledge Hockey of Canada (SHOC) was created in 1993 and given the title of a national sport federation by the government of Canada, to co-ordinate, develop and promote the sport of sledge hockey in Canada.
– In 1994, sledge hockey was introduced as a demonstration sport at the Paralympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. The sport has since become a full medal event at the Paralympic Winter Games. Canada has participated in sledge hockey in each Paralympic Winter Games.
– In 2004, sledge hockey came under the umbrella of Hockey Canada.
Source: https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/men/sledge/history/sledge-hockey-history
