B3

By Darcey McLaughlin

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It was fun, at times it was silly, it was entertaining — it was hockey.

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A Team Canada member gets some repairs to his sled during practice Thursday morning.

Fans at the Miramichi Civic Centre got the opportunity Friday night to see the Canadian National Sledge Hockey team in action in a skills competition, an inter-squad game and a game against the Maritime Junior A Hockey League Miramichi Timberwolves.

The highlight of the evening, and what solicited the most laughs, was when members of the T-Wolves strapped themselves into the sleds to play in a 15-minute game with members of Team Canada.

The Miramichi players often looked more like turtles on their backs than hockey players, wobbling around the ice unable to get their balance, laughing at themselves at the same time.

Miramichi's Robbie Veriker was out of breath and in need of a rest after playing a shift in the sled.

"It's pretty tiring actually. Lots of upper body strength. It's fun, though," he said.

Only goalie Benoit St-Amand dressed for Team Canada and T-Wolves goalie Brad Dyke suited up to play in the other net for the injured Paul Rosen, who spent the night with a mic in his hand calling the action.

While the T-Wolves were quite awful in the sleds, Rosen was impressed with the speedy Dylan Bellmore, who seemed to be getting a handle on the sled. Rosen joked Bellmore would make a great addition to the team.

"We'll have to talk to that Bellmore," Rosen said. "See if he wants to take a leg off or something."

Bellmore was non-committal.

"I don't know if I'm doing that well," he said.

Bellmore did say there were a lot of similarities between sledge hockey and the hockey he plays.

"It's no different than hockey. I still can't score on a breakaway," he quipped.

The teams began with a skills competition, pitting Team Canada against the T-Wolves for fastest skater and accuracy shooting. Fans got to see just how the good the athletes in the sled were, as the fastest member of the team took 17.39 seconds to get around the ice, just a few seconds slower than Bellmore, who circled the ice in 13.04 seconds.

The national team then played a spirited and physical inter-squad game that ended in 2-1 for the red team.

The first goal of the night was scored by Miramichi's own Shawn Matheson, a member of Team Canada, much to the delight of the crowd. He said it was a great experience to play at home.

"It's always special to play in front of your family and your friends. It's a unique opportunity for me to do that with the team and I was really excited. I'm happy to be here," he said.

The evening finished with a five minute game pitting the T-Wolves against Team Canada, without mixing the sides together. Goalie Dyke was under attack the entire time facing shot after shot until he was finally beaten and the game ended 1-0.

Team Canada head coach Jeff Snyder said it was a good experience for his team.

"I think it's great. It's fun to get our guys out with some able-bodied players and the able-bodied players get to see how tough it is to play sledge hockey," he said.

"We're really glad we came to Miramichi. Everyone has treated us great. It's fun for us to interact with another team. It makes our guys feel like regular athletes," he added.