Congratulations to Adam Dixon - BMHA coach and member of the Canadian Sledge Hockey Team, News (Barrie Minor Hockey)

Last week the Canadian National Men’s Sledge Hockey Team hosted the World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia at the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre.  Four teams attended; Canada, United States, Russia and Korea.  January 17 to January 20 the preliminary round robin occurred.  

The results were:

 

Preliminary Round
Visitor	V	Home	H
United States	8	Korea	1
Canada	5	Russia	1
Russia	2	United States	6
Korea	0	Canada	2
Russia	5	Korea	1
Canada	3	United States	2
Russia	1	United States	2
Korea	0	Canada	10
Korea	4	Russia	2
United States	3	Canada	2

 

Canada and United States had an exciting preliminary game involving overtime and a shoot out. Canada scored the first goal 41 seconds into the first period from Billy Bridges  (18), assisted by Brad Bowden (27).  During the second period the United States tied the game at 3:36 Kevin McKee (19), assisted by Declan Farmer (16) and Brody Roybal (4). Ten seconds later Canada scored Adam Dixon (11) assisted by Kieran Block (23). At 4:30 the score was tied by the United States, Paul Schaus (28) scoring assisted by Kevin McKee (19).  Third period and overtime were scoreless.  During the shoot out Tyler McGregor (8) from Team Canada made the first shot and was followed by United States Declan Farmer (16) scoring. The final round Farmer missed and Adam Dixon (11) from Team Canada scored, giving victory to Canada.

 

Awesome win breaking United States winning streak.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2682338947/ 

Copy and paste link above and see Adam Dixon shoot out win against United States.

 

After the preliminary round Canada stood in first place followed by the United States, Russia and Korea.  The semi final games occurred on Thursday January 21, 2016, Canada against Korea and United States against Russia.

        

Thursday was an exciting day as our family had the fortunate opportunity to attend both semi final games.  There were so many positive aspects observed from watching these games; including seeing the sledge in action.  The construction of the sledge is individually designed for each player.  The player holds a stick in each hand.  The stick is used as a method of movement; stick handling, and shooting. Put together with the athlete it produces a very entertaining athletic sport.  It was so enjoyable.  Sledge hockey is a physically demanding, fast paced sport.  Loved the stick handling that goes on underneath the sledge. 

 

The first semi final game we watched was Russia versus the United States.  The game was fast and physical.  Although the American team seemed to be slightly more aggressive the Russians kept up a fast paced game.  The US scored in the third period and won 2-1 advancing them to the final. 

 

The second semi final game was Korea versus Canada.  This was our first chance to see Canada’s sledge hockey team.  From the outset it was clear that Canada was a highly skilled team.  The Canadian players controlled and maintained possession of the puck for sustained periods of time.  They stickhandled, cycled and passed the puck with great efficiency setting up many scoring opportunities.  On average the Canadian players were physically larger and more aggressive than the Koreans.  Canada dominated the game winning 10-0. 

 

In both games it was interesting to observe the different strategies used in playing sledge hockey.  The players were in constant motion on the ice.  When in the offensive zone one defenceman would move slightly outside of the blue line and wait for an opportunity to enter the offensive zone with speed hoping to receive a pass for a scoring chance. Players had to manoeuver themselves to properly execute a legal body check. Other than a “T-bone” style body check the game is identical to any other hockey game that includes body contact.   Offsides, icing, penalties etc. are officiated the same as NHL hockey. 

We were unable to stay for the final game, Canada vs. United States, however we were able to watch the game as it was televised on TSN.  The final game was very entertaining. 

 

United States took the lead in the first period.  At 5:11 Roybal (4) assisted by Farmer (19) and McKee (19). At 13:35 Farmer (19) assisted by Roybal(4) and Pauls (27).  Canada raised the excitement in the arena with their first goal in the third period 1:05 Bowden (27) assisted by Delaney (10) and Dixon (11).  At 4:03 Canada scored again, Delaney (10) and assisted by Dixon (11).    The game continued into overtime.  Canada showed terrific effort in surviving a US power play as well as resisting intense offensive pressure. Goaltender Corbin Watson was outstanding.  The game ended when Josh Pauls (27) intercepted the puck in the Canadian zone and rifled a shot into the top corner over Watson’s shoulder at 7:31 of OT.   Team Canada won the silver medal at the World Sledge Hockey Challenge.

 

Here is a brief summary from Adam; 15 year old seeing a sledge hockey game for the first time:  Having Adam Dixon as a coach on my team has introduced me to sledge hockey.  I have seen him use his sledge in practice and was impressed.  When I saw his whole team together I was blown away with the skill, technique, speed, endurance and strength in their shots.  They make their stickhandling look so easy.  It was a great experience to watch a sledge hockey game in person and can’t wait to do it again.

Here is a brief summary from Amber; 9 years old:  It was very enjoyable to watch.  It was cool how they passed under their sledge to their self or another player.  Really, I came for the airplane ride and I ended up watching both games, took pictures and caught Adam Dixon getting a goal on video.  I had a very fun exciting time. I took my pictures, videos and the game puck from the Canada/Korea game to school for show and tell.

 

The Canadian National Men’s Sledge Hockey Team exists as an entity under the umbrella of Hockey Canada. Similar to any Canadian National team such as the World Juniors, or the Men’s/Women’s Olympic teams, the athletic talent, training facilities and expectation of success are second to none.  The Men’s Sledge Hockey Team consists of highly skilled, dedicated and competitive athlete’s who place enormous pressure on themselves and their teammates to succeed.  The result of the silver medal in Bridgewater will serve as motivation for success in future tournaments.

 

The Barrie Colts Bantam AA team has had the unique opportunity to have Adam Dixon of the Canadian Men’s Sledge Hockey Team as an assistant coach during the 2015/16 season.  Adam has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience from his 10 years of international play with the sledge team as well as his years playing AAA in Ontario minor hockey.   The Bantam AA team has been very fortunate to have Adam on the coaching staff.  Adam’s presence has brought awareness and an education of the game of sledge hockey to everyone associated with the Bantam AA team.  We are thankful to Adam and BMHA for making this opportunity a reality.

 

Soos family