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North Bay Ice Breakers vs. North Bay Media

EZ Rock's Dan Hunt, BayToday's Chris Dawson, and the Nugget's Ken Pagan (left to right), prepare for a pounding. The local media took to the ice against the local sledge hockey team and got schooled. Photo by Lee Anne Dawson.



EZ Rock's Dan Hunt, BayToday's Chris Dawson, and the Nugget's Ken Pagan (left to right), prepare for a pounding. The local media took to the ice against the local sledge hockey team and got schooled. Photo by Lee Anne Dawson.

The phrase, "it's harder than it looks," was a very common statement in the locker room after the local media was taught a lesson on sledge hockey Sunday afternoon at Memorial Gardens.

The North Bay Sledge Hockey team has been hosting fun games throughout their season and on this day these fast moving Ice Breakers showed their stuff against a local media team that moved about as quickly as a glacier.

It was a unique experience as we all sat down and strapped ourselves into the sled, which has to blades on the back side and one on the front. To move around you use your two mini sticks which have picks on the end and you use them like ski poles to push yourself around the rink.

For most of us, we were left watching in slow motion as Ice Breakers scoring star Jordan Mino went end to end on numerous occasions making us look like we were standing still (which I was most of the afternoon anyhow). He made it look easy but it was far from simple for our rookie media squad.

“It was tough, to move yourself around the ice like that and really use your core muscles I think to really pivot the sled around,” said EZ-Rock’s Dan Hunt.

Ken Pagan, a top scorer in the cities Men’s League, felt humbled after his first Sledge Hockey experience.

“It’s really hard to get used to and it’s something you just can’t pick up and go, it’s harder than it looks and it’s really fun and at the end of it I really didn’t want to stop I wanted to keep going,” admitted the Nugget Sports Reporter.

Ice Breakers coach Dan Selin believes this event was a real eye opener for the media.

“We’ve been fortunate to play a variety of hockey teams here in North Bay so having the media out today I think was a real blessing for the hockey team and I’m sure you (the media) can appreciate the amount of strength and coordination that you need to play sledge hockey,” said Selin.

The Ice Breakers team has been in existence for 3 years now and Selin feels Sledge Hockey has opened up a lot of doors for many of these physically disabled athletes.

“Most of these kids are limited in their handicaps, they are stuck in doors most of the time, it’s hard for them to make friends and what have you, especially for those who are in a wheel chairs but unique for the Cerebral Palsy kids so they look distances apart from one another and so when we bring it together in this team atmosphere the excitement just radiates, but when we travel on a bus or go to tournaments, staying in a hotel room and all that It’s priceless, the kids are almost jumping out of their skin with joy just to participate in that event that a lot of able bodied kids take for granted,” said Selin.

The Ice Breakers Coach hopes to host more events like this with other community groups and even would like a re-match against the Media next fall. He even broke down the media team’s weaknesses individually.

Ken Pagan, North Bay Nugget

“Definitely his stroking, his arms weren’t in sequence today, so we’ve got plans to bring him out in September next year and put him through some rigorous training,”

Dan Hunt, EZ Rock morning host

“Very verbal on the ice, no movement, again maybe there’s another individual we can team up with Ken next year.”

Jazz Mathon, MCTV Videographer

“I really call him the phantom player, I really didn’t see him anywhere, there’s kind of a word used in hockey it’s called a cherry picker, he’ wasn’t even at the face-off, he wasn’t close to being where he should be but at least he was on the ice.”

Greg Estabrooks, Cogeco North Bay News

“Fake injury, fake cast, we appreciated that he at least showed up, the guy is busy, little paranoid, a little afraid but I think next year we can get him into a sledge.”

Chris Dawson, BayToday.ca

“Chris Dawson, probably the best player I’ve seen in years in North Bay, definitely, probably Captain material for North Bay Sledge hockey, Chris come on out next year and play, (tongue in cheek)”

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Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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