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Hockey Canada president issues challenge to Whistler

"Make sure it’s the biggest and best Paralympics" - Bob Nicholson

By Alison Taylor

The president of Hockey Canada, responsible for the Canadian Paralympic sledge hockey program, has put out a challenge to Whistler and to Olympic organizers to make 2010 the best Paralympics the world has ever seen.

“We should challenge everyone to make sure it’s the biggest and best Paralympics, and I guess from my side I’m a little selfish, for the sledge hockey program being the best it’s ever been,” said Bob Nicholson.

Whether that means moving some of the sledge hockey games to larger venues in Vancouver or building a bigger arena in Whistler or bringing Jumbotrons to the resort for spectators outside the arena, Nicholson is undecided.

But after seeing the men’s gold medal sledge hockey game firsthand in Torino, along with 4,100 excited fans, he believes there is an opportunity in 2010 to profile and grow the sport, to the rest of Canada and the world.

It was in Italy nearly two weeks ago that Nicholson first floated the idea that because of the popularity of sledge hockey, particularly the hugely successful Canadian men’s team who took home the gold medal, perhaps the semifinals and the medal rounds in 2010 should be moved to Vancouver where a bigger audience could see them.

The current plans are to hold the sledge hockey in a brand new Whistler arena in the village with enough seats for 2,750. Whistler is still in the design stage of that arena.

“My comment to (moving some events) to GM Place, I think there’s some positive (in that),” said Nicholson. “But I think if you worked with the community of Whistler, hopefully they come up with other ideas and ways to do it to grow the sport (that) would be attractive to play games in Whistler. And I guess that’s what I throw back to them. We should look at what’s best for everybody.”

When asked if that means Whistler building a bigger venue, Nicholson said: “Could be. I don’t know.”

It could also mean bringing in Jumbotrons, holding other festivals and events to promote the sport and enticing the TV media to pick up on it too, he said.

“I think Canadians are going to really, really enjoy this,” said Nicholson. “It’s certainly on my agenda to talk with CTV who will own the (broadcast) rights. I want to make sure that these games get publicized right across Canada because I think all Canadians would love to see this competition.”

Local Paralympian Stacy Kohut, who was in Torino covering the Paralympics for CBC, believes the athletes should be in a bigger venue.

“If it’s not a 5,000-seat arena, you’re taking the sport backwards,” he said. “And over the past 12 months we’ve watched those that are in power whittle it down to 2,750.”

The Olympic Bid Book talks about a Whistler arena with a capacity of 2,500 to 5,000 seats.

When Whistler council was waffling over a decision to build the arena last summer, the Vancouver Organizing Committee agreed to a capacity of 2,750 seats.

Kohut calls that a “slap in the face” for the athletes.

“The athletes are ready, the coaches are ready, the sport is ready — they’re ready to go mainstream, they’re ready to go primetime,” he said.

He also takes issue with recent comments from officials who were surprised by the popularity of the sledge hockey events in Torino.

To Kohut the writing was on the wall.

In Salt Lake City at the 2002 Paralympics there was a crowd of more than 8,300 at the E Center for the gold medal sledge hockey game, which pitted Team USA against the defending gold medalists Norway.

The E Centre is a 10,100-seat arena that also hosted the men’s gold medal hockey game during the Olympics.

The interest in sledge hockey has been building ever since it became a Paralympic sport at the 1994 Lillehammer Games said Kohut. He accuses officials of not knowing their Paralympic history.

“Whistler isn’t ‘inventing’ anything here,” said Kohut. “The task is to continue the evolution of a movement.

“How can you know where the movement is going if you don’t know the past?”

The answer is clear in his mind. Either Whistler builds a bigger arena or all the sledge hockey events move to Vancouver — the round robin games should be held in the Pacific Coliseum and the gold medal game at GM Place.

“And I guarantee every game, round robin and gold medal, will be sold out,” said Kohut. “I’m not predicting something out of the blue. This has been a 12-year thing coming since ’94. It’s been building and building and building.”

One of the attractions of the Vancouver/Whistler Olympic and Paralympic bid was that the Paralympics would all be held in Whistler, making it one of the most compact Games ever.

Nicholson said the Paralympians he spoke to liked the idea of all the events being in Whistler, which is a reason not to move the sledge hockey events.

“From our players and the discussions that I had they liked the idea of having all the athletes in one village,” said Nicholson. “In Torino the village was very sporous because it only had the curlers and hockey players in it. That’s what I mean — we have to look at all of it.”

There have been no formal requests from Hockey Canada to move any of the venues to date.

Nicholson hopes before anything is finalized that there are discussions about the possibilities to grow sledge hockey in 2010 and make it even better than the Torino success.

“That’s what I looked at and said ‘gee, if they can do this in Italy, what can we really do in Canada?’ Maybe there’s different ways to do it. I think we should really sit down and look at all of the options before anything’s finalized.”