already during the olympic games we decided that we were going to go to watch ice sledge-hockey game together with my roommates. tickets were cheap, the timing convenient, so almost all of us decided to go. we picked to watch canada, of course, battling apparently no. 1 sledge-hockey team in the world, norway. as two of my roomates are canadian and one of them is norwegian it was going to be an interesting confrontation..
but first of all, i gotta say: i have never seen such amazing athletes live. guys who are permanently impaired from the waist down, sliding on sledges by supporting themselves with two sticks. each stick has a hockey stick end to strike the puck and a sharp end to accelarate the sledge. some of them have only one leg, some have no legs, others are just paralyzed. so what they can't walk or skate on their both feet? they can do it on a sledge! and how they do it! they are mentally sharp and focused, highly competitive and ferocious when fighting for the puck. they crash into each other just like the nhl players do! once they even attempted to start a fight, but the ref separated them.. if you have never seen sledge-hockey players in motion, youtube them, google them, whatever. it's truly amazing!
i was watching the whole event with my jaw wide opened in awe, excitement and respect for these amazing athletes. canada dominanted the entire game and made the UBC Thunderbird arena ecstatic with every goal scored. 5-0! only my norwegian roommate was not too happy about the result.. :-)
below i am posting some pictures taken at the venue during canada-norway game:
