SAHA players reflect on Canada Winter Games experience

By JAMES TUBB on March 9, 2023.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

Team Alberta’s men’s and women’s hockey teams at the Canada Winter Games featured six athletes from the South Alberta Hockey Academy.

Forward Téa Pearce and defender Kendal Davidson were part of Alberta’s women’s roster alongside their head coach Evan Vossen who served on the province’s coaching staff.

SAHA forwards Kadon McCann, Ryan Miller and defenceman Matthew Paranych were on Alberta’s men’s roster alongside Medicine Hat Tigers’ prospects Hayden Harsanyi and Jordan Switzer.

Pearce was Alberta’s leading scorer with five goals in five games as they finished in fifth place at the Games. She is proud of the honours and wasn’t aware of it until Davidson informed her later.

“It was such a cool thing, especially my first goal, it was an unreal experience,” Pearce said. “I was out with Kendal and she opened Instagram and she showed me (SAHA’s) post about it.”

She says she made a lot of memories while at the Games and enjoyed the off-ice moments almost as much as the on-ice.

“Just meeting new people through pin trading, going to every single province, every single territory to try and get their pins, it was a really fun experience,” Pearce said.

Both her and Davidson were deep in the pin trading game, the unofficial sport of the Canada Games. Pearce says while she didn’t get all the ones she was looking for, she did come away with some rare ones and is most proud of her New Brunswick lobster pin.

Davidson was able to come away with all the pins she wanted, including the elusive Nunavut puzzle piece pin. She also traded an Alberta toque for a Newfoundland toque, Pearce also exchanged an Alberta hoodie for a Nova Scotia jacket.

The atmosphere in P.E.I. won’t soon be forgotten, Davidson says, and she hopes to play there again some day.

“Sometimes it was really trippy to be on the ice and you couldn’t be able to hear your teammates because the fans are so loud, but it was electric,” Davidson said.

Vossen says he didn’t get too much into the trading game but enjoyed getting to watch other sports like archery, fencing and badminton, where they cheered on Alberta in the finals. While Alberta didn’t finish as high as they wanted in the standings, Vossen enjoyed the experience and seeing how well Pearce and Davidson played while soaking up the experience.

“As a team, really happy with the way we played and how we finished strong,” Vossen said. “Both had really exceptional weeks, they both played real strong. It was good for Téa to find some scoring touch and being able to lead that way. Kendal was really steady on the back end. She was just a strong presence back there for us.”

McCann and Paranych also enjoyed getting out and watching other sports when they weren’t on the ice. They remarked how much they enjoyed seeing wheelchair basketball and for Paranych it was seeing ringette for the first time.

McCann enjoyed the experience of seeing top athletes in different sports from across the country showcase their skills.

“Getting to watch wheelchair basketball, it was just pretty cool to see the different sports and they’re pretty aggressive out there,” McCann said. “Doing that and seeing how fortunate we are, how they’re out there and they’re the best in the country as well. Seeing them do that stuff is pretty remarkable. I’ll look back and say, ‘Wow, I got to see that, it’s pretty cool.”

Despite Alberta’s men’s team also finishing in fifth, Paranych enjoyed his tournament.

“It was a great experience, we had a good group of guys, we just fell short,” Paranych said. “It was great meeting new people, seeing P.E.I, it was pretty cold down there, really windy. Overall it was a great experience.”

The three SAHA men’s players also got into the pin trading game, Paranych came away with a volunteer pin from the 2003 Canada Winter Games in Bathurst/Campbellton, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia lobsters and a Nova Scotia pin from the 1991 Canada Games also hosted in P.E.I. McCann also picked up a local pin, coming away with a potato pin marking one of the Island’s main exports. The Medicine Hat product Miller wasn’t into the trading game.

He enjoyed getting to play with Team Alberta once again and sharing the experience with his teammates.

“It was a great group of guys, I thought we bonded really well together,” Miller said. “Lots of skill on that team, obviously not the result we wanted but so very proud to be part of it.

“Every aspect of it was really cool. The cafeteria with all the different sports there, seeing all these people representing their provinces. It’s something that’s pretty cool.”

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