Sledge Hounds encouraged

By Ryan McCracken on February 20, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Hockey Hounds sledge hockey squad may have lost Sunday’s home game to Edmonton’s PSA Dogs by a 3-0 margin, but they did it in the best way possible.

The Dogs were only able to bring five players to compete at the Family Leisure Centre for a pair of games over the weekend, prompting the Hounds to chip in by sending some of their own players to the other end of the ice, like Sarah Mickey — who potted a pair to defeat her own team Sunday.

“We kind of wish she didn’t do that but she was playing for them and it was good to see her playing her hardest,” said Hounds founder Tara Chisholm. “These were our only games of the season in the Hat so it was good to play on home ice where we practice every week.”

Mickey added it was a little bit strange playing against the Hounds, but there’s no arguing with the results. “It was weird in one way but pretty good in others because you know how they play. It was nice to get a change,” she said, adding it’s great to see the game growing in the Gas City. “It’s nice to be able to play in Medicine Hat because this is where I grew up. I don’t live here anymore, I go to school in Calgary, but I come back for the games.”

Chisholm added interest in the sport has been increasing over the past few seasons. While the weekend’s games were the only ones the Hounds will play in Medicine Hat this season, their season has also included a pair of tournaments and Chisholm says she hopes to split the program into two squads and officially join a league next season.

“We might be joining a league next year depending on our numbers. We’re actually looking to potentially divide into two teams here in Medicine Hat because we have so many players,” she said. “That’s a really positive thing, people want to play.”

Chisholm says the club has even started attracting a younger generation of sledge hockey players, something she hopes will continue as the program keeps on growing.

“We’ve had a couple of kids who have shown interest and we’re going to try our best to get some more funding so we can support the younger ages,” she said. “We only have a couple right now so it’s tough to build a program, but hopefully if we open it up and do some drop-in times even next year, we’ll have more kids come out — fingers crossed.”

The idea has already been working for the Hounds, as players like Mickey discovered their love for the game by simply dropping by to try out the sport for themselves.

“I got involved in sledge hockey four years ago through Tara, through a try-it day, and I ended up playing for a couple seasons,” said Mickey, adding the women’s side of the sport has seen a steep increase since she started playing. “It’s awesome to see women’s sledge hockey grow. When I started it was still pretty small but it’s definitely growing and it’s nice to see so many players that are women now.”

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