Home | Recognition | Athlete Profile

Sport Profile

Sledge Hockey Manitoba: Golden and Growing

Like the rest of the country, Bill Muloin watched with great pride as Canada swept hockey gold at the Olympics in Vancouver. But that pride soured in the following weeks during the Paralympic Games when our national team finished fourth in sledge hockey – a sport Muloin is far more personally connected.

“It was disappointing,” said Muloin, Sledge Hockey Manitoba’s executive director. “We were all kind of surprised.”

That national disappointment could lead to positivity for Muloin and his teammates on Manitoba’s provincial sledge hockey team. Less than a month after Canada conceded the bronze to Norway at the Paralympic Games in Vancouver, national team manager Adam Crockatt was at the 2010 Western Canadian Sledge Hockey Championships hoping to uncover new talent for Hockey Canada.

Manitoba’s representatives did well to impress Crockatt by winning gold in the senior B division in only their second appearance in the tournament. Held in Edmonton this year from April 16-18, Manitoba improved on an impressive showing last year when they took silver in 2009.

“Last year we were laughing because we won silver on grit and spit. This year we won with skill,” said Muloin. “Even (Adam Crockatt) mentioned to me that these guys are night and day from last year. He said, ‘You guys have come so far.’”

The results are encouraging for Muloin, who played a lead role in bringing sledge hockey into the province only four years ago. It’s been a late start when compared with established sledge hockey programs in British Columbia, Alberta, and especially Ontario where many of the national program’s players are selected from.

Muloin is one of only a few able bodied members of Manitoba’s sledge hockey team. When forming Manitoba’s provincial team, Muloin felt that despite the desire to promote sledge hockey, limiting participation by able bodied players was in the best interest of improving the program.

“Sledge hockey is an inclusive sport, I play it,” said Muloin. “But from the Sledge Hockey Manitoba mandate we had decided that 75-80 percent of guys had to have a disability. If you have that reverse, only one or two guys can be considered for national team.”

Establishing Sledge Hockey Manitoba began as a passion project for Muloin, but he says it’s evolved into a full-time job that he’s been forced to pile onto his duties with the Society of Manitobans with Disabilities. “Sledge hockey (in Manitoba) was started with bandaids and a lot of hard work,” he said. “There was no funding to start it. We needed grants for ice and equipment. If it wasn’t for the (Society for Manitobans with Disabilities), sledge would not have gotten started.”

Today the program enjoys ice grants from True North Sports & Entertainment, giving them access to the MTS Centre twice a month. Muloin also noted that the sledges his team uses aren’t exactly the streamlined versions used by the national team. Manitoba’s lower-end sledges typically cost around $600.00 each and are largely paid for by grants and donation. He’s taken the program on the road, introducing sledge hockey to rural destinations like Dauphin and Shilo, playing against RCMP and the Armed Forces, as well as teaching the sport in Winnipeg high schools.

“It’s got a good hold in the ground now,” said Muloin. “It’s only going to get bigger and better now. If you have something like sledge that’s quality and organized and there’s a goal, it offers something to everyone.”

Written by Kalen Qually