Firefighters take on police in Medicine Hat sledge hockey showcase

“We have teams from Calgary, we are going to have teams from Saskatchewan coming, so Kindersley and Regina, and then we actually have five teams in Medicine Hat that are going to be playing in it,” Chisholm said.

“So a lot of sledge hockey to watch next weekend.”

Chisholm said there will also be a brand new showcase game featuring members of the Medicine Hat Firefighters and Medicine Hat Police Service on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 1pm at the Big Marble Go.

“We actually have a firefighter, Chad Peacock, who is one of the coaches of our junior sledge hockey team and so his son and daughter play,” Chisholm said.

“We asked Chad this year if he thinks his fellow firefighters might want to challenge the police officers to a friendly game and he said yes. So he convinced the crews to come out and play,” she added.

“It’s going to be really exciting and then we’re going to get our kids team to go on the ice with them to help them out a little bit because it’s going to be just their first time getting on the ice. So it’ll be quite enjoyable to watch.”

Chisholm said this is the first time they’ve had a showcase game like this within a tournament.

“We’re really hoping that it will help to bring out people who might not typically be associated with a sledge hockey player on a club, like who doesn’t want to watch the police and fire battle off against each other in like a fun game,” Chisholm said.

“Especially knowing that both of them, don’t have any background in the sport. So it’s going to be fun,” she added.

“They’re strong folks, so I have no doubt that they’re going to do really great out
on the ice. It’ll be enjoyable to watch and cheer them on.”

There will be a few different division playing at the sledge hockey tournament.

“We have our kids division, which we call junior and our intermediate division, which is our adults,” Chisholm said.

“It’s all ages, all abilities that are coming out to play. There’s going to be a ton of folks that are between the two rinks next weekend.”

Chisholm has helped grow the sport over the years and is happy to be back at it after taking a break to take care of her health.

“I’m so grateful to live in Medicine Hat. Honestly, our program is growing huge. We actually are one of the largest sledge hockey programs in the country now, which is kind of wild to think,” Chisholm said.

“It was able to keep growing. I did go through a battle with cancer last year and I had the amazing community rally around me to keep everything going while I was going through my treatment,” she added.

“Now I am able to get back to doing what I love. I do have a clean bill of health. So thank you to everybody in Medicine Hat who supported me and my family along the way because I couldn’t have done it without them.”

by Jesse Gill

Firefighters take on police in Medicine Hat sledge hockey showcase

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