Big hits, great saves: B.C. players shine at inaugural Women's Para Hockey World Championships
As one half of the newly nicknamed "Canadian Bomb Squad," Peggy Assinck has no hesitation going into the corners.
It's there that she and linemate Claire Buchanan earned the moniker, coined Tuesday by the broadcast analyst during Canada's opening game at the Women's Para Hockey World Championships in Slovakia.
"I love it. Both of us are veterans, and we like to throw our bodies around," said Assinck, speaking from the city of Dolny Kubin. "We're pretty disruptive as a line, and that's a good thing."
The Bomb Squad helped spark an explosion of goals in a 10-0 defeat of Team World, made up of players from nations that don't yet have the numbers to front an all-female roster.
Australia, Great Britain, Norway and the U.S. round out the six-team tournament. If history is any teacher, the gold medal final on Sunday will be a clash between hockey's biggest rivals — Canada and the U.S.
"That's the goal," said Team Canada goalie Maggie Manning of Salmon Arm, B.C. "We're really pushing this year to bring that gold home."
Manning, 25, earned the shutout in game one while wearing jersey number 1 in honour of hero Roberto Luongo, whom she met a dozen years ago while receiving care at B.C. Children's Hospital.
"The Canucks were visiting the hospital, and there was a very special moment where we exchanged hockey cards," she said. "Then, later, when I was going for surgery, he had written me a personalized note. And so that kind of relationship, it just really inspired me."
So too did her hospital caregivers, so much so that Manning herself is now one, employed at B.C. Children's and B.C. Women's Hospitals as a respiratory therapist.
Balancing the demands of a career with a sizable hockey commitment is a common plight among Team Canada women.
Assinck, who earned her PhD in neuroscience from the University of British Columbia, is currently researching spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis at Cambridge University in the U.K., where she now resides.
Although Hockey Canada helps fund the women's program through its foundation, the team is still on the outside looking in when it comes to direct funding and services granted to Olympic and Paralympic athletes in Canada.
"We see the men's [para hockey] national team really receiving a lot of that support," said Assink. "But we also understand that there are checkmarks that we need to accomplish in order to access some of that. And so we're really just working as hard as we possibly can. .. to develop and support women across the board."
The Slovakia world championships are a big step toward the ultimate goal of getting a women's tournament into the Paralympic Games by 2030.
That means growing the female game from the grassroots up and increasing the number of players. With that exact goal in mind, Manning will be co-hosting an introduction to para hockey for women and families at the Richmond Oval in late September.
"I'm super excited to get more women involved," she said. "The [World Championships] is such an incredible opportunity to showcase our sports, but above all else, push toward that equity in sport — especially gender equity."
Although the International Paralympic Committee categorizes hockey as a mixed-gender sport, only three women have ever cracked a national team. It's one reason females at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games made up less than 25 per cent of the athletes.
"We can't let our foot off the throttle at this point," said Assinck. "We really need to keep on pushing, making sure that there's just as many women's teams as men's teams represented at upcoming Paralympic Games."
Canada takes on Great Britain on Thursday in Slovakia before moving on to Saturday's semi-finals.
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