There was a time when Mackenzie Spong wanted nothing to do with it.
Growing up, Spong watched her sister play hockey and wanted to join in. Born with cerebral palsy, however, she could not skate and was prevented from taking the ice. Then she discovered sledge hockey.
Even though it was not love at first skate, the encounter changed her young life.
“I cried the first time on the ice. I was cold and wet. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to be there,” said now 17-year-old first-year Kinesiology student said of her 7-year-old self.
“But after my first game I was hooked. I scored two goals – not by actually shooting the puck, but just sitting in the right spot and having the puck hit off me. But I absolutely fell in love with it.”
Today, Spong balances time between representing her country on the ice while raising the profile of her sport off the ice with the goal of expanding opportunities for girls across the country and around the world. And yes, she also manages to go to class.
With roots dating to the 1960s, sledge hockey incorporates the same rules and structure as regular ice hockey. Sledge hockey players, however, sit on specially designed sleds – or ‘sledges’ – with skate blades under the seat. Two sticks are used to not only pass, stickhandle and shoot the puck, but also to propel and maneuver their sledges.
Spong burst onto the national scene quickly. While playing at a tournament with the London Blizzard, a local sledge hockey club team, Spong met the President of Women’s Sledge Hockey of Canada who encouraged her to try out for the national women’s team. She was only 13 years old.
“I never had the plan of making the national team; it was just for fun at first,” Spong said. “My parents were super reluctant at first. They were thinking about my schooling. I kind of begged and pleaded for them to let me go.
“I went for the tryouts not expecting to make the team. I figured it would be a good experience, I would see what I needed to work on, and I’d maybe come back next year or in a couple years. But I ended up getting a call that I made the team.”
Still the youngest player ever to make the Canadian Women’s National Sledge Hockey Team, Spong begins her fourth year on the roster as one to the veterans.
“Now I have the experience, but you still have to try out every year,” she said. “First tryouts I didn’t have anything to lose, so I just went out there and had fun. Second year I got really nervous because I had something to lose. But I just kept progressing and getting better and stronger.”
While not a funded sport in Canada – with all costs covered by players and led by volunteer coaches and staff – the national team has afforded Spong the opportunity to play across Canada, as well as travel to Australia, Netherlands, Norway and Czech Republic.
“It’s been so amazing getting to be with the team and travel with them – that’s my favourite part,” she said. “Over the last four years, it’s pretty much been the same players, so we have gotten close and it’s been awesome to see the growth of all the players that made the team when I first did.”
This year, selection camp was held during Western’s move-in weekend. A pair of training camps will be held throughout the year, including one next month in Alberta. Spong is also still playing locally with the Blizzards.
It is a lot to juggle for a first-year university student.
“I’m still trying to figure that out,” Spong laughed. “I put my mind to it. If I get work, I do it automatically, do it right away and I know it’s done. It’s time management. I know when I have nationals and club stuff to work around.”
The sport is continuing to expand in popularity, but there is plenty of growth to be accomplished.
Spong would love to compete in the Paralympic Games – one day.
Two decades after Canada established its first national team in 1982, ice sled hockey became an official event at the 1994 Paralympic Winter Games in Norway – but only for men. Mixed teams were added to the competition in the 2010 Paralympic Game Games in Canada. Women’s sledge hockey is still not officially recognized as an official Paralympic sport.
“We’re stuck in this grey area,” she said. “In order to get recognized by the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) we need to have the teams. But in order to get the teams we need to have the recognition. It’s hard to get out of the cycle – but we are getting closer.
“Our immediate goal is to grow the sport and made sure young girls who are interested start playing. As players we all enjoy talking to people about it and making people aware, which is part of the job of being on the national team. That helps it grow around the world.”