Local national sledge hockey player Zach Savage got a taste of international competition at the recent 2016 World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Charlottetown, P.E.I. Dec. 4-10.
The 16 year old impressed his teammates and coach despite Canada having to settle for silver after losing 5-2 in the final to eternal rivals the United States.
“It was my first national tournament ever,” said Savage. “It was a great experience, it was a quite opportunity to jump into the game. I thought I brought the physicality to the game.”
Team Canada head coach Ken Babey said he liked what he saw so far.
“Zach has a lot of potential,” said Babey. “He played well against South Korea, and we plan to use him a lot more as we head into Italy. There’s still two training camps ahead of us this year. We’re projecting that Zach is going to be a large part of that. He played really well, he’s physical and has really good puck management.
“Zach suits our style of play, which is a fast physical game.”
Since the dust settled in Charlottetown, Savage has been hard at work in the gym building up his upper-body strength and preparing for the next big tournament, the 4 Nations cup in Italy.
“I’ve been really working on my strength,” said Savage. “I’m playing against grown men and I’m 16, so I have to pack it on.”
Savage is working on his shoulders and back muscles, but also has taken up hand-cycling to help improve his game.
Babey emphasized that Savage is punching well above his weight.
“He’s a young fellow, a teenager going up against men in their late 20s and 30s. A lot of teams like the United States have former military guys on their team,” said Babey. “So we want him to keep developing his strength and all aspects of learning the game. We have guys watching their games on video to figure out the things they need to improve.”
With Team Canada drawing players from towns across the nation, players are required to do a lot of their training and practice away from the team. Babey noted that Savage seemed to be fitting into the training regime quite well.
“All our players are on fitness programs, working on their sledge hockey skills away from competition,” said Babey. “We try to have something every month, whether it be a training camp or a regional camp, but then the guys go back and do the work away from us.”
After a training camp in Toronto happening Jan. 8-14 and a second camp in Calgary Feb. 4-5, the team heads to Italy at the start of March.
Then they will have another month of preparation before heading to the 2017 Para Ice Hockey World Championship in Pyeongchang, South Korea in March.
“We have a really strong team this year,” said Savage.
“I see great things coming.”
