Ice sledge hockey gathers fixtures for World Series

“This could be especially useful for teams in the build-up to major Championships and Paralympic Games, and in the seasons in-between to assess their progress.”

IPC Ice Sledge Hockey has asked countries to submit their national team fixtures to be included in the 2015-16 World Series, to build on the launch of the competition last season.

With the new season approaching, IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Sport Manager Jessica Korber said it is important to keep the competition calendar growing:

“The last two seasons have seen interest in ice sledge hockey increase massively, thanks to the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games and then a hugely successful 2015 World Championships A-Pool in Buffalo, USA, and B-Pool in Ostersund, Sweden.

“We are determined to continue to build the competition calendar outside of these major events, but we need the support of teams to do so.

“We know that games and tournaments happen routinely every season and we are encouraging organisers to put their fixtures forward for the World Series, so that we can build a buzz every year for fans and the media to follow.”

In order for games and results to be recognised as part of the series, organisers have to use IPC Ice Sledge Hockey statistical software provided as part of the sanctioning process.

The aim is to allow the timely publication of results and statistics for every game and player. Korber also thinks this will help teams, and the sport, develop:

“If countries can have access to this kind of data, they will be able to see what their strengths and weaknesses are, particularly compared to other countries.

“It will also allow us as a federation to provide that information on our website for everyone to analyse and adapt their own programmes accordingly.

“This could be especially useful for teams in the build-up to major Championships and Paralympic Games, and in the seasons in-between to assess their progress.”

Organisers can submit their fixtures to be part of the World Series by email at ipcicecledgehockey@paralympic.org by 6 November.

In 2015 the USA became the A-Pool World Champions after beating 2013 gold medallists Canada. The Czech Republic and Japan were relegated to the B-Pool for the 2017 World Championships.

South Korea and Sweden sealed promotion to the A-Pool after winning gold and silver respectively at the B-Pool World Championships. Austria will compete in the newly created C-Pool after finishing bottom of the table.