Surrey’s Mitchell Garrett will make his international para-hockey debut this week.
Along with Adam Kingsmill, Garrett is one of two Team Canada goaltenders at the 2023 Para Hockey Cup, which starts Sunday (Dec. 3) in Quispamsis, New Brunswick.
The six-day tournament involves teams representing Canada, China, Czechia and the United States.
Garrett, 29, played two games during Canada’s 2022-23 National Para Hockey Team Selection Camp, winning one.
A lifelong Fraser Heights-area resident, Garrett played hockey in Cloverdale starting at age 10, after a couple seasons of baseball and soccer. He was a goalie on the ice, and by age 12 had committed to playing hockey exclusively.
In July 2017, Garrett was seriously injured while camping with friends near Hope.
“It was just a regular weekend up there with my buddies,” he recalled in 2022.
“We had an ATV there and I took it out and didn’t return. They found the ATV with me in the ditch. I had to get airlifted to VGH and from there I spent around two and a half months in rehab, which was very fast, much faster than most people, and I was back skating on the ice three months after the accident.”
For the 2023 Para Hockey Cup, Hockey Canada’s 20-player roster was announced Friday (Nov. 24), following an evaluation camp in Calgary two months ago. Two goaltenders, six defence and 12 forwards were picked by head coach Russ Herrington and Marshall Starkman, manager of hockey operations.
“We are anticipating a high level of play at the upcoming Para Hockey Cup where we will aim to build off of our evaluation camp and International Para Hockey Cup play earlier this season,” Herrington said in a Hockey Canada news release.
TSN will broadcast the medal games on Saturday, Dec. 9, with pay-per-view steam on HockeyCanada.ca.