Canadian wheelchair rugby set to begin quest for Paralympic gold

RIO DE JANEIRO — The Canadian wheelchair rugby team has earned medals in the last three Paralympic Games, but the golden prize still eludes this squad.

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A veteran-laden squad is looking to change that, and with the experience on the team, they believe they have the right people around to make it happen.

"Leadership has been part of our team program forever," said five-time Paralympian David Willsie. "Obviously it's not my first Games, but when it was, we had great leadership, and we just keep passing the torch on and on. That's about as cool as it gets and for our young guys, they're full of swag and ready to go."

The torch has most recently been taken over by co-captain Trevor Hirschfield, who is competing in his third Games. The all-star low-point player from Langley, B.C., is doing everything he can to push his team to its full potential.

"It's a lot of leading by example," said Hirschfield. "It's easy to get up when you're going to the Paralympics or world championships, but it's hard when you've got to wake up every morning and go to the gym by yourself," Hirschfield said. "I think those are the most important days to go, and to make sure I'm always there without an excuse is important to me."

The Canadians have a combined 24 Paralympic Games of experience between them heading into Rio – including five each from Willsie, Ian Chan and Patrice Simard.

Canada's quest begins at Carioca Arena 1 when they take on the host nation Brazil Wednesday night (CBCSports.ca, 6:05 p.m. ET). Tough matchups against Australia and Great Britain will follow, with the wheelchair rugby final wrapping up the Paralympics on Sunday, the final day of competition. After a long wait, Hirschfield acknowledged that the excitement has been building up in the locker room for days.

"We finally get to play someone else other than ourselves and we're looking forward to it. When you get to see all your fellow Canadians competing and you're cheering them on, it just makes you want to get out there even more."

Canada will need to win at least two of their three round-robin games to advance to the knockout stage. With the level of competition steadily increasing internationally over the past few years, Hirschfield knows it will be a tough road. No matter what happens, the team will stick together. 

"It's a big family," he said. "You can really see how supportive everyone is in our personal lives. We're not just here to play rugby and that's it. We're constantly in communication and at any big events, we are supporting each other outside of rugby."

With a smile, he did mention one downside to being such a close-knit group.

"It makes it hard when people get married, because there's a lot of people to invite."