CALGARY, Alta. – Canada’s National Sledge Team will take to the ice on Saturday, May 9, for the start of the 2009 IPC Sledge Hockey World Championship. The tournament is being held through May 16 in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Canada enters the event as defending gold medalist, having won the 2008 IPC Sledge Hockey World Championship in Massachusetts. Fourteen of Canada’s 15 players for this year’s championship were on last year’s gold-medal winning team.

Canada will open the 2009 tournament against host Czech Republic on May 9 at 1:30 p.m. ET. This game, along with all others at the 2009 IPC Sledge Hockey World Championship, can be seen live on webcast by going to www.paralympicsport.tv, the IPC’s Internet TV channel. Canada and Czech Republic are joined by Germany and Japan in Group A. Italy, Korea, Norway and the United States make up Group B.

Each team will play three preliminary-round games. The top two teams in each pool will then move on to cross-over semifinal games, with the gold medal game set for May 16.

In addition to its 2008 gold medal, Canada was crowned world champion in 2000 in Salt Lake City, Utah. It finished fourth at the 2004 IPC Sledge Hockey World Championship in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden.

E-mail Your Favorite Player: Fans of Canada’s National Sledge Team can send messages to their favourite players by going to hockeycanada.ca and following the links to the 2009 IPC Sledge Hockey World Championship site.