On a June day when temperatures hit the low-20s, it was sledge hockey that was a featured attraction in Vancouver as four members of Canada’s National Sledge Team took to the ice with six local young sledge players for a demonstration in front of a member of England’s Royal Family.

His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, joined B.C. premier Gordon Campbell and other local dignitaries to watch Adam Dixon, Hervé Lord, Todd Nicholson and Greg Westlake on the ice at UBC Thunderbird Arena, the home of sledge hockey for next March’s Paralympic Winter Games.

The prince, seventh in line of succession to the throne, chatted for 15 minutes with the players following the demonstration and accepted three Hockey Canada jerseys with ‘WESSEX’ on the back – one for the prince and two for his children.

Prince Edward, a patron of the British Paralympic Association, is expected to be in Vancouver and Whistler for the 2010 Paralympics. He attended the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, presenting an equestrian gold medal to Canada’s Lauren Barwick.