Primary navigation

The Neutral Zone

Brock Richardson and his panel of sports experts engage in a lively roundtable discussion about Parasports and professional sports news and newsmakers.

The Neutral Zone

Brock Richardson and his panel of sports experts engage in a lively roundtable discussion about Parasports and professional sports news and newsmakers.

December 20, 2022

Intro:
Are you ready? Let's go. From AMI Central. Now start playing in The Neutral Zone. Here's a pitch on the way. 36 yards for the win. This. Here comes the big chance. The shot. Is this the tiger? The Neutral Zone. This is as good as it gets. Now here's your host, two-time Paralympian Brock Richardson.

Brock Richardson:
Here we go, off and running for the last episode of 2022. I'm your host, Brock Richardson. And don't worry, I'm not crazy. I didn't make a mistake in my outfit today. Because it is our last episode before Christmas, I decided to put a green sparkly suit jacket on with candy canes, which are red on the front. And then I also have a green and a little bit of red tie on as well. Plus just for a nice effect, A Hawaiian shirt to go along with the outfit for the day. So that is what I'm wearing. And thank you for tuning in as we conclude this 2022 season of The Neutral Zone if you will. Cam Jenkins will be by a little later on in the program. Also, joining me right now is Josh Watson. Josh, how are you?

Josh Watson:
I'm doing well, Brock. It's weird to say that it's our last episode before Christmas, but then I remember that Christmas is actually this weekend and I still have to brave the mall. That was not good planning on my part. Thankfully I think I just need a couple of gift cards, so I should survive.

Brock Richardson:
You should, you should.
The malls. I was there today helping my niece get ear piercings. She's seven and so she wanted to get ear piercings and so we did that. The malls weren't too bad. You might want to go sooner rather than later because it's going to get busier. But you can brave the malls, I'm sure. Just pull your elbows up a little higher and it should be good.

Josh Watson:
Well, I could always just wear this lovely, awful sweater that I'm wearing and might scare people out of my way, but we'll see about that.

Brock Richardson:
Can you describe your sweater for-

Josh Watson:
Oh, well, if I must. It is black with some red on it. It features, just off camera here, a Grinch hand and arm reaching up that says, "You are my sunshine" coming from my belly up to my chest. And there are various flowers and peace signs and hearts and all kinds of crazy things on it. So I told everyone that I needed an ugly sweater for my Christmas party and boy did I find one. Thank you, Mr. Bezos and Amazon.

Brock Richardson:
Love it. Love it.

Josh Watson:
To my door in two days.

Brock Richardson:
You got to love that speed of Amazon. It can be good.
And also joining us is one Claire Buchanan. Claire, how are you?

Claire Buchanan:
I am doing fantastic. I have not yet invested in an ugly Christmas sweater, but I've done some window shopping for them this year, absolutely. Nothing really caught my eye yet, but I am wearing a Santa hat today just to stay festive with you guys.

Brock Richardson:
Yes, yes.
There was no mandate per se as you-

Claire Buchanan:
Slight expectation.

Josh Watson:
A little bit of shaming, you know?

Brock Richardson:
Fair enough.
Obviously, as we record this, it's not yet been released, but it will be. And I know that our manager of AMI-audio, who's also the manager of all the podcasts and whatnot, he will respond invariably with, "Wow, you look like Don Cherry today." This is good. So I look forward to get that sometime before the holiday break commences. But as we always say, before we can talk about a break, we need to do today's show. So to do that, let's get into our headlines.

Speaker 5:
Neutral Zone headlines. Headlines. Headlines.

Josh Watson:
A big congratulations goes out to Argentina for winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The score was tied three-three at the end of regulation with Argentina ultimately winning the game in penalty kicks. This is the first time that Argentina and Lionel Messi have won the event. This basically caps off what is a stellar career for Messi. However, he has said that he does not plan to retire from international competition as of yet. So we will see what the future holds for Argentina and Lionel Messi.

Brock Richardson:
Sometimes the adrenaline of winning a championship like that kicks in and you kind of go, "Yeah, I'm not ready to let this go." So we'll see in a few months whether he decides to continue, but it was a wonderful, wonderful final. One of the best that I've seen, albeit a small sample size, but definitely up there in the top.
Moving on to the Parasport world, the Boccia Championships, Boccia World Championships, excuse me, took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Canada came home with one medal in doubles. Congratulations goes out to Alison Levine and Iulian Ciobanu from Montreal. This marks the first international medal for Canada in more than a decade. Congratulations to all involved.

Josh Watson:
Congratulations indeed. Continuing in the Parasports world, the goalball world championships concluded and here are the final results. On the men's side, the gold medal went to Team Brazil, the silver medal went to Team China and the bronze went to Team Ukraine. Canada finished 13th on the women's side. Excuse me, Canada finished 13th in the men's goalball.
On the women's side, the gold medal went to Turkey, the silver to South Korea and the bronze to Israel. On the women's side, Canada finished fourth. Congratulations to both men's and women's teams. That is a very respectable finish and hopefully, we will see them continue to rise in the rankings as time progresses.

Claire Buchanan:
For the first time in over two decades, the GTA will host the Women's World Hockey Championships, which will be coming to Brampton, Ontario, in 2023. The event will be held from April 5th to 16th at the CAA Center. The event will host 10 teams, including Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. As a Brampton native myself, I am really excited that this is coming home.

Brock Richardson:
Yes, here, here to that. As a Brampton native myself, I was really excited and will be going to a few games if I can get my hands on it.
Those are your headlines. Let's check in on our Twitter poll question. Let's go back to last week when we asked you, are you surprised that outfielder Aaron Judge remained a New York Yankee? 78% of you said no. 22% of you said yes. This week's question ahead of the World Hockey, sorry, World Junior Hockey Championships, as we're going to have Sam Cosentino along in a bit. How do you think Canada will do at the upcoming championships? Gold, silver, bronze, or no medal? You can cast your votes at our Twitter handle coming out right now.

Speaker 6:
And welcome back to The Neutral Zone AMI broadcast booth.
Play Ball.
And we are set to get this ballgame underway. The first pitch brought to you by Brock Richardson's Twitter account at Neutral Zone BR.
Strike.
First pitch strike and hey gang, why not strike up a Twitter chat with Clair Buchanan for The Neutral Zone? Find her at neutral zone CB. And there's a swing at a chopper out to second base right at Claire. She picks up the ball, throws it over to first base for a routine out. And fans, there is nothing routine about connecting with Cam and Josh from The Neutral Zone at Neutral Zone Cam J and at J Watson 200. Now that's a winning combination. And this Oregon interlude is brought to you by AMI Audio on Twitter. Get in touch with The Neutral Zone. Type in @ AMI audio.

Brock Richardson:
As I mentioned off the top of the program, we have a busy, busy show ahead of us, which begins now with... It's not even just my opinion, it's a general opinion that Sam Cosentino is the best junior hockey analyst in the country. In addition to junior hockey, he is also a panellist for some National Hockey League games on Sportsnet and he joins us now from Toronto, Ontario to talk all about the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship.
Sam, hello. Nice to have you on our video podcast. I know this isn't the first time joining us, but it's the first time on our video podcast. Nice to have you along.

Sam Cosentino:
Yeah. Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to the discussion.

Claire Buchanan:
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of what's going to be happening on the ice, can you give us a little insight on... Last week we covered what's happening with Hockey Canada and that with the tournament they're now mandating that any member representing Canada at the tournament must disclose any criminal activity and whether or not that they have been given any disciplinary action with the organization as well as a full search of their social media. What are your thoughts on this?

Sam Cosentino:
To be honest with you, I think anyone who represents the country, not just hockey, should be subject to those things. I believe that's the case. If you're representing an entire country, then you should represent the values of the country you're representing. So it's probably long overdue and I hope it sets precedents for the rest of the sports world as well.
But listen, there's been a lot of talk about what's happened with Hockey Canada specifically. They deserve to be called for the way in which they've handled the various incidences and there has been a reckoning, at least the start of a reckoning, in terms of replacing the president, the CEO of the board. And we're starting to see that transitional board be put into place now and already impact some immediate change. Now does it mean that, hey, that's it, new board we're off and running?
No, it doesn't mean that Claire. What it means is that you have to have a starting point. This is the starting point. I'm not sure if everybody's aware, but the transitional board has been given a year to do things, which isn't a lot, but it does give additional time to find a chair of the board and to establish what the board's going to look like in the future.
But with the immediacy of everything that had happened, something needed to happen here quickly and happened on the 17th of December and I think now that Hockey Canada is ready to carry it forward. But getting back to the original question, I think anyone who represents Canada should be subject to those same things.

Josh Watson:
During the last World Junior Hockey Championship, we saw that the attendance numbers were down quite a bit. Some said it was because of the issues with Hockey Canada, others say it's because of the time of year. What is your take on that and do you think it's going to be a similar situation this time around?

Sam Cosentino:
Well, I think there was both elements were at work there to have an impact on the attendance, but also with some of the sponsors leaving, a lot of times you'll have people that either are connected through the sponsors or through friends of sponsors, if you will, who will buy tickets to be at the event. So surely that was a mitigating factor as well.
When I look at Halifax, from a pure ability to host, Halifax is world-class. They've done all kinds of different things, events in the past. I was there most recently in 2019 for the Memorial Cup. The city knocked it out of the park. The city has the infrastructure in terms of hospitality, hotel rooms, restaurants, nightlife that can support a big event and it will do so quite well. But some of those same things are going to exist. There will be some people that say that they're going to boycott the event for the transgressions that Hockey Canada has been a part of for such a long time.
There will be those who, again, are connected with sponsors, some of whom are absent for this event as well, who will not be in attendance. And there will be some people that, quite frankly, that with where we are economically as a society, that can't afford to or do not want to spend their discernible dollars there.
So again, there's a lot of different factors that are going to work towards it. Can we blame it specifically on the transgressions of Hockey Canada? I don't think so. I do think that it is a factor, but surely not the sole factor in what we might see. And hey, we're not there yet. For this group of players to be held to the standards of what those have done before them isn't necessarily fair either. So this is a new group of kids, none of whom were associated with 2018 scandal and allegations. And so I don't know if it's fair to hold that group to those standards until it's proven that someone in the group has had their transgressions of their own.

Claire Buchanan:
Any tournament that we go into internationally, if you're wearing the Canada jersey, you're expected to at least go in there and fight for a gold medal, whether it be Women's, Men's Paradise Hockey under eighteens. If we look at the roster going into this tournament, what do you expect the turnout to be in regards to the Canadian team?

Sam Cosentino:
Well, I think they've put together a really good team and I think that in their continued discussions to get players who were playing in the NHL like Dylan Gunther and Brent Clark and Shane Wright, when those discussions came to fruition and those players were added, it really changed the complexion of this group because now you have a defenseman that you would expect to be in your top pairing, at least your top four. You have two forwards in both Gunther and Shane Wright who are going to be in your top six.
And so now you bump the other players down and what it does is essentially expand the depth of the group by adding those three players with National Hockey League experience. So from a pure-on-ice perspective and what I would project this team to be, I would expect it to contend for a medal if not a gold medal. I do have some concerns about what's happening. [inaudible 00:15:39] hasn't had the strongest year. Thomas Milic is a guy who's a little bit unproven on the international stage. But I do like what they bring to the table with their forward group and the depth on defence as well.

Josh Watson:
Continuing to talk about the roster, in any world junior hockey championship in the past there's always been a name or two on the team that wasn't necessarily a household name going into the event but ends up being one at the end. Who do you think that's going to be this year?

Sam Cosentino:
Well it's interesting. There's a group of these players that were participating for Canada and won Gold in August of 2021 at under-18 championships. And while that event typically doesn't get the type of hype that the under-20 World Juniors does, it was still a pretty successful run for Canada.
So one guy who had a lot of success in that tournament and probably didn't get the recognition is a guy by the name of Brennan Hoffman. So he's a guy who was just recently traded in the Ontario Hockey League. He's a New York Rangers draft pick. He played with Shane Wright in minor hockey. They were together on a line at the under eighteens. And I would expect somehow that they'll be together here at the under twenties. And I think with that built-in chemistry he already has with Shane, his ability to really walk with his own two feet and hold his head high as a guy who can carry his own weight, I think is also very impressive for this young man. So he'd be one guy that maybe some people have heard of, but maybe not necessarily because his most recent successes internationally were at the under 18 level.

Claire Buchanan:
Goaltending is always a hot topic at the tournament. With one week left to go, who do you think is going to emerge as our one number one goalie between the pipes?

Sam Cosentino:
Oh man. I am so fascinated by that competition. I think Gudroz is the incumbent type of guy there. So he does have some experience with the program. Thomas Milic not as much, but Milic comes from a really good program as well.
So honestly, I don't know if we're going to see the 1-A 1-B flip-flopping. When I look at the schedule, it kind of leans towards each guy playing games early on. Now the 26th might be somewhat telling of who gets the tournament moving forward, but when I look at their games, I believe on the 28th and 29th against Austria and Germany, if I'm not mistaken, those are games that one goalie will get one of each and that might determine who carries the ball moving forward.
So there'll be a couple of indicators, see what happens on the 26th, see what happens in either of the two games on the 28th and the 29th and I think we'll have a better answer as to what it looks like on New Year's Eve and then into the medal round after that.

Josh Watson:
Now all of these teams, of course, are strong going into this tournament, but is there one who's likely to be Canada's biggest competition?

Sam Cosentino:
I would say two. I'd say the Swedes are really, really good, deep-filled with already drafted NHL prospects and a couple of prospects who will be in the first round most likely of this year's draft, including Leo Carlson, who I have number two on my most recent list.
Axel Sandin Pelikka is a defenseman, right-shot guy, but 190 pounds, 5-11. He's probably a guy who ends up going in the latter stages of the first round. So I really like what Sweden has in terms of their depth. A little bit like Canada, that there are some concerns about the goaltending.
And oddly enough, I'd say the same thing about the US. I look at Luke Hughes as being an anchor back there, the third Hughes brother, to get an opportunity to play at the world juniors. None of the two previous have won a gold medal. So Luke will definitely be inspired by that. And I look at their depth and forward group thinking about guys who were drafted last year, like Logan Cooley and Cutter Goche, Jimmy Snugarood plus guys who, from even the year before, who will return as players. So they have an abundance of depth as well. But I'd probably put those three teams as my contending teams.

Claire Buchanan:
When it's all said and done, let's get the predictions out. Where do you see Canada falling or finishing at this event?

Sam Cosentino:
Probably Canada, USA, Sweden, in that order. That's the way... I got to wear my [inaudible 00:19:57].

Claire Buchanan:
Absolutely.

Sam Cosentino:
Yeah.
So that's the way I see it shaking down.

Brock Richardson:
We love that.
Listen the world Juniors has always been a rite of passage of mine. I remember the first one I watched was when Sid the Kid, who's not so much a kid anymore, participated and it gripped me ever since then.
But Sam, you have your finger on the junior hockey so much and something that's always puzzled me, and I'll give you some background. I was in Buffalo in 2011 when Dave Cameron was the coach and they blew that big lead they had. And I was going in the intermission saying, "Oh, Canada's got this. We're going to see a gold medal, this is good and it's all good." And then we know what happened there. But then we saw Dave Cameron return last World Juniors and I was puzzled. I was like, "This is the guy that was the coach behind the bench last time we blew this." And then he did a really nice job. Why don't we ever see coaches go back-to-back? Is it just simply because it's such a privilege to be at the helm of a team at that skill level?

Sam Cosentino:
I think there's a couple of different factors. I think you want to spread the wealth a little bit and give as many people opportunities as possible. And typically you look at the progression as those who come in who might be a little bit younger or less experienced. With Hockey Canada, we get an opportunity to come in as an assistant coach and typically you'll see one of those assistant coaches emerge as the head coach at some point down the line. But having that experience in a short tournament is extremely valuable. I guess in my books, if I were on the selection committee, would probably be a prerequisite for me to have that. And not necessarily head coaching experience, but at least coaching experience and some time in the program of excellence, be it under seventeens, the under eighteens, the Helinka Gretzky cup. Those events are all important and provide the coaching staff with a lot of pressure to perform.
And so I think that's a necessary element to what you want to have with an under 20 because the pressure is the most of all of those events, the U20 presents the most pressure for amateur players, if you will. So I think that's part of it.
I also think that it's really time-consuming. So if I'm a CHL coach and I'm being tasked with the World Juniors, well hey, I'm still running my bench in the OHL, WHL, Quebec Major Junior League, wherever it is. And that requires a ton of time, but I have to take some time off of that to be able to provide the necessary input, scouting time, meetings and so on and so forth to coach the under-20 team. To ask someone to do that two years in a row and to take away from what their normal paying job is, can be a challenge to organizations as well.
So typically you don't see it. It was a lot more prevalent going back in the mid two thousands. We saw Brent Sutter with a great run, of course. Dominic Desherm got a couple of opportunities as well, but that's not something you're likely to see unless maybe you get a team in the CHL that's on its down cycle and can afford the time and the resources to replace that coach when they're on the clock with Hockey Canada.

Brock Richardson:
Sure, and that makes total sense.
I think that you have to go back to where your bread is buttered and at the end of the day, if your bread is buttered in a junior bench, well that's your first priority. And to me, I think it is a privilege for those coaches to do that. And of course they want to do it, but two years in a row might be a bit much. So thank you for that little extra insight. We appreciate it.
Sam, thank you so much for taking the time to do this. We greatly appreciate it and enjoy the world Juniors. I guess my final question is going, will you be there?

Sam Cosentino:
I will be there for the medal round beginning January 1st. I have some other work duties to take care of ahead of that. Summit studio, a game in Detroit, but I will be there for the medal round.

Brock Richardson:
Awesome. Like I said, Sam Cosentino is the best in the business in my opinion. Sam, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

Sam Cosentino:
Too kind. I love the cheese head back there, by the way, Claire.

Brock Richardson:
Some of us don't, but that's fine.

Claire Buchanan:
Hey, go pack. We play tonight. So...

Brock Richardson:
Yes. If you like this interview or any others we do, this is how you can get ahold of us by voicemail.

Announcer:
If you want to leave a message for the Neutral Zone, call now 1-866-509-4545. And don't forget to give us permission to use your message on the air. Let's get ready to leave a voicemail.

Brock Richardson:
Well, as we move on through the program, we're going to jump right into another interview, and that is... We're going to be joined by Great Britain's Stacey Quirk, who recently competed in the C Division Para Ice Hockey Tournament, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand. And they came home with a gold medal. And she joins us now to talk all about it. Now, I want to let the listener in to know that it is like 9:33 according to my computer where Stacey is. So Stacey, we really appreciate the time in being up so late to join us on this video podcast. Thank you so much.

Stacey Quirk:
No problem. Thank you having me.

Claire Buchanan:
Stacey, I want to start off by asking why does it mean so much to you personally to be a part of growing women's para hockey?

Stacey Quirk:
I mean, that's a big question. Right? I think GB, as a team, we are coming into this fight pretty late. The Canadians, the Americans, you guys have really kind of fighting this game for a long, long time to try and get a fair representation of women in the sport. So I guess over the last 14 to 18 months that we've been playing, you know, you sort of start playing, it's quite fun and all that kind of stuff, but actually over time you start to hear all the stories about the challenges that you guys have faced over so many years and you start to get this fire in your belly and you want to play a part of this. And you feel like it's so unjust and you want to represent at the highest level.
But there are so many barriers that are in our way. And I think there's something about having this shared goal. It doesn't matter the fact that we're enemies on the ice, but actually as a collective we're coming together. And the conversations that we have outside of playing ice hockey, the conversations on Facebook, all of these social media groups and it just seems that there's a lot of momentum at the minute. And it feels amazing to be a part of that. We really want to help grow that game.

Josh Watson:
Now, I'm sure there are a lot of people who have at least heard of Bangkok, Thailand. And they probably don't think of it in terms of ice hockey or para ice hockey for that matter. What was it like being in Bangkok for that event?

Stacey Quirk:
I mean, it's very different to previous times that I've visited the country and the city alone. So it was just incredible from the moment we landed at the airport. We didn't really know what to expect. Thailand aren't known for their kind of hockey teams, are they? But right from the moment we landed at the airport we were very well looked after the local organizing committee, the hosts. Everyone who played a part in that, the drivers, the hotel stuff, the cooks at the rink, you couldn't have asked anything more of everyone that played a part in making that happen. And they were just so friendly, so hospitable. And we were very grateful.

Claire Buchanan:
Now, not too long ago you were in Green Bay playing at an all women's international tournament. And just recently now you've played at a C Division para hockey international division with a mixed team. And give us a kind of insight about what the C Division tournament is and what that evolves into for next steps with your guys' team.

Stacey Quirk:
Okay. So I guess it's like a tiered system. So A pool with A division, A pool would be people who represent at the Paralympics. So Canada, USA, China. I guess B pool is a middle ground. And then C pool's competition that we were in. And I guess that's more of like an introductory kind of level some extent. Some teams that might have been out of the game for a while and are just kind of reentering competition phase. So this was a mixture for us, was Austria and GB already have established programs and the other teams were brand new. So what that means for us now is that we will promote into the B pool. And it's taken us one step closer to trying to get to the Paralympics again. And so it just means a bit fiercer competition. We probably would concede goals in the next pool compared to the last competition, but much faster game, much more structured game we anticipate.

Josh Watson:
Now, we did touch on it. Claire just touched on it a moment ago that this was a mixed team. You were one of four women who had the opportunity to represent Great Britain during this tournament. Can you tell us a little bit about what that was like for you and your teammates?

Stacey Quirk:
I guess it was surreal. You know? You don't see this very often. Yeah, we haven't seen it ever. You know? Four women at an IPC competition is just madness. And so I guess we were a bit kind of nervous going into the competition. It was the first time that we'd played with the guys. We trained with them a little bit but not much. So we were just trying to navigate how to be... Being a woman was kind of... It was less of an issue. It's more about navigating how to play as a team.
I guess there were some challenges that we encountered as being women on the ice. You know? We can't hide the fact that there were some sexist comments by other teams. And it was a very small minority. That wasn't a big... You know. Not many people. But it just really makes you kind of sit back and go, "Ooh. Hang on. Some people aren't happy for us to be here." But we tried to just overlook that. We just tried to play our game and focus on what we were there to do. And in the process we managed to get four women on to start, again, against Austria. And that was a huge, huge experience for us. Yeah, very happy to do that.

Claire Buchanan:
Yeah. One of the barriers you talk about, being a female athlete in any sport is that you do face that kind of pushback a little bit. And people aren't used to you being in that space. And you come into tournaments like that and you guys are showing that women deserve a space at the table and on the ice. And your team not only won gold at this tournament, but you guys dominated the entire tournament. Please let us know what that felt like going into the tournament. What were your expectations? And I'm sure that you exceeded them, but give us a little insight of what that all felt like kind of just dominating the whole tournament through and through.

Stacey Quirk:
Yeah. Well, I mean it really was a domination, wasn't it? And I mean, I know the coaches thought that we would probably be fair contenders for a gold, but I guess as brand new athletes to this sort of world, we were just a bit, "Ooh really? Is that what's going to happen?"
So we didn't know what to expect from the other teams. The extent of our knowledge came from what you could see on social media. You know? A couple of videos and things like that. But we really didn't know what to expect. So we just thought we'll go into this, play our game, not get dragged into what any other teams are doing, and just try to kind of figure it out as we go along. I'm not sure that we thought that we were going to win by such high scores or that we wouldn't concede a single goal. I don't think anyone expected that. So it was nice surprise. And it's amazing to be a part of that.
And I think the biggest thing for the women... I have to hold that flag for the women. Right? We thought we'd probably go out there and play a bit part in the competition. Nobody expected to have that amount of ice time. We thought it'd be quite tokenistic. You know? So this was huge. It's an amazing experience to go and win a medal.

Josh Watson:
Now, you've touched on it a little bit, but I wonder if you can just expand upon what it does mean to win a gold medal for a country like Great Britain as far as growth of both the mixed game, if we can call it that, and especially the women's game of para ice hockey.

Stacey Quirk:
So para ice hockey or even ice hockey as a whole isn't well kind of known over here. I certainly never grew up watching ice hockey. So I think for many of our kind of family and friends and colleagues, this has been their first exposure to the sport. You know? Only because we are talking about it in work or amongst our friendship groups and things. So I think... And the power of social media has really spread that message for us. So I think when it's a new sport or people you know that are involved in it, you're a bit more curious about it. You know? You want to kind of know a little bit more about it. So I think we've certainly, spreading that message and the awareness about the sport and the fact that it's not... I guess when you think about ice hockey, you don't think about women necessarily getting involved. Well, I certainly didn't. So I think it's just kind of like breaking stereotypes and really showcasing what women can do.

Claire Buchanan:
Clearly, you guys went into this tournament and made history on multiple levels. And like you said, showing countries like yourself that you can be a hockey country as well. And even if you didn't grow up watching the sport like us Canadians, we definitely grew up with that hockey intuition in us, but yeah, you really showed the world that, well, and other teams that were at the tournament for the first time as well, that any country can be a hockey team and a hockey country. But what work still has to be done to grow the game even more?

Stacey Quirk:
Gosh. I think the first thing that sort of comes to mind is funding. It is so expensive to play the sport, as you know, Claire. I think I'm paying in the region of like a thousand Canadian dollars a month the minute just to play hockey. And people are paying far more than I am. So it's very difficult to get to camps, pay for the fuel to get to camps, hotels. You know? Other things like the accessibility within rinks. You know? Not just on a... Think about facilities wise. Lots of rinks, ice rinks in this country, I don't know what it's like elsewhere, but in our country they're not accessible for, say, wheelchair users. You know? And it just makes it really hard for people to train and to feel comfortable to go into that environment.
I guess we're limited on what rinks will allow in terms of public ice skating. They won't allow sledges onto the rink. So how are you supposed to develop as an athlete? I think, gosh, there's so many areas, avenues that you could go down. But even if you think about the national level, we need to increase awareness. You know? I think a lot of coaches are scared to kind of dip their toes into the para world and put themselves out there to coach squads, which means we only have a few teams in our country. There's so much more that needs to happen.

Brock Richardson:
And is there anything next for you and your team as we wind into this?

Stacey Quirk:
Yeah. So we're really lucky that about half of our GB women's squad are going to come out to Canada in January to Ontario. And I think I pronounced that right. And the reason it's really special to us is because unlike all the other events that we've participated in this year, this is an event which is open to our wider kind of team. So people who don't necessarily classify for the IPC regulated events are able to join us. And that's really important because they've played a huge part in our journey so far. And it's nice that we actually get to share the ice and kind of wind each other up, and for them to experience that taste of what we've had this year. I'm really look forward to being together as a collective.

Brock Richardson:
It's always good to travel within the parasport world. I've done it for a lot of my life. And I echo the sediments of the cost that is associated with parasports in all facets really. It's not just para ice hockey. It extends to all sports and parasports in general. I'm just curious, what kind of support system do you have to be able to have the support to be able to travel and then at this point basically fund your own way to play sport?

Stacey Quirk:
I mean, gosh, I guess that varies for everybody really. I guess the support that you get from your family and friends at home, that is key, I think. Obviously, when you are leaving to go to camps, there are people that have to stay home, look after children, look after dogs, cats, and feed your fish. But it starts there. And I think in terms of funding wise, most of us are completely self-funded. Some people get a little bit of sponsorship from, say, military organizations or something like that. But apart from that we rely on the generosity of our family and friends to help us get by or fund it completely through paid employment. Yeah, it's just a juggling act, isn't it really?

Brock Richardson:
It really is. And it's tough. You know? I think people don't realize it. They look at our passports and they say, "Oh you've travelled here or there or whatever." But the fact is that it extends beyond just in this case the ice surface, the end product and all that. So I just wanted to get a little bit of insight as to what that's like. So I appreciate it. Stacey, thanks so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. And congratulations on the gold medal. And best of luck moving forward and we hope to have you on down the line.

Stacey Quirk:
Thank you so much.

Brock Richardson:
That was Stacey Quirk who participated in the C Division Para Ice Hockey Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand recently. And she joined us from the UK.
As we wind down this holiday episode, as you see our crazy attire... Well, some of us have more crazy attire than others, but that's just the way I roll on this program. I mean, this wouldn't be the end of 2022 if we didn't have the entire gang join us for the last 12 minutes or so. And so I'm going to welcome in Cameron. Cameron, hello. Welcome to the last little bit of the program.

Cameron Jenkins:
Hello, everybody. Yeah, loving the ugly Christmas sweaters and suit. Yes. You rock.

Brock Richardson:
Yes, I got it a couple of years ago. And I had to do a ugly Christmas sweater. And I did not win said ugly Christmas sweater because my parents came in a onesie Thing 1 Thing 2 a couple of years ago. So people thought that that was more creative than my crazy suit. It's you know-

Cameron Jenkins:
Onsie.

Brock Richardson:
But I'm not bitter at all. It's fine. This is totally okay. No, no.

Cameron Jenkins:
Don't stop there.

Brock Richardson:
Not at all.

Cameron Jenkins:
No, not at all.

Brock Richardson:
So we're going to talk a little sports and then we'll wrap up the year. We know that the World Cup wrapped up in what was a thrilling fashion. It was 3-3. Three goals for France was scored by Mbappé. I think if I asked any one of the three of you and I said, "Hey Mbappé's going to score three goals," you'd all tell me, "France is winning that game." And in turn that didn't happen because they have, hey, guy named Messi on Argentina. So that would negate that a little bit. Cameron, you posted on social media this week that you're not a big soccer guy but you really enjoyed this one. Why?

Cameron Jenkins:
It was just so exciting. The drama was like off the charts. And it seemed like... You know? It was 2-0. And I remember the commentators. They were saying, "Oh yeah, the game's probably over," or they were kind of hinting towards that. And then all of a sudden, or France out of nowhere, I believe it was two goals in 67 seconds they scored to kind of tie it up. And then another goal was scored and I... Did Messi score two goals in regulation?

Brock Richardson:
Yes, I believe so because he had a-

Cameron Jenkins:
And then-

Brock Richardson:
He had a penalty kick and then he had a goal which was not a penalty kick because he got taken down in the box in the second half, which then of course you're going to send up Messi to kick that in the net. No doubt.

Cameron Jenkins:
And then Mbappé, if that's how you pronounce his name, sorry if I didn't pronounce it correctly, he scored to tie it up 3-3. And then the drama and the overtime, it's like both Mbappé and Messi scored again, I believe. Messi scored. Or was it Messi just scored in the shootout? I forget. But the drama was so great. And have to put it to penalty kicks to finish it off? That was... I was just so upset about that. I wanted another 30 minutes of them playing because it was so exciting. And I've never ever in my 49 years of watching sports-

Brock Richardson:
Sorry. Can you say that a little louder?

Cameron Jenkins:
No, I can't say that. I've never seen an exciting soccer game ever in my life. Ever. This was the most exciting game I've ever seen. And I'd rather watch paint dry half the time if I'm watching soccer. But I'm so glad I watched this game. It was phenomenal.

Brock Richardson:
Yeah, I agree. Claire, any quick sort of thoughts on the final?

Claire Buchanan:
I mean, the final I think just mirrored what the entire tournament looked like. It was exciting from start to finish. Argentina opened their tournament with a big loss. So from beginning to end, just a rollercoaster of upsets and great games. And to end it all with a final like that? Just wow. Who would've thought anyone in soccer, anyone, I don't care who you're talking about, getting a hat trick in a game, let alone the final game of the World Cup. So just-

Brock Richardson:
And yet you still lose. Like, this is a-

Claire Buchanan:
And then you still lose, which I don't care what sport we're talking about, I am not a fan of shootouts. Yeah, like Cameron said, I'd rather watch them play for another two hours. Like tennis matches go, have a five-hour soccer game. I don't care. But yeah, I'm not a big fan of shootouts. But yeah, what a finish for the World Cup. But also Messi as well. He has officially done everything you can in soccer. So congrats to them and Argentina.

Josh Watson:
Yes indeed. I had to listen to it on the radio on my way to beautiful Peterborough, Ontario yesterday because my sledge hockey team had a game. But we have a number of soccer fans on our team. So even once I got to the rink, we had somebody who had it on his phone. So we were able to keep track of it right up until we left the dressing room. So very exciting game.
And much like those commentators I was bombing down the 407 thinking to myself, "It's 2-0. This is over. Messi's got his World Cup. It's all good." And then I get into the arena and here it's tied. What? What? Tied? How did this happen? So very, very exciting. I do feel a bit for France just because it sounds like they had some kind of an illness or a flu bug going through the team by the time the final came around. But I mean, they came out flat in the first half. And so for Mbappé to put the team on his shoulders and just run with it was incredible to hear. And I'm secretly happy for Messi because, again, it is the one thing that has eluded him. So now he has his World Cup. So let's see what the future holds.

Brock Richardson:
Yeah. It's definitely going to be interesting. But it was a thrilling final. And I had to do one of my other side jobs, if you will, on Sunday. So I left my sister's Christmas party on Sunday morning, which was Saturday. And then we slept over and woke up Sunday morning. And I watched the first half. And I, like all of you, "Ah. 2-0. This is like we're jammed on." And my brother-in-law called me and he says to me, "Are you still watching?" And I'm like, "Still watching what? It's 2-0." He's like, "Ah, no. Turn it back on, sunshine. It's 2-2."
And I was gripped on my way home as I was probably poorly giving directions to my wife on the way home because I was just so gripped. And yeah, it was good and I'm really glad for Lionel Messi who got his due. And there's certain people in sports that you root for and he's one of them for me. And so I'm glad to see that he got his due and got his World Cup, if you will. And now everybody in Argentina can kind of breathe and celebrate all at the same time.
As we wrap up this program, I want to speak to our team. Our team is... Not a lot of times you get a team that is friends on and off the air. And so to conclude this 2022 version of the video podcast for the Neutral Zone, I just want to thank each and every one of you for what has been a great year and great time. We've shared some laughs on the air, off the air, a little bit of both. And this show wouldn't be possible without you guys. And so thank you very much to all of you for what you've done and just very quick highlights of this year for you guys. Josh, start with you, then Claire, then Cameron.

Josh Watson:
Well, I think the major step this year for all of us has been the fact that we're now on video. This was huge for us. We've had the opportunity to interview a lot of amazing guests, both parasport guests and conventional sport guests. And it's just been an amazing year. And I hope all three of you have a great holiday. All four of you.

Claire Buchanan:
Yeah, it's been a fantastic year. Like Josh said, you guys now get to see our ugly mugs every week, so it's been fun to being on video.

Josh Watson:
Speak for yourself, Claire.

Brock Richardson:
We're sorry.

Claire Buchanan:
Now it's matched with ugly Christmas sweaters. So yeah, enjoy that view. But looking forward to a new year with this group. And yeah, it's been so much fun. And I think one of the highlights for me is my first Canadian blind hockey tournament. So that was pretty fun. And yeah. I mean, really looking forward to the new year and I hope everyone has a good holiday.

Cameron Jenkins:
Yeah, it's been another phenomenal year with the changeover from radio to video, that we're able to talk to and see... Well, we see one another. But yeah, just for our listeners to be able to either listen to us or to view us, whatever way they want to do, it's just another way to do it. So yeah, it's been a great transition doing that.
And for this year, for me, I really enjoyed doing a lot about the Paralympics, because the Paralympics were in 2022. And we had the Chef de Mission on the program, and just talking about how well Canada did at the Paralympics getting the 25 medals that they did and they were third overall for the entire world. And also talking about Brian McKeever and his accomplishment because he's now retired. And him being the male athlete that was able to tie a record for most medals. I forget specifically what it was, but I know it was 16. And I also know that I think overall he has 20 medals. So just a spectacular achievement by McKeever. And yeah, I just love talking about the Paralympics when they come around every four years. So yeah, that was the standout to me being able to talk about that.

Brock Richardson:
Yeah. For me the standout was the beginning of this video podcast. And we had a wonderful, wonderful guest of Karen O'Neill, the CEO of the Canadian Paralympic Committee. And she's been nothing but a supporter of ours as well as the Canadian Paralympic Committee as a whole. And so I couldn't think of a better way to kick off what was our video podcast. And so we've had a great year, a great time. And I wish everybody a holiday.
On behalf of Josh, Claire, and Cameron, we wish you nothing but the best in the end of 2022. And we wish you a happy New Year. And we will see you the next time on January the 10th when our new episode gets released. I'd like to thank once again, Josh Watson, Claire Buchanan, Cameron Jenkins. I'd also like to thank our technical producer, Marc Aflalo, our manager of AMI-audio. And we'd like to send a special thank you to him is Andy Frank. Again, be safe, be well, and don't do anything we wouldn't do. And I promise you that leaves a lot open to the imagination. Have a great holiday. All the best.