Hockey Canada announced today that Dawson Creek will host the 2025 Para Cup, marking the first time since the inaugural tournament in 2007 that the event will be held in British Columbia.
“This is best on best hockey,” says Tyler McGregor, Team Canada Captain. “And any chance we have the opportunity to do that, it makes for some pretty heated rivalries over the years.”
McGregor tells CJDC-TV that his passion and commitment to hockey ignited at a young age. Similar to many Canadian youths, he always dreamed of one day joining the ranks of the National Hockey League (NHL) or Team Canada.
“I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to play hockey for most of my childhood, and now in a different way than I ever anticipated,” said McGregor.
At the age of 15, the Ontario native was on the brink of entering his OHL draft year. However, during the first game of the season, he suffered a fracture to his tibia and fibula, leading to a nearly six-month-long recovery journey.
Over time, a mass developed on the side of the fracture – it turned out to be a form of bone cancer known as spindle cell sarcoma. After eight months of chemotherapy and the amputation of his left leg above the knee, he re-learned to walk and skate using a prosthetic leg.
“It just didn’t offer me the opportunity to be a high-performance athlete, to be competitive. So, I got in a sled for the first time and I’ve never looked back,” said McGregor.
Since taking up sledge hockey in 2011, he has built an impressive player profile. He won silver medals at both the 2018 and 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, a bronze medal in 2014, and several other medals in the IPC World Para Hockey Championship and the Para Hockey/World Sledge Hockey Challenge.
He also led Canada’s National Para Hockey Team to a gold medal victory against the United States in last year’s World Para Hockey Championship when he gave Anton Jacobs-Webb the game-winning goal with a behind-the-net feed with 5:54 remaining in the second period.
McGregor now not only serving as an inspiration to fans, but assuring spectators that the ‘Team Canada’ momentum will be kept alive when the team leaves Dawson Creek with another gold medal.
“We understand that, like, being defending world champions, you start to become the ones that are hunted in a way,” said McGregor.
Today’s announcement took place at Co-Op Mercer Hall in Dawson Creek. Attendees included Mayor Darcy Dober, representatives from the Doig River First Nations, the Chief of the Saulteau First Nation, and mayors from neighbouring municipalities such as Pouce Coupe and Tumbler Ridge.
It was followed by a sledge hockey demonstration at Kin Arena where members of Dawson Creek City Council took to the ice with McGregor to see how it’s done.
“This is a world event coming to the Peace Country, which brings people from all over the world, and we get to showcase our region and what we’re about,” Dober told CJDC-TV. “The youth firsthand that get to be inspired by this -- that last s longer than the event.”
The tournament will also help shape the roster for the Milan 2026 Paralympic Games.
The event will be held at the Ovintiv Centre from November 30 to December 6th, 2025.
“When you see it live in comparison to, to any other form of, of watching our sport, it is it’s phenomenal to see,” said McGregor.
While a full event schedule is yet to be announced, early-bird ticket packages are now available.