Billy Bridges | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada | 22 May 1984||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Catches | Right | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing career | 1998–present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Billy Bridges (born 22 March 1984) is a Canadian ice sledge hockey and wheelchair basketball player. Born in Summerside, he has spina bifida. On July 1, 2011, Bridges married former Olympic women's ice hockey player Sami Jo Small. He competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, in Para ice hockey winning a silver medal. [1]
He began playing ice sledge hockey in 1997, aged 12, for the Kitchener Sidewinders. Aged 14, he was selected for Canada's national team, the youngest player ever to be picked. He has World Championship golds from 2000, 2008, 2013 and 2017 and Paralympic gold from 2006, [2] where he was picked for the All-Star Team.
As well as ice sledge hockey, he has a career as a wheelchair basketball player, including seven Canadian titles with Team Ontario. In 2001, he also competed at the Junior World Championships, and in 2005 was selected as the team's most valuable player (MVP).
He completed at the 2019 World Para Ice Hockey Championships, and 2021 World Para Ice Hockey Championships, winning silver medals. [3]
Year | Event | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
2007 | World Sledge Hockey championships | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 10 |
2008 | World Sledge Hockey championships | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
2009 | World Sledge Hockey championships | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
Sledge hockey, also known as Para ice hockey, is an adaptation of ice hockey designed for players who have a physical disability. Invented in the early 1960s at a rehabilitation centre in Stockholm, Sweden, and played under similar rules to standard ice hockey, players are seated on sleds and use special hockey sticks with metal "teeth" on the tips of their handles to navigate the ice. Playing venues use an ice hockey rink.
The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Winter Paralympic Games are held every four years directly following the Winter Olympic Games and hosted in the same city. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) oversees the Games. Medals are awarded in each event: with gold for first place, silver for second, and bronze for third, following the tradition that the Olympic Games began in 1904.
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