One the heels of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Canada’s Paralympic team may very well surpass the 26 medals it won last month, with one of Canada’s strongest medal contenders being in men’s sledge hockey.
The long-time captain of the Canadian Para ice hockey team, Greg Westlake, is suiting up at the Olympics for the fifth time. Westlake made his national team debut at 17 and two decades later, he’s calling it a career as he’ll be retiring after these Games.
Over that span, Westlake has been on three world championship-winning teams, and he won gold in 2006, bronze in 2014, and silver in 2018 across his previous four Paralympic Winter Games.
Westlake has already been busy as he was chosen as flag bearer alongside Wheelchair curler Ina Forrest. This is the first time Canadian flag bearer duties at the Paralympic Games has been shared honour.
The on-ice action for Canada starts on March 5, against its rival the United States, at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium at 12:05 a.m. ET.
Before he competes for the last time, I caught up with Westlake to find out his mindset heading into his last Olympic competition, being compared to Wayne Gretzky (whose Gretzky Estates is one of his sponsors), and the pressure to represent Canada in hockey.
Sportsnet.ca: We're getting close. What are the feelings as we get close to tournament time?
Greg Westlake: It's been such as such a weird build for a Games with Covid and all that stuff. There's part of me that's just happy that they're happening because two years ago, we were talking about cancellations. We were talking about new venues. We were talking about everything but competing for gold medals. For an athlete, especially as a Paralympic athlete or just an amateur athlete in general, you're just craving an opportunity. You're craving the chance to go wear the colours, wear the maple leaf, and make your country proud.
SN: Were you training not knowing if and when the thing you're training for is going to happen?
GW: Yeah. And that was the tough part. I really related to a lot of the Olympic and Paralympic athletes that were at the Summer Games in Tokyo and really related to this Games as well, because there really was some high times and low times during the training where you didn't know what was happening. And there was a lot of cancellations along the way. Exhibition games and tournaments that we love to host and events that we love to throw and have other countries too, we weren't able to do. It's been really hard.
But we're a professional practice team right now. We've had a lot of intra-squad games. We've really pushed ourselves in the red and white games, and we've done everything we can do. We've left no stone unturned. So, as I said, we're excited to go compete. But yeah, there was a lot of dark days there where you're just begging yourself what seemed like for no reason, and you're doing max strength and max cardio, not knowing where it's leading. And those are tough workouts.
SN: You had a bit of a dry run. Are there learnings from watching or talking to other athletes, the Summer Games or the Winter Games that you can apply to going into Beijing and what is an unprecedented time?
GW: Absolutely. I'm good friends with a lot of the women who are on the women's hockey team. Congrats to them, by the way, for taking home gold. It was an amazing game. We all stayed up and watched it together over here. And in talking to them, just like in classic Olympic and Paralympic fashion, the volunteers have been amazing. They always bring the energy 24/7 at the Games, and they've done everything they can do to make sure that you still feel like you're getting that experience. And at the end of the day, people always tell you about gold medals is you'll have it forever.
That's what they always say about championships and winning teams. Is it something that nobody can ever take away from you? And that's the exciting part is we get to go there and try to achieve something that nobody can take away from you. I want to show my grandkids one day. I want to take a gold medal into children's rehabilitation hospitals and show them this tangible thing that you can achieve. So, whether I do that in front of five people or 500,000, I honestly don't care.
SN: You talked about the missed competitions leading up for Paralympic athletes, having a platform is so important to showcase the sport, but also to have important conversations. Given the pandemic and all that we've lost, what is the impact of the loss of competition and this platform for Paralympic athletes and sledge athletes specifically?
GW: It's been somewhat detrimental. I'm lucky. I have a tremendous group of partners and family and people around me that make sure that we can still do things. We did a lot of charity events on Zoom. We zoomed in and met kids over the entire year, whether it was people battling cancer or whatever they were going through. So, we still did quite a bit of public outreach. I'm very fortunate enough that a lot of people stayed with me, even though we weren't able to do in person events. Right now, it's a dream come true. Working with a company like Gretzky Estates right now, I'm getting the opportunity to still live out my dream of being a full-time athlete, doing the events I want to do. And people have been in my corner, had my back and really made it possible for me to focus on hockey this year.
SN: All dreams end at some point. How are you at this point reconciling that you might be going through all of these experiences for the last time and then starting a new chapter?
GW: Well, I think it's all about how do you mentally frame things? Isn't that life? The playing days will end, but advocacy never stops. And the dreams and ambitions that I have, they don't end when that final game ends. I'm going to come home and keep pounding the same drum that I have been pounding and looking for opportunities for people with disabilities. And right now, we're seeing just an amazing shift in the sporting world for minorities and people just getting opportunities. And it's been fun for me to train this year and sit back as a casual fan and see all these amazing people get amazing opportunities. And I can't wait to finish playing and throw my hat in the ring for some of these opportunities as well.
SN: From a Canadian perspective, if those colours are playing, people are invested. And no matter what level of competition, the expectation is gold. The passion is great but coming into sledge specifically, they might just assume that the same things are true from watching traditional Olympic competition, where the assumption is you need to beat the Russians and Americans, but we expect gold. Can you put into context what the competition is looking like for Team Canada and how fair or unfair that burden is?
GW: It's an absolutely amazing question, and you're spot on because that does happen in our sport. And there's been years where maybe we were the No. 3 or fourth-ranked team going into a Games, but that expectation is still the same. And oddly enough, the last time we went into a Games ranked fourth was 2006 in Torino, Italy, and we ended up winning the gold. And then there's another tournament we were ranked No. 1 and came out with a bronze or a silver.
It's always hard to play into those expectations, but for us, there's a lot of parody in our sport. And we open our tournament against the USA. And we have a really tough schedule. So, you're not going to tune in and see 13-1 games, 15-1 games. You're going to right off the hop see some really competitive, really intense hockey. And I like that. To me, that's a selling feature of our sport. That's something that can get Canadians engaged and really want to pay attention to it. So, yeah, you're dead right.
The expectations are heavy, they're hard, but they're worth it in the end.
SN: You mentioned paying attention to the female hockey competition that just happened and we had a broader conversation on whether or not the lack of parity means that we should change how we view the significance of that medal. As someone who's in it and competes and understands, I'm curious what your viewpoint is on that conversation, on the lack of parity in women's sport, but also at the same time trying to figure out the way to grow women's sport.
GW: It really makes me think of the quote “leadership is lonely and it's lonely at the top” and what these women are doing when you look at the Canadians and the Americans is pretty amazing. And you need to push it to a level for other people to aspire to. Sometimes it won't seem like the fairest thing. But these women, they train full-time. For us as Paralympians, we train full-time. And the reason we do that is so that other countries who aspire to be at that level can look at it and say if we want to get there, if we want to be Olympic or Paralympic gold medallist, that's how hard we have to work. And it's a really high bar. And it's not going to seem fair at the start. But as it builds and as it grows and as other countries catch up, it's worth it.
When you look at the men's game right now, look how good Finland is, a country of just 5.5 million people and how well they do at ice hockey. Well, they have the right training habits, they have the right coaching, the right tactics, the right systems in place.
There is a way to do it. But countries have to be willing to put in the resources to make it happen. And that's one of the reasons I'm so proud to be Canadian is because we're a country that gives people with disabilities opportunities. It allows me to train to be an athlete. We give women opportunities, people of colour opportunities, sexual orientation, those opportunities are there. And so often when you look at a country, their treatment of Paralympic athletes, their treatment of women, you can often get a little sight into how that country treats their people. So, it's one of the things that makes me really proud to be Canadian.
SN: You have been someone who has pushed the bar in sledge and Paralympic sport. Because of that, I'm sure you've heard the descriptors come because you’re so decorated. Greg Westlake is the Wayne Gretzky of sledge. I wonder how you take that, whether that is somewhat of a compliment or whether it robs you of some of your own individuality and agency. When we make those sort of cross-competition comparisons, how does that sit with you?
GW: Wayne Gretzky is the GOAT. He's the greatest of all-time. He's the best hockey player to ever play. Where I like the comparison is the passion for Canadian hockey. I can never even speak on skill. I'm not even that type of player. I'm more of a gritty, two-way kind of guy. I dreamed to be Wayne Gretzky. But for me, where it shines through and you can relate to this is the other day I was on YouTube and I watched the speech he gave from the 2002 Games after Theo Fleury was getting cross-checked in the back. He came out and said “man, Canadian hockey players are up against it. Other countries want to beat Canada. They give up their best game every time they play Canada.”
So, where I feel a relation to Wayne Gretzky is that passion for Canadians, that passion for Canada to be successful. That 2002 speech, I watched it the other day. I had goosebumps. I wanted to go play a game the next day. Then further to that, when we won gold in 2006, he called us before that gold-medal game, and he reached out and talked to us about the pride of the jersey and what it means to play for Canada.
His brother helps us run a Paralympic golf tournament every summer. Walter, when he was here, God bless Walter, he came every year and helped support our team to raise funds for Paralympic athletes. The whole family are just amazing people, passionate Canadians. Then you look at the Wayne Gretzky Estates, great on the ice, great off the ice. Everything they do is pursuing greatness. So, for me, it's just such an honour to be affiliated or even mentioned in the same breath. I'm just a proud Canadian hockey player and I love the spot I'm in.
SN: Amateur sport across the board is always in need of funding and support. And Paralympic athletes are no different. The fact that of all the athletes Gretzky Estates wanted to partner with and support that they signalled out you, how important is it for the corporate side of Canada to recognize and support Paralympic athletes?
GW: It's massive. It's also a great lesson for leadership because Wayne Gretzky didn't just have this amazing career and go hide away somewhere and enjoy life. I'm sure he's enjoying life, but then he decides to become an honorary board member of the Canadian Paralympic Committee. I'm taking these life lessons and I'm just saying “okay, when my playing days are done, what can I do next? What board can I join? How can I help?”
It's a great road map to follow. You look at the Gretzky Estates and everything that's gone on after his playing career. That's what I'm trying to emulate. That's what I'm trying to do. It's absolutely a huge honor. Here we are now pursuing greatness together. Every time I say it, I just get goosebumps and excitement to play.
SN: As Canadians are getting up, or staying up to watch you and the other Paralympic athletes compete for Canada, if there is one thing you want them to understand about the Games, about our team and about the commitment of those athletes and the support systems around them, what would it be?
GW: I'm just one small story, and for me, I would tell them why I fell in love with Paralympic sports and that's the people involved. We have military veterans on our team. We have cancer survivors on our team. But look at one of the greatest Canadians of all time, Terry Fox, and the footprint he left on our country. I feel like I'm surrounded by those types of people on a daily basis, and their stories don't get to get heard.
So, from now until March 13, everyone in Canada has the opportunity to tune in and meet some new heroes. Meet people who are community leaders and making a difference in people's lives. It made a difference in mine, and I know it will on yours.
