GM Mr. Roy Hysen will be hnoured this week for his work within the deaf sports community!

A leader within the deaf sporting world, Roy has worked tirelessly to provide not just the members of the

Canadian Deaf Ice Hockey Federation, but his work with the Canadian Deaf Sports Association has been instrumental

in making changes happen for the better and increasing the visibility of deaf sports the world over.

He will be honoured this week in Ottawa when he receives the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award. 

The award will be presentedby His Excellency The Right Hnourable Governor General of Canada

Mr. David Johnston at a ceremony in Rideau Hall on Thursday morning.

Congratulations to you Roy on such a deserving and long overdue honour!

The 2nd World Deaf Ice Hockey Championships took place from March 30th to April 6th in Vantaa, Finland and our national team

represented the country with grit, determination and heart.  They ran into some stiff competition in Team Russia

 ultimately falling short in the Gold Medal game losing a hard fought battle 5-4, and taking home the silver medal

for the second straight tournament.

 A special thanks goes out to our entire staff who accompanied the team to Finland and preformed there jobs so fantastically:

GM Roy Hysen, Coach McKee, assistant coaches Patrick Bergeron and Colin Zulianello, interpreter John Markin,

therapist Carmen Chan, the hardest working guy on the team equipment manager Bucky Miller! 

They treated the players to a tremendous experience which they will never forget, thank you for all your hard work!

We congratulate the players on all there hard work and we recognize both Matt Sheffield and

Dan Salokari for being named to the tournament all star teams.

 We also want to thank the fans that travelled to Finland to support our boys.  It was great to see the fan support as we

 watched the games online and through the photos posted on the tournament web site!

Lastly, we want to thank the Finnish Deaf Sports Association and the town of Vantaa for being such gracious hosts!

Recent the WDIHC 2013 organizing committee annouced that the tournament games will be available to view online.

Nicholas Kueng from the Toronto Star conducted a few interviews with GM Roy Hysen and a few players from the Greater Toronto Area

we will start training camp tomorrow in preparation for the 2nd World Deaf Ice Hockey Championships.

Follow the link to the article

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/03/23/deaf_hockey_players_compete_on_world_stage_for_canada.html

With the World Deaf Ice Hockey Championships just a little over a month away our players are training extremely hard

in preparation for what will undoudtedly be a challenging and exciting tournament.

 The tournament web site is located at http://wdihc2013.com/

Stay tuned to our web site, Facebook and Twitter accounts as we do our best to keep you updated on the

tournament as it happens.

GO CANADA GO!

In August of 2012 the Canadian Deaf Ice Hockey Federation and the Journey to The Top committee launched a

sweater sponsorship program in an effort to raise funds for our National team to compete in the 2nd World Deaf Ice Hockey

Championship in Vantaa, Finland in March of 2013.

We are excited to annouce that through the hard work of our players, their families, our coaching staff and General Manager, as well as

both the CDIHF Board and JTTT Committee that the program has been a huge success.  Below we want to share our sponsor list and

thank them for their support of our program and recognize that without them we would not be able to make the Journey to The Top.

Sponsor list:

Athletic Knit                Whitestone Construction Ltd.                      Murray Dunn GM Dealership

Nelson Granite             Ken & Holly Anderson                                Divine Furniture Rental

Lionheart Display         Kim Rizzi                                                   Daddi Inc.

JMS Accounting            Premcorp Sales & Marketing                       McCory Associates

Tech West                   Transport N Services Inc.                             Smyth Welding Ltd.

RBC  Insurance             Ritchie's Feed N Needs                               Sherri Mcintyre RMT

KD Display                   Jeffery York                                               Mark Dunn

Thank you also goes to Athletes International who have arranged our flights to and from Finland, along with Coach Canada for transportation in Toronto.

We would also like to thank the numerous private donors for their support as well.

 Lastly, we would like to extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to the Canadian Deaf Sports Association for their continued support of

not only the CDIHF, but all deaf sports organizations across the country.

On behalf of the players, coaching staff, the JTTT committee and the CDIHF we thank everyone for there support!

Thanks to Kevin Nagle Sports Editor at insdiehalton.com for this great article on Matt!

Burlington goalie on Canadian deaf hockey team at worlds

Keeping checking back to the web site from updated information on the team and tournament schedule as we move closer and closer

towards the tournament!

2013 has arrived and the 2nd World Deaf Ice Hockey Championships are fast apporaching as final preparations are under way for what should be an exiciting two weeks in late March and early April.

The coaching and management staff are pleased to announce the selection of the Assistant Captains for our national team.  These 3 deserving young men will join Captain Steve Devine in forming a strong leadership group with a wealth of international hockey experience.

Devine was previously the Captain in 2009 at the 1st World Championships and again at the ill fated 2011 Deaflympics in Slovakia.  Steve's playing and coaching background make him the perfect choice for our Captain and he will be a role model for our younger players both on and off the ice.

Steve will be supported by three individuals and they are:  Jonathon Lobodzinski, Chris Garbacz and Jason Veillieux. 

Jonathon return to the national program after an absence in 2011, he will bring a steadying physical prescence to the defensive corps and great hockey sense.  Chris is a talented centre man who exhibits strengths in his work ethic and passion to win, and Jason who will be counted on for his offensive abilities and his commitment to making our team better.

These leaders, as selected by your coaching staff have major repsonsibilities as we strive on our 'Journey To The Top'.  We know that all players and staff will give them the support that they need throughout the tournament. 

Congratulations Steve, Jon, Chris and Jason.