Paralympics

Paralympic wake-up: Day 3 news you might have missed from the Games

Here's a quick recap of all the important Paralympic news you might have missed overnight and what's to come later today.

Hockey dominance continues, snowboarders shut out

Billy Bridges, right, scored a pair of goals in Canada's final preliminary game. (Martin Rose/Getty Images)

The Canadian para ice hockey team notched another impressive win to book a spot in the semifinals and Brian McKeever skied his way to a historic gold, while the country's snowboarders fell short in snowboard cross at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Here's a quick recap of all the important Paralympic news you might have missed overnight and what's to come later today.

McKeever's historic gold

Canadian cross-country skier Brian McKeever is particularly fond of the quote "get busy living or get busy dying" from The Shawshank Redemption. The 38-year-old clearly chose the former on his way to making Canadian Paralympic history with a gold-medal win in the men's 20-kilometre visually impaired freestyle.

Brian McKeever makes Canadian Paralympic history in cross-country skiing

7 years ago
Duration 1:13
McKeever's gold medal in the men's visually impaired 20km cross-country skiing event gave him 14 career Paralympic medals, the most in Canadian history.

With the win, the "relentless" McKeever became Canada's most successful Winter Paralympian with 14 career medals — 11 of which are gold — to surpass para alpine great Lana Spreeman. McKeever, who has won three individual golds at each of the last two Winter Games, can still add to his medal haul in Pyeongchang.

Let's do that hockey

Canada locked up first place in Group A with an 8-0 win over Norway, bringing their preliminary-round goal total to 35. Billy Bridges and Rob Armstrong both netted a pair, while Brad Bowden, Greg Westlake, Tyler McGregor and Liam Hickey also scored.

Canada clinches semifinal spot in romp over Norway

7 years ago
Duration 0:41
Billy Bridges and Rob Armstrong scored two goals apiece, as Canada thumped Norway 8-0 to clinch a playoff spot in para ice hockey

Dominic Larocque extended the team's shutout streak to three games while making his first Paralympic start in goal. The Afghanistan War veteran, who was a forward on Canada's bronze-winning team in Sochi, also made a relief appearance in the team's opening game in Pyeongchang.

Canada now has some time off before the semifinals. The Canadians will play the second-place team from Group B on Wednesday at 11 p.m. ET.

Team Canada is all business as semifinals draw near

7 years ago
Duration 1:11
After booking a spot in the para ice hockey semifinals, Canada's captain Greg Westlake is looking forward to getting back to work

Snowboarders go 0-for-7

It was a difficult day on the course for Canada's seven para snowboarders, who were unable to medal in snowboard cross. Michelle Salt was the top Canadian, finishing fourth in the women's LL1 event. Sandrine Hamel lost in her LL2 quarter-final.

Michelle Salt just misses para snowboard podium

7 years ago
Duration 2:05
Calgary's Michelle Salt was the top Canadian para snowboarder, finishing fourth in the women's LL1 event after losing to French bronze-medallist Cecile Hernandez in the small final.

On the men's side, John Leslie (LL2) and Curt Minard (UL) both reached the quarters, but lost in their respective runs. Minard, who only started competing less than two years ago, bested fellow Canadian Andrew Genge in the 1/8 finals.

Alex Massie, who knew he was going to snowboard again despite a life-altering injury in 2011, was edged out in his 1/8 final. Fellow Canadian Colton Liddle, also competing in the LL2 event, was unsuccessful in his 1/8 final.

"I left it all out there. I'm happy that I raced my best race," Massie said. "It's my first Games, take what I learned from this, go back and train hard for the next four years, and hopefully bring home something really shiny from [the next Games in] Beijing."

There's still more snowboarding to come in Pyeongchang as banked slalom makes its Paralympic debut on March 15. You can learn about the new event here.

Canadian curlers take step back

After dominating the competition in the first three matches, the defending Paralympic champion Canadians have come back to the field.

Canada dropped two matches, losing 7-5 to host South Korea, and then suffering a lopisided 8-1 defeat to Great Britain. The Canadians will look to get back on track Tuesday morning with games against China on Monday night (8:35 p.m. ET) and Tuesday morning against the U.S. (6:35 a.m. ET).

Great Britain hands Canada 2nd straight defeat in wheelchair curling

7 years ago
Duration 1:36
Aileen Nelson's rink from Great Britain blew out Mark Ideson's Canadian rink 8-1, sending Canada to a second straight defeat

No matter how tense the games are becoming, nothing can wipe the smile off the face of Canadian wheelchair curler Marie Wright. A vehicle accident left the 57-year-old a paraplegic, and her husband left her two years later. But Wright has endured, raising four children and making Canada's wheelchair curling team all while keeping a positive attitude.

What's coming up on Monday?

Here's a look at today's events featuring Canadian competitors.

Wheelchair curling

The Canadians look to bounce back after two losses as they China on Monday at 8:35 p.m. ET. You can brush up on the rules of the sport here.

Alpine skiing

A trio of Canadian medallists look to add to their medal haul in the women's and men's super combined events. Kurt Oatway enters with super-G gold in the sitting classification, while Mollie Jepsen (super-G bronze) and Alana Ramsay (downhill bronze) compete in the standing event.

Canadians Frederique Turgeon, Mel Pemble and Erin Latimer also ski in the women's standing event while Kirk Schornstein and Braydon Luscombe compete in the men's standing.

The super-G portion of the combined begins at 8:30 p.m. and continues Tuesday at 2 a.m. ET with the slalom run.

Biathlon

Canada's Mark Arendz competes in the men's 12.5 km standing biathlon, looking for more hardware after nabbing a silver in the 7.5 km event earlier at the Games.

Derek Zaplotinsky goes in the men's sitting event while Brittany Hudak skis in the women's 10 km standing biathlon. The sitting events get underway at 9 p.m. ET while the standing and visually impaired events start at 11:30 p.m. ET.

With files from The Canadian Press