Mexican women's hockey team trains in Thornhill

YorkRegion.com
July 31, 2014

It’s still four years away before the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea commence.

But when they do the Mexican women’s national ice Hockey team hope to book their place to be in the hunt for the gold, silver or bronze medal.

Or better yet, just to be a part of the elite teams to qualify for the Games.

It might sound a little strange to hear that Mexico has a women’s ice hockey program.

But in fact, they do.

To attain their long-range objective, the 35-member contingent that includes 24 skaters and five netminders converged at The Pavillion in Concord Monday.

For an 18-day period, the team will utilize that rink as their central training base and play a few exhibition matches starting with one in St. Catharines Saturday before returning to The Pavillion Sunday for their second exhibition tilt starting at noon.

The team also has two scheduled tilts Aug. 9 and 10 at The Pavillion starting at 10:30 a.m. on both days.

Joaquin de la Garma San Millan, Federacion Deportiva De Mexico de Hockey Sobre Hielo A.C. president, cited the team’s appearance in York Region marked the first time they have assembled together outside of Mexico.

Were it not for some co-operation from the Mexican government, which gave their organization a $2.5 million U.S. grant over a two-year period to develop their women’s national ice hockey team program, he acknowledged their presence in York Region might not have taken place.

In electing to come to Canada to improve their on-ice skills, de la Garma San Millan said, was really a no brainer.

“We know it will be hard to qualify for the Olympics,” he conceded. “But to do it we need to come to Canada for at least once a month for the next three years to train.

“We know Canada is the best country to develop hockey players and Canada has always been supportive of our program.”

Citing there’s close to 500 women who play hockey in Mexico, de la Garma San Millan said they presently have an 18-team league comprised of 20 players on each roster.

In selecting their national team, which was launched three years ago, he said the best players from the league were identified.

As a means of developing their national team, he noted the players, who range in age from 15 to 32, are centralized in Mexico City where they train in a new facility that opened last March and reside in a sports village funded by their sports ministry or in nearby housing.

To date, the program has exhibited some progression as they captured the IIHF Division II B Qualification tournament that was played in Mexico City in March.

“Each year our goal is to move up,” he said.

To assist with the team’s development they enlisted former Ontario Hockey League and Italian men’s national team coach Rick Cornacchia.

A Unionville resident who guided the Oshawa Generals to the 1989-90 Memorial Cup title, Cornacchia is no stranger to the Mexican ice hockey program having worked with their senior mens, under-18 mens and now women’s program on and off over the last 16 years.

Having worked with the women’s team in Mexico City prior to their participation in the Pan Am Games, which they hosted in March and comparing their performance to what he’s seen after just one day of practice at The Pavillion, Cornacchia was quick to point out they’ve made some positive strides.

Citing they won’t rival traditional powerhouses like Canada or the U.S. or the second tier teams including Sweden and Finland, Cornacchia feels they can vie to be in that third tier of teams that might include China, who regularly sends teams to Canada to train and hone their playing skills.

The key, he said, is to see how they stack up against what competition they will face in their upcoming exhibition matches.

“I’ve seen tremendous skill improvement,” he said. “They work hard and they’re disciplined. Right now it’s a work in progress. Every day our goal is to get better.”

Based on what he’s witnessed, de la Garma San Millan is happy with the baby steps taken by the national team program.

“Maybe I’m a little crazy with this idea,” he said with a smile. “But you never know. We’re working hard with this project.”

After completing their training at The Pavillion, de la Garma San Millan said the team will go to Calgary in November and return the following month to York Region.