Dorion wants back on top of podium in 3rd Paralympics

By Jamie Shinkewski

Still young at age 26, Marc Dorion has a long career ahead of him, but the Ottawa sledge hockey player also has a long career behind him. Sochi will be the 11-year national team member’s third Paralympic Winter Games.

“I still kind of find it weird to say I’m 26 years old and I am a veteran on the team,” Dorion underlines.

Originally hailing from Bourget east of Ottawa, Dorion was born with spina bifida, causing paralysis in his legs. He first started playing sledge hockey at age 4 with the Ottawa Lasers.

“I’ve always enjoyed hockey, I always knew that I wanted to play hockey, but at a young age you realize that you might not be able to do it quite like you see on (television) just because of the disability itself,” recounts the west-end resident. “When I found sledge hockey, I fell in love right then and there.”

Dorion made his way through the Sledge Hockey of Eastern Ontario ranks until he was competing alongside past Ottawa Paralympians Hervé Lord, Jean Labonté and Todd Nicholson. He joined the national team as a 16-year-old.

In Torino, he was the rookie being guided by veterans en route to a gold medal victory. For 2014, his role has flipped and he’s now guiding inexperienced players into their first Games, centreing a line with Paralympic rookies Dominic Larocque, 26, and Kevin Rempel, 31.

“I’m hoping that they’re not going into the games too nervous,” Dorion states. “Anything that I can do to relieve that nervousness and help them perform at their best, I think that’s mostly my role at this point.”

Dorion is a big-game player who is both a clutch goal scorer and a penalty kill specialist. He was Canada’s #2 goal scorer at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics.

“Someone like Marc, he’s such a tenacious player. He comes to play for every game,” says Team Canada head coach Mike Mondin. “That’s such a cliché but he exudes that cliché. He can be trusted in every situation.”

The coach is particularly fond of Dorion’s penalty killing abilities, where he uses what Mondin refers to as “deceptive speed” to knock opponents off the puck before they develop a scoring chance.

“I am known for my special teams play and I still pride myself on that,” Dorion indicates, quickly returning his thoughts away from himself and back to his team. “We are going over there to win gold and that’s our focus. I want to be at my best and I want my teammates to be at their best as well.

“I do know for a fact this team is ready. We’ve been preparing for the past four years.”

While Dorion reflects on the Vancouver Paralympics as a great experience for himself and his sport, the team’s heart-breaking fourth-place finish has served as fuel for the Canadian players in the lead-up to 2014.

Canada recently rattled off a 16-game winning streak in international matches – including victories at the 2013 world championships, the Four Nations Cup Sochi test event this past September, and Hockey Canada’s World Sledge Hockey Challenge in December – before a pair of defeats to close an exhibition series against the U.S. in the lead-up to Sochi.

Although winning gold is the goal, Dorion’s motive for playing is no different than it was when he was four years old.

“Here I am 22 years later,” he smiles, “and I still love it every single day that I’m out there.”

Father & son share sledge adventure
Many hockey players will attest to the importance of their fathers in their development, but not many get to share the journey day-to-day in quite the same way as Marc Dorion, whose father Roch has been the Canadian sledge hockey team’s equipment manager since 2006.

“It’s such an unbelievable experience to say that I have my dad on the team with me,” Dorion reflects. “My parents have been absolutely amazing when it comes to my sledge hockey career.”

The equipment manager role for the Canadian Paralympic team isn’t simply an easy job given to Roch so he can tag along with his son for the ride; Team Canada coach Mike Mondin calls Roch “the best sled technician in the world.”

Sochi sked
Sat., Mar. 8
CAN vs SWE
4 a.m. ET

Sun., Mar. 9
CAN vs NOR
5 a.m. ET

Tue., Mar. 11
CAN vs CZE
1 p.m. ET

Thu., Mar. 13
Semi-finals
6 a.m. ET &
1 p.m. ET

Sat., Mar. 15
Medal matches
6 a.m. &
1 p.m. ET