Interview: Billy Bridges, Canadian Sledge Hockey Legend, Gold Medalist and 6x Paralympian

In this episode Shireen Ahmed talks with Billy Bridges, Canadian sledge hockey legend who will soon compete at the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Games, which marks his sixth Paralympic appearance. They talk about his serendipitous discovery of para sport, joining the Canadian sledge hockey national team at only 14 and his over two decade career as an ultra para athlete in both sledge hockey and wheelchair basketball. They also discuss how he met his wife, the indomitable goal tender Sami Jo Small, and how family support has gotten him where he is today.

This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media and website specialist. Burn It All Down is part of the Blue Wire podcast network.

Transcript

Shireen: Hello, flamethrowers! I'm so, so excited about our next guest. I'm thrilled for many different reasons. You may hear a little bit of that unfettered nationalism come out, but with me today is Billy Bridges. Billy is not only a Paralympic gold medalist in sledge hockey, he is internationally known for his contributions to para sport, and was the youngest recruit in sledge hockey at the age of 14. Billy is a centerman in sledge hockey and has been a scoring threat since its first Paralympic Games in 2002. Beijing will be his sixth Paralympics. He has gold medals, world championships. He is a wheelchair tennis player. He has played professional wheelchair basketball overseas.

He happens to be a music connoisseur, Tragically Hip specifically, and loves all kinds of food; is currently in school, and happens to be married to a former Burn It All Down guest, Sami Jo Small, formerly of the Canadian women's national hockey team. And my favorite thing about him is that he is from the most beautiful place on the face of the earth, Prince Edward Island. Hello, Billy. 

Billy: Thank you for having me.

Shireen: Thank you for being here. I'm very excited to have you here, as you know, but I wanted to talk a little bit about your journey in sledge hockey. How did you find it and fall in love with it? Because you were so apt in sports, and I also hear you’re a killer table tennis player. So, how did you fall in love with sledge hockey?

Billy: Honestly, this is my favorite story. I didn't really know about a lot of the sports growing up that I could play. I grew up with a disability called spina bifida, so it's from birth. And in terms of the disability, I'm extremely lucky. I have full feeling in my legs, and considering my legs were shaped like question marks when I was born, I'm actually able to walk on crutches and do so many things. One sport that I ended up falling in love with, because my cousin, Corey, who is so cool, did it with skateboarding. And so I would skateboard with my crutches and I’d go up stairs and handrails and everything. And I was just a bit of a lunatic. I was about 10 years old, downtown Guelph, which at the time was illegal to skateboard in. And so we got so used to trying to jump off our boards and get out of there. And we’d get tickets all the time!

I can only imagine now, like, ticketing a 10 year old boy on crutches for skateboarding, not bothering anybody. But anyway! I was skateboarding downtown Guelph and this old lady started screaming at me from across the street and I'm like, oh, here we go again, we're going to get in trouble. And this like 60 year old woman was kind of shuffling across the street towards me, and I got off my skateboard. I was like, oh, I'm so sorry ma’am, I'm so sorry. And she goes, no, no, no – what disabled sports do you play? Do you play wheelchair basketball? Do you play sledge hockey? What teams are you with? And I was like, what are you…Like, I don't even know what you're talking about right now.

And she points across the street and she said, my grandson, Brad Bowden, he's over there, and you're going to play wheelchair basketball and sledge hockey with him. I was like, I’m what!? Like, I had no idea what she was talking about, and nor did I really have a way to get to these practices or equipment or anything. And she really helped me figure it all out. She would drive an hour to my place to pick me up, to drive me an hour to practice, and back and forth. And I've lived at their place for weeks on end to practice with Brad. And obviously Brad and I became best friends instantly, and we always just had this like inner competitive spirit against each other. And I think that that's what really pushed us to fall in love with the sports.

We played wheelchair basketball together, and we played sledge hockey together. And you know, when we weren't doing that, we were playing spoon hockey in the hallway and we were just always trying to compete against one another. And you know, the first time you strap yourself into a sled, when everything is so difficult in a wheelchair or on crutches, you strap yourself into a sled and you take that first push and…I don't know, it feels so right. And as a Canadian, to finally be able to go out and play hockey and to be able to do it unrestricted, you know, it was pretty awesome.

Shireen: So, you’re a legend in this sphere. And your slap shot is up to 80 miles an hour…I’m really bad – Tressa, what's 80 miles in kilometers? I'm so bad at math.

Billy: [laughs] Did you see the speed of the shot there in kilometers per hour?

Shireen: Tressa just put, “It's 130.” I don't drive that fast! 130 kilometers, everybody. That’s wild. Like, I literally don't drive that fast, my god. [laughs] Did you practice that? Or was that like skateboarding in Guelph? I also, by the way, love the fact that your athletic trajectory was literally fueled by Brad Bowden’s grandma. I love this story too. How did you develop that, or was that just strength in your arms? Was it just from training? Was it a natural prowess you had?

Billy: Well, I mean, certainly growing up using crutches every day of my life obviously developed my upper body at such an extreme pace. I had a man-sized forearm at the time I was like 12 years old. So when I first started, we didn't really have equipment. Like nowadays I have a one piece carbon fiber Warrior hockey…They incredible hockey brands in the sphere of the NHL. You know, we didn't have all that carbon fiber one piece stuff. It was all made up, you know, two by fours. It's like, I would draw the pattern on a two by four and my dad would cut it with a jigsaw and I would sit there on the belt sander and make my little curve and then he'd fiberglass it. Those were the sticks that I used at the Salt Lake City Paralympic Games, my very first Games.

But like, they were like a centimeter and a half, two centimeters thick. So like, I can only imagine like how fast my shot must've developed with the size and sheer weight of these sticks. And I loved shooting pucks. I would just shoot pucks for hours on end. I loved the NHL All Star skills competition and seeing Al MacInnes just blast shots into the net, and I thought that that was one of the coolest parts of hockey. And certainly anytime I could, I would be shooting nonstop and, you know, I think it kind of paid off in the end. [laughs] 

Shireen: Absolutely. I think that there’s…And you've set scoring records and you've done all these things. And if you found out about sledge hockey by accident, almost, and you're out there now – you speak to groups, you speak to companies, you speak to the communities and you encourage them. What would you tell people who may be reluctant to get their kids into the sport? What would you tell them about sledge hockey?

Billy: Well, I mean, that was one thing that I certainly came to realize about Colleen, is like, that day was just an extreme chance of serendipity for me, but it wasn't for her. Like, she made it a mission every single day to spread the news and to spread this happiness. And, you know, for Colleen, she was given her grandson not by choice, but because her son and Brad's mom couldn't handle having a disabled child and just gave him up. And Colleen had a choice, of being sixty years old and having to go through the motions of having a disabled infant again. And she could have just, you know, gone through the motions and did the work, but she decided to really impact his life. And she saw the difference that that made. And she set out every single day to try to make that difference in everybody else's life. That's the thing that I try to encourage to parents of disabled children is like, the opportunities out there really are endless, and it's incredible.

And you know, I was kinda lucky to be raised the way that I was with my moms and, you know, being just kind of treated like normal and told to take the garbage out and then kind of not really understanding how, but then I would crawl out to the step and do it, or do the dishes when I couldn't stand. And I would sit up on the counter and do the dishes there. You know, all these things that seem difficult as a kid – and, you know, now that I have a kid now, must've felt so difficult as a parent to do. Maybe it didn’t. But you know, when you look back at it, it would've been really easy to try to just make everything easy for me, but that wouldn't have contributed to make me as independent as I am. And I really have all those things to thank for that. 

Shireen: Do you still enjoy just shooting pucks at practices? Is that your favorite thing to do?

Billy: Non-stop, yeah. Definitely. 

Shireen: So it's super convenient that you're married to a goaltender. [laughter] I know you're both extremely busy, but do you get a chance? Like, you're in training, you're in Calgary right now, and you'll be heading out to Beijing later. Do you get a chance to do that still at all? 

Billy: I mean, not so much since since Kensi's been born, certainly, because then we'd need someone to watch her. [Shireen laughs] But yeah, certainly at the beginning of our relationship. It was always so frustrating because, you know, it's not like I'm just going out to shoot against a rec league goalie that I get the score on every once in a while. I would go out to hour-long ice times with Sami and maybe get like two pucks past her when she was wasn’t paying attention or something like that. [Shireen laughs] She’s just so good. But certainly it was a lot of fun being able to shoot on her. 

Shireen: And so how did you decide to commit to sledge hockey as opposed to…Because, I mean, there’s arguably a career in wheelchair basketball. So like, when someone’s multitalented in different sports, how do you decide? Is it just what you fall in love with? Like, your wheelchair basketball career is no joke either! I mean, you're a member of a world championship winning team. So, how do you decide what to do? 

Billy: Well, certainly I followed my passion. I mean, at the beginning I followed what I was good at and where the opportunities were. Like when I was young, there started to become full NCAA scholarships for wheelchair basketball, and then there's talks of pro leagues. And so even though I wasn't a huge basketball fan, I really pushed and tried to stick with it for the opportunities that could arise. And none of those things existed for sledge hockey. And even before Nagano in ’98, it wasn’t…Or I guess it was in Lillehammer ’94, it wasn't in the Paralympic Games. And certainly even before ’98, I hadn't even heard of it. And so wheelchair basketball used to be the be-all end-all, biggest, coolest sport in the Paralympic realm. But I think, you know, obviously being a massive hockey fan really drew me to sledge hockey.

But I also liked the idea that in most disabled sports there’s a classification system. So in wheelchair basketball, everyone's given a point in terms of what their disability is. So if an able-bodied body person's playing in the league, they’re a 4.5 – that's the highest point that you can get. A paraplegic in the league that's can't feel anything from their chest down, there’s a 1. And so each people's numbers on the team, on the court at once, can't add up to a certain amount of number. And so you need to have two amputees, you know, two paraplegics, and someone like myself with spina bifida.

And so it's an amazing game for that kind of diversity of disabilities that can pursue it at the highest level. There's no other sports out there that are like that. But I think the most incredible thing about sledge hockey is there is no classification. So at any given time, there can be six amputees out there at once. And I think that's what's really driven me to try to stay at the highest level of my game, is being one of the most disabled people in the sport, certainly internationally, and still being able to contribute and, you know, be able to  mostly prove to myself that I can still do it. And I think that that's what you take pride in, day to day. 

Shireen: Absolutely. And you know, we hear the feelings of going to represent Canada at the highest echelon and coming through and winning. And I want to talk a little bit about that experience, the Olympic experience. This will be your sixth Paralympic Games. Is there one that's your favorite? [laughs]

Billy: [laughs] I mean, there's certainly a couple that are my least favorite. [Shireen laughs] Certainly winning gold in Torino in 2006 was incredible, but it was so long ago and I was so young. Like, I certainly didn't understand the importance of those Games. You know, obviously I had lost in Salt Lake City, but we had guys who didn't win the gold in Lillehammer and in Nagano as well that we're still a member of that team. And you know, now that I'm a veteran on the team, I can certainly look back and appreciate how incredibly important that gold medal was. But I mean, as the Paralympics keep coming, the most important ones in my life tend to start to be the latest ones. You know, it's now my 23rd or 24th year on the team. And, you know, still being a contributing member on the team is obviously my goal.

And what it takes to be on the team now, compared to what it took in ’98, is such a drastic difference. Like, it's absolutely incredible. We have anywhere upwards of 15 to 20 training sessions a week, whereas we used to just get a couple of ice times a week back in ’98. So it's being able to still do all that and balance a family and how my daughter still remembers me. You know, it certainly gives a lot of pride for each Games that keep coming. 

Shireen: So this competitive spirit that you have that gets you, I mean, you mentioned you’re a Canada Games champion, you’re an eight time national champion with team Ontario, and that's for wheelchair basketball specifically. So, I mean, we're not even talking about sledge hockey now. But your competitive spirit: where does that come from, and how do you nurture it? And do you see it in Kensi? 

Billy: I am exactly like Kensi, and our competitive spirit has to be found. It's not natural. It's not there. It's not persistent. Like, I have no racing bone in my body. If someone wants to race me to something, like, I just don't care. I don't know. It's funny, and I see that in Kensi as well. Mainly, she just wants to be a rainbow princess fairy and be a unicorn and just play make-believe. And then when we tried to get her to play hockey, she’s just like, nah. [laughs] She doesn't care.

Shireen: Does she know who you are though?

Billy: No. [Shireen laughs] No, yeah, it’s funny because she'll just be like, ugh, daddy's going to the Olympics again! [laughter] Like, it's just something that takes mommy and daddy away. You know, obviously it'll start to hit her. Like the other day, she came back and she was like, daddy, why did they say your name on the announcements? The kids were coming up to her and giving her high fives and saying how amazing that is. And she was just like…You could see the little wheels turning in her head, just like, why is this happening? Why do they care what daddy does? [laughs]

Shireen: But I think it's important that, you know, the unicorn fairy princess thing, that's also a mood. 

Billy: Yeah.

Shireen: And speaking of that, do you have any like good luck charms that you take with you? Do you have any rituals or superstitions?

Billy: One second. [Shireen laughs] Kensi better see that I always have my stuffy with me.

Shireen: I feel like he's going to show us something very exciting and I'm very excited right now. [laughs]

Billy: Well, it's exciting to me and my daughter, but like, [Shireen gasps] me, I always have to have my favorite stuffy of the day from Kensi that she'll give to me. She'll be like, daddy, what do you need? And I'll be like, ah, I need a stuffy with lots of energy, something that'll give me lots of energy. And then she'll go and get like a Tasmanian devil or something. [laughs]

Shireen: Well, I love that stuffy. For everyone listening, you can't see this, but it's an absolutely adorable plush little unicorn, a multi-colored tail and mane with a blue organza ribbon on, and little hooves that are also multicolored. That has a lot of beautiful energy, Billy, that's amazing. Like, now when I think of you, I won’t just think of this Paralympian champion and this ultra athlete, I'll think of this stuffy. So thank you, Kensi, for that. [laughs] For being your brand manager!

Billy: Ultra athlete, that's funny. I mean, I grew up raised by two moms, by lesbian moms that gave me the huge appreciation for women's sport. And like, I was a massive fan of Sami long before she even knew that I existed. So, you know, I think I'm pretty sure that she's the ultra in the marriage. 

Shireen: It’s funny that you say that because I picked up her book because I wanted to read where she met you, and one of the things that she said…Because I was like, I want to know about this love story! And one of the really interesting things is when she met you, I believe it was in Manitoba for the world championships you met, and she said your smile was infectious. And she actually was trying with her teammates to set you up with a Finnish player, and that didn't work out. But you ended up meeting each other. But she also commented that she could be who she was with you because you understood the commitment to sport, and you understood what it takes to do that. Do you find that as well? That that's easier, and it takes a certain person who understands what this grind is?

Billy: Oh, certainly. Especially to still be doing what I am now, you know, a lot of people wouldn't understand…I don't know, I guess, “Why?” you know? Because it is like some years it's over 120 days away from home going to world cups and world championships and training camps. And that's not even including the hours and hours and hours over at the gym and the rink. And especially now being a father, and still being able to have the opportunity to do it, you know, I certainly couldn't have done it without Sami and without someone like Sami, but I still wouldn't even be in this position, not even close, if Sami wasn't in my life. She changed me drastically.

When I first met Sami was a year before she first met me, if you can wrap your head around that, because she doesn't remember really meeting me at all. [Shireen laughs] We both won Olympic gold medals in Torino, and the Calgary stampede hosts all the gold medalists – or at least they did after Torino. And I got to walk as an honorary parade marshal with all the gold medalists, and I got to walk I want to say beside, but it was mostly behind Sami and a couple of her teammates in these like cowgirl outfits and boots and hats and tight jeans. And it was, yeah, I fell in love instantly. [Shireen laughs] But then I also got to meet her again a couple of weeks later at the ring gala. Hockey Canada has like a ring ceremony, championship rings for all the winning teams. And, you know, really got to get to know a lot of her teammates. I knew a few from Canada Games already, but Sami was so incredible.

My moms were just the biggest fans of the women's hockey team, and so just being able to hang out with them was so awesome. But you know, once we actually started dating, she changed my prerogative on sports so much. Like, I was certainly kind of a natural athlete, but I didn't have the work ethic. Whereas Sami, you know, as weird as it is to say it, she's admitted that she's not really a natural athlete, but she has the work ethic of an ox. Like, anything she does, she just pours her heart into it, and she wouldn't really let anybody see all the work that she does as well, which makes it even more incredible. But she's certainly the most prepared person in the world, and teaching me that has given me this longevity. Certainly it's helped me stay in the sport as long as I have.

Shireen: Do you have aspirations to coach? Because you are a mentor. You are a coach in many ways. Is that something that you're looking forward to next? You're very much an educator. You offer public scholarship in terms of disabled athletes and what Paralympians do and their process. I'm not suggesting you retire, I'm not ready for that yet! But I'm just saying, like, what would be next? Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Billy: Yeah, it's tough. I definitely see myself coaching. I feel like I want to do it the right way and go and get my levels and, you know, remove myself a little bit as well when that day comes. But you know, what I really have a passion for is trying to bridge the gap between the levels of sledge hockey players. Like, right now we have a national team and a national team program, but none of those people are allowed to play in the league or at nationals or provincially or anything. And so the best league player is not even close to our worst player on our program. And that's because like any AHL hockey player is playing for a team, they’re seeing specialists, they're going to skill sessions every week. But for a lot of disabled athletes, that's not a choice.

In the GTA, ice time is $300 an hour. And then you'd have to pay your skills coach. My passion right now is teaching skills, and I feel like that's where a lot of my skills lie. And my dream right now is to get sponsors to cover these sessions so that we can bridge the gap between our national team and the rest of rest of the players in Canada, and try to help them learn the professional way before they make the candidate program and not the other way around.

Shireen: Yeah. So, bridging that gap and affording them opportunities. And so fundraising comes into this then, like, there's an underfunding for disabled sports in Canada in particular. And that's what you're saying? That's what I'm hearing anyway.

Billy: Well, it's tough to put it that way, because our program, our national team program, gets a lot of government subsidies, and Hockey Canada obviously gives us full support. And it's there, but not necessarily for the next generation. And where do we find them, you know? A lot of times in Paralympic sport, we, as athletes, will recognize a player coming up with a potentially opportunistic disability so that, you know, there's different potentials between different disabilities, and we would just instantly reach out and take them under our wing and invite them to our workouts and our ice sessions and try to develop them ourselves because they're not going to get it anywhere else.

Shireen: And one of the questions I had was, when we talk about sledge hockey, are we talking predominantly about men's sledge hockey? Is it like a co-ed sport, or are there differences even within? And what are your thoughts on that world? And what can our listeners do to support…And not just in Canada, like, obviously we have a ton of listeners in the US.

Billy: It was something growing up where obviously I knew the problems, having lesbian moms, I knew the issues of women's sport, but like, it never seemed like it would impact the women or girls in my life. Every sledge hockey team or basketball team that I was a part of was almost always 50/50 with girls and boys. And when we were the same age, we both had the same opportunities. Like, it wasn’t in the Paralympic Games for girls or boys. And then it wasn't until ’98 that we actually really found out about the Paralympic Games and it being all boys. But I think I was just still too young and naive to really understand that, you know, here it is 24 years later, and it's still not in the Paralympic Games for women, and it's a disgrace. It was something that I didn't realize was an issue growing up because there was just always girls there beating the crap out of me. [Shireen laughs] 

But obviously they haven't been afforded the same opportunities. You know, one of Canada's best sledge hockey players is Christina Picton, and she's come to a few of our men's team training camps, and she's just an absolute delight to be around, an incredible athlete. And, you know, she just hung up the skates. She just said screw it and went to Nordic cross country skiing. And if I can say one thing about para ice hockey players is, you know, because of the work ethic that we've been allotted and the opportunities that we've had, we've become incredible athletes. And I really do think that we can excel in any sport that we pick. And Christina is no exception. And now she really is one of the best cross country skiers in the entire world, and she's going to the Beijing Games, which I'm so excited for. 

Shireen: How big is Team Canada in the Paralympic Games? Do you know how many athletes are going? 

Billy: Yes. It was 48, I believe.

Shireen: And you're a pretty tight crew?

Billy: I mean, there's a lot of names I haven't seen before on there. There are a lot of first time Paralympians. You know, that's one major thing that Sami and I have in common, is that we are absolute Olympic and Paralympic junkies, [Shireen laughs] and I love Team Canada and I love following everyone. And so, it's really fun to meet them all once we all get there. But yeah, there's a lot of names I don't know.

Shireen: And that's a good thing, right?

Billy: Oh, certainly. Yeah. I mean, that's what you want to see. Yeah. I still love the other way around too. I still love seeing Brian McKeever at every single Paralympic Games that I've been to. You know, that's his and my little joke with each other. And speaking of Prince Edward Island, Mark Arendz, you know, I think these are like his fourth games and obviously he's done incredible for himself as well. It's fun having that bond with returning Paralympians.

Shireen: And the other Paralympic sports, have you tried any of them?

Billy: Oh, certainly. My latest attempts were skiing, and sit skiing has a massive learning curve. It was absolutely horrifying. If you don't have it set up correctly for your body and your disability, it can really just make you feel like you're on the trolley tracks going into the forest. [laughs] But once I started getting used to it, I started hitting jumps and having a lot of fun with it, certainly. 

Shireen: And do you get an opportunity…I mean, I know that we're under COVID protocols, but do you think you'll get an opportunity to see any of the other competitions and events? 

Billy: I'm not sure. My very first major competition was Canada Games, and I remember being a part of, even though I was from Prince Edward Island, I grew up mainly in Guelph because of all the surgeries I needed at SickKids and stuff. So it competed for Ontario in wheelchair basketball at the '99 Canada Games in Newfoundland. And we'd go to every single event that we could and cheer them all on. And I wish we had a little bit more of that opportunity, but obviously the stakes are pretty high, and our focus level…I think our schedule day to day was made like four years ago of what we'd do every single day. 

Shireen: Oh, wow.

Billy: So you just gotta be a bit of a soldier and just do what you’re told, and when you have a chance to cheer on Canada, certainly do that.

Shireen: So when you were young and, you know, talking about being a vet on Team Canada, is there a Paralympian or disabled athlete that you looked up to when you were younger, or were you just that person?

Billy: Oh, yeah, no. Oh, Patrick Anderson. My very first wheelchair basketball practice, I guess I must've been like 10, and he was already like 17 or 18, and the things he was doing with that basketball…For those who don't know, he's the best wheelchair basketball player of all time. Like, if you picture Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant, like, the mixture of that is him. It's incredible. Like, in the same game he can have 40 points and 15 assists. He's just one of the most amazing athletes to see compete. And I was lucky to have him on my wheelchair basketball team. And, you know, that was the standard. That was the bar to me. That's where I'm so lucky, is that Brad and I just had Pat. Like, oh, we just gotta be like Pat. Oh, what's Pat doing? Okay, well, I'm going to do that. And that's what really instilled into us in our lives at such a young age.

It's like, yeah, we could get better at doing what we're doing or doing what we're told, but we've looked at what the best were doing, and we're like, okay, that’s what the best are doing, so that's the minimum, that's the standard. And that's where I think a lot of athletes might not reach their potential in sport. We certainly get stuck in our own roadmap, and we get a lot of success from it and a lot of improvements, but I always thought in order to become the best you need to at least do what the best are doing – and most likely more. And Patrick Anderson was definitely that guy, and it was so awesome to have him there in my younger days, my early career. And then also years later he’ll then come up to sledge hockey and play with us a little bit and you know, not be as good. It was pretty fun. 

Shireen: I mean, you're that guy now, though, right? You know that. [Billy laughs] Billy, if you could offer our listeners one way to get more involved in disabled sport and support disabled sport around them, what would it be? In addition to watching, because that's important too. What would you say? 

Billy: Well, you hit the nail right on the head, that first people need to watch. People need to talk about it. It needs to be talked about. Like Devin Heroux, one of the best CBC reporters out there right now, laid out that question of like, hey, I'm going to be covering the Paralympics, so I'm actually able to go, I'm going to be there – what kind of coverage do you guys want? And, you know, you get some kind of sloppy answers, like, oh, well it should be this, or it should be that. But like, I want people talking about it. I want thousands of people to be talking about it on there. You know, one of the coolest parts of my career was when I felt like I made it, and you would think it would be in Vancouver on a Saturday night on TSN, HD – you know, when HD was still a new thing. And we got to play on national television on Saturday night, like Hockey Night in Canada, basically. And, you know, how awesome of a feeling that was.

But that wasn't even the part that made it feel like I’d made it. It was a week later after we lost the Vancouver Paralympic Games. I ended up in Cuba because I had to get out of there, and it was during spring break, and there was a group of like 20 year old guys all sitting around talking about stuff, and they asked me what I do. And I just said, I play sledge hockey. And one of the guys looks at me and goes, oh man, did you see those guys crap the bed at the Paralympic Games? And like, my heart sank – and lifted at the same time. [Shireen laughs] Like, I felt like I had made it.

And I looked at him and I told him that I was part of the team, and he was like, oh, I'm so sorry. I'm like, no! You have no connection to the team, you don't know any disabled people, you don't know me, but you knew about that game and you knew about the expectations that we had on ourselves of trying to win gold, and you knew that we didn't get there, and you watched and you're talking about it. And I feel like that is just the most important thing. And like, that was such a game changer in my life. It was so funny. It was shattering and uplifting all at the same time, 

Shireen: But I love that. And so this is why it's so important for our listeners to know and support, and you can watch the Paralympics on CBC, and I believe NBC Peacock in the United States. But like, to watch it and, you know, to watch the highlight reels, to share the tweets, to look at all those things and to do all those things. And yeah, Devin is so excited. He's a colleague of mine at CBC, and he's so pumped, like, so, so pumped. I mean, he has a very soft spot for curling, and we know this, but that para curling is gonna be a big thing for him, yeah. I can't thank you enough for…I know how busy you are. I know you're training. I know you've got so much to go through before you head out. Where can our listeners find you and your work?

Billy: I'm pretty active on Twitter and Instagram – @BillyBridges18 for both of them. And really just follow any of my teammates. They're all such incredible athletes and incredible guys. And that's the thing about a lot of Paralympians, is they have incredible stories even before their athleticism and their accomplishments. So certainly follow any para ice hockey player or any Canadian Paralympian going into these games, and cheer with all your heart because we do hear you guys while we're over there. 

Shireen: I love how you qualified Canadian. [laughs] So, last question: who’s your biggest competition going into these Paralympic Games?

Billy: Oh, certainly USA. The best para ice hockey team for the last six years has been USA. So yeah, anyone needs to just follow these games and watch some para ice hockey games, because they're absolutely incredible. And Canada versus USA starts off the entire tournament on March 5th. So, please watch and enjoy. 

Shireen: Well, it can be no surprise to all our listeners which team I'm going to be cheering for. But Billy, we wish you, on behalf of all of Burn It All Down, we wish you so much success, safe travels above everything, and an incredible experience. And we look forward to following up and watching you.

Billy: Thank you so much for having me on.