Already guaranteed medals at the Parapan American Games this weekend in Lima, Peru, Canada's men's and women's wheelchair basketball teams have clinched berths in the 2020 Paralympics and each team has a Prince George connection.
Bo Hedges, a former UNBC student who now lives in Wonowan, north of Fort St. John, helped send Canada into Saturday's Para PanAm gold-medal game after they defeated Colombia 62-42 Friday in a semifinal playoff.
The Team Canada women's roster includes Kady Dandeneau of Pender Island. Dandeneau played four seasons as a guard/forward at UNBC and led the T-wolves to two provincial B.C. college titles and was an all-star at the Canadian College Athletic Association national tournament in 2012.
Canada will take on the United States for the men's championship Saturday at noon PT.
“It’s an awesome feeling," said Hedges. "We have been working toward it for three years, so it will be great to go experience that and represent Canada, but we have a big game tomorrow and we are focused on playing (the United States).
“We are just trying to improve every game, so if we get a chance to play in a gold medal game then it’s an experience for all our players, and something we can learn from, and try to prepare the same way every game,” said Hedges, who picked up 12 points in the semifinal."
Canada led 42-25 at the half and outscored Colombia 18-4 in the third quarter. Patrick Anderson of Fergus, Ont., shot a game-high 20 points and had 16 rebounds and seven assists.
The top three teams from the Americas qualify for the Paralympics.
The Canadian women's team advanced to the final against the U.S. Friday night with a 61-40 semifinal win earlier Friday over Brazil.
Dandeneau suffered a knee injury that caused ligament and bone damage in 2010, but returned to able-bodied basketball for two more seasons with the T-wolves and finished her career with 983 points (fifth in UNBC history). Chronic knee pain and her competitive nature convinced Dandeneau to try wheelchair basketball and by 2015 she had worked her way up to Canada's development team.
“I wasn’t ready to give up basketball," said Dandeneau. "My stand-up career was over, but I started looking into wheelchair basketball. I was terrible at the start.
"It has just made it a lot easier to kind of accept the fact that I probably won't play standup again - it's just nice to be able to play a competitive sport again, especially because it is basketball. It's very awesome to have that competitive outlet again and be a part of a team again. Being around like-minded athletes is great. I'm happy about that."
The Canadian women started in Peru with three wins, beating Colombia 86-6, Argentina 82-25 and Mexico 29-21. Dandeneau contributed a combined 44 points and struck for a game-high 21 against Colombia.
“It is an honour to get to represent Canada," she told UNBC sports information officer Rich Abney. "You couldn’t really ask for more as an athlete. These are the opportunities you dream about. It is surreal to get to be a part of this. I feel really lucky to represent my country doing what I love. I don’t think it gets much better than that.
Canada and the U.S. play each other for gold Friday starting at 4:45 p.m. PT.
