Big hits, great saves: B.C. players shine at inaugural Women's Para Hockey World Championships

As one half of the newly nicknamed "Canadian Bomb Squad," Peggy Assinck has no hesitation going into the corners.

It's there that she and linemate Claire Buchanan earned the moniker, coined Tuesday by the broadcast analyst during Canada's opening game at the Women's Para Hockey World Championships in Slovakia. 

"I love it. Both of us are veterans, and we like to throw our bodies around," said Assinck, speaking from the city of Dolny Kubin. "We're pretty disruptive as a line, and that's a good thing."

The Bomb Squad helped spark an explosion of goals in a 10-0 defeat of Team World, made up of players from nations that don't yet have the numbers to front an all-female roster.

Australia, Great Britain, Norway and the U.S. round out the six-team tournament. If history is any teacher, the gold medal final on Sunday will be a clash between hockey's biggest rivals — Canada and the U.S.

"That's the goal," said Team Canada goalie Maggie Manning of Salmon Arm, B.C. "We're really pushing  this year to bring that gold home."

Manning, 25, earned the shutout in game one while wearing jersey number 1 in honour of hero Roberto Luongo, whom she met a dozen years ago while receiving care at B.C. Children's Hospital.

"The Canucks were visiting the hospital, and there was a very special moment where we exchanged hockey cards," she said. "Then, later, when I was going for surgery, he had written me a personalized note. And so that kind of relationship, it just really inspired me."

So too did her hospital caregivers, so much so that Manning herself is now one, employed at B.C. Children's and B.C. Women's Hospitals as a respiratory therapist. 

History is being made this week in Para women's hockey

Balancing the demands of a career with a