Canada Para hockey star McGregor taking game to Mexico and other countries as part of new program

It might sound like an unlikely pairing, but a Canadian is helping bring Para hockey to Mexico. 

Tyler McGregor, captain of Canada's silver-winning squad at last month's world championships, held six sessions in Mexico City in April and is hoping to grow the game further in Latin America.  

For the 31-year-old McGregor, beyond what happened on the ice, it was an opportunity to learn, and make further disability community connections internationally.

"I think, in addition to introducing people to the sport of Para hockey and getting them involved in sport, it was also an opportunity to kind of learn and understand what their accessibility rights are like and and to be able to, I think, provide more of an opportunity for young people, or people of all ages, with disabilities in Mexico to have the opportunity to enjoy sport like we get to here at home," said McGregor, who listed support from LosVGK — a charitable endeavour of the NHL's Las Vegas Golden Knights —  multiple American players, and a host of local organizations.

The idea for the camps was first conceived during a demo of the sport in Michigan with fellow Para athletes Josh Pauls, captain of the U.S. team, Karina Villegas, a player from the U.S. who is originally from Venezuela, and Eric Hammerstrom, a Para sport advocate who works with the Urban Hockey Foundation and the Carnegie Initiative. 

"Karina was just telling us, it's always been a dream of hers to bring our sport to Latin America," said McGregor, from Forest, Ont. "Probably a month or two later, Eric reached back out and said, 'hey, do you, do you want to do this? Do you want to try to bring Para hockey to Latin America?' And we, all of us, right away, we're like, yes, absolutely, let's do it."

Para