'I want to be a role model': Canada's Para ice hockey captain McGregor leads with quiet confidence

Tyler McGregor’s identity has always been rooted in hockey.

One of the most revered Para ice hockey players in the world, he leads with intentionality, hard work and transparency.

A vocal advocate of mental health awareness, McGregor will be leading the Canadian team to battle for gold against the United States at the 2026 Paralympics.

These are McGregor’s fourth Paralympic Games. He previously won two silvers (2018, 2022) and a bronze (2014), and is a three-time world champion.

McGregor’s impactful story was made into a short feature ahead of the Paralympics.

One of the things that it highlighted was McGregor’s ability to go through each period of his life and be able to process the tragedy or the joy of a particular time. He was instrumental in the creation of that piece and tells CBC Sports that he enjoyed the process and said it was shared in “the most authentic way possible.”

McGregor, one of Canada's opening ceremony flag-bearers, says things were not always joyous.

Hope was replaced by despair, which became part of his journey, and the reason he now leads with humility and gratitude. He counts carrying the Canadian flag as one of the most joyous moments of his life.

For McGregor, there is enormous pride in being Canadian and representing a country he loves. That moment may have not always seemed possible.

Since he was a child in Forest, Ont., the 32-year old captain of Canada’s Para ice hockey team has thrived on the ice. He was put on skates at the age of three and never looked back.

McGregor’s family was full of junior league-level players and he was a gifted talent. But a collision on the ice left him with a fractured tibia and fibula, which later revealed that the 15-year-old had spindle cell sarcoma: bone