Like the rest of the country Tyler McGregor was home sitting in front of the Television last Saturday when they made the announcement on CBC's Hockey Day in Canada broadcast.
"It was pretty surreal, you want to feel pretty confident that you are going to be going but once I heard it all kind of set in that I'd be going to the Paralympics for the first time, so with it being a childhood dream it was pretty surreal." McGregor said
McGregor was with his family in Forest, Ontario when they heard his name being announced to Canada's National Paralympic Sledge Hockey team.. "It was pretty special... I definitely won't forget it."
McGregor played regular hockey and in his Minor Midget year with the Lambton AAA he was diagnosed with Spindle Cell Sarcome. After months of chemotherapy and amputation of his left leg he never gave up and turned his sights to amputee hockey then to sledge hockey
McGregor started to play sledge hockey in 2011 with the London Blizzards. In 2012 he was named to the National team and has since gone on and competed in major National and International competitions.
Even though he was a member of the National team he still was a little nervous about the announcement.
"Being a part of a sports team you never really know what happens or what's going to happen. I was fairly confident but just to hear my name was pretty cool."
Since September McGregor has been a full time athlete. He is living with two of his teammates in Dundas, Ontario and they train five days a week in Oakville to prepare for the upcoming games in Sochi.
"Just talking to some of my team mates they said it's nothing like you ever experience in your life. They basically told me to soak it all in and it will be one of the coolest experiences I'll ever have."
Presently McGregor says the US is one of their biggest rivals and one of the best hockey rivals going today. However within the last couple of years Russia has given them some good games.
"I think they are going to be a pretty tough team to play against but I feel that the Paralympics are just a completely different tournament and any team can step up and play to a different level on any given day so we are not going to take anyone lightly, we just have to be very well prepared."
McGregor is the son of Dean and Trudy and brother to sister Meagan and his family will be traveling to Sochi. "I know they are really looking forward to it and I'm very happy that they are able to come."
"It's incredible, I mean I'm definitely a proud Canadian and it will be exciting that our games will be broadcast on National TV and that we have so much support back home. I'm just looking forward to getting there and experience it and just enjoying the process. Obviously the one goal is to win a gold medal but when we get there we are just going to take it day by day and just enjoy our time there."
Canada's preliminary round will begin played on Saturday March 8th against Sweden then on Sunday March 9th they go up against Norway then on Tuesday March 11th the Czech Rep.
