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48 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008 TV documentary depicts Westlake's life as a Sledhead By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF s if defending Canada's honour on a hockey rink wasn't enough pressure, finding out that the quest for a gold medal at the world championships would be forever committed to film gave Oakville's Greg Westlake a little more inspiration. "It was kind of like when you're a kid and you had those Choose Your Own Adventure books. We were going to be the ones who depicted how the story goes," the 22-year-old Westlake said between practices at the national sledge hockey team's training camp in New Brunswick Thursday afternoon. "That got me excited. It gave me another reason to go to the gym. If it was going to be documented, I wanted to make sure it was going to be a happy ending." The end result of more than 150 hours of footage, gathered from the time the team opened training camp to the final thrilling seconds of the world "I lay awake at championships in Massachusetts, is the film documentary Sledhead: night and think Canada's Sledge Hockey Team, about things like, which airs tomorrow (Saturday) at I've been out on 7 p.m. on CTV. four dates with In addition to following the this girl and she team's journey as it attempts to defend the gold medal it won at the still has no clue Paralympic Games in Turin, Italy, that I don't have the documentary highlights several feet. I should of the team's players, including really tell her." Westlake. His parents tell of the difficult decision they made to have Greg Westlake, their son's feet amputated when during sledge hockey Greg was born with his feet twisted film documentary backward. Westlake and his teammates tell of the challenges they face, from the practical -- negotiating their way through a German airport with no wheelchair accessibility -- to Westlake's more philosophical dilemma. "I lay awake at night and think about things like, I've been out on four dates with this girl and she still has no clue that I don't have feet," he says to the camera. "I should really tell her." Like everyone else, Westlake and his teammates will be seeing the documentary for the first time Saturday. There will also be a longer version that is being shopped to film festivals by producer/director David McIlvride and producer Alison Love. That will delve a little deeper into the varied personalities that make up the team than the 44-minute CTV version does. While the world championships are the thread that ties it all together, the film also captures the speed and physical nature of the game. Westlake said the latter is an element of game that people struggle to understand. "I come back from tournaments with cuts on my sides from people stabbing me (with the picks on the end of their sticks) and I'm all beat up and people say `I thought you A PHOTO COURTESY OF CTV SLEDGE STAR: Local resident Greg Westlake, pictured in action against Norway during the elimination round of the 2008 world championships, is one of the Canadian players featured in a sledge hockey documentary that will air tomorrow (Saturday) on CTV. were playing sledge hockey.'" Using low-angle shots and cameras and microphones mounted on players' sleds, the viewer gets an appreciation for the violent collisions that occur when two players bent on coming up with the puck along the boards ram into one another at full speed. It also portrays just how seriously the players take the game. This is no leisure activity. It's not friendly competition. They are Canada's best players in their sport, willing to do whatever it takes to win. "You can take the silver medal and flush it down the toilet," goalie Paul Rosen says before the gold-medal game. "I don't play for the silver. The entire year has been great, but if we lose this game it means nothing." A business student at the University of Waterloo, Westlake takes an all-business approach to sledge hockey. "I view this as a job," he said. "We eat, sleep and breathe See Obscurity page 52