Mexico on ice

Mexico scores their second goal in their game against Calgary Fire White in the WickFest tournament at Winsport, Calgary on November 23, 2019. © J. Ashley Nixon

November has been quite a month for Mexico in Calgary. At the beginning was the first Dia de Muertos Parade in the city. Towards the end, Mexico was in town to play hockey. Yes, that’s right; there is hockey south of the Rio Grande.

Although much higher up (2,250m) than Calgary, the temperature in Mexico DF, the nation’s capital, stays within a solid positive band of 21-27 degrees Celsius throughout the year. But if Florida can make ice to play hockey, so can Mexico. The capital has at least seven rinks and there are around ten others across the country that has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) since 1985.

Hayley Wickenheiser was able to get the Selección Femenina Mexicana de Hockey Sobre Hielo, the national senior female hockey team, to join WickFest this year as part of their ongoing development. Their ambition is to become the first Latin American country to play ice hockey in the Olympics that come around again in Beijing in 2022.

Selección Mexico faced off against Calgary Fire White on November 23 at Winsport. It was a closely contested game that played out to the closing seconds. Fire West was trailing 2-3; both teams had players in the box for penalties. Fire pulled their goalie to get a man advantage on the ice and with 41 seconds remaining on the clock, Meghan Dean got the equalizing goal.

Final score: Mexico 3-3 Calgary Fire White

More photos from the game

Please visit J. Ashley Nixon Communications for more photos from the Fire White versus Mexico game.