Heelis to represent Canada para hockey staff at Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games

Acadia Athletics and Recreation staff member Liam Heelis will represent Canada at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games as the mental performance and leadership coach for Canada’s para hockey team.

Heelis, Acadia’s club sport and summer camp coordinator and an assistant coach with the Axemen hockey program, is also a former Axemen standout. He was named U SPORTS (formerly CIS) men’s hockey player of the year in 2014 after leading the country with 24 goals in 26 games and adding 18 assists for 42 points. The Georgetown, Ont., native was tied for the national lead with four short-handed goals and ranked second in the AUS with seven power-play goals. He was also part of Acadia’s 2013-14 AUS championship team.

Now, he is preparing for a different role on a major international stage.

Canada opens Pool B play on Saturday, March 7 against Slovakia, then faces Japan on March 9 and the Czech Republic on March 10. The top two teams from each pool advance to the semifinals.

Heelis said his role with the national team focuses on helping athletes develop their mental performance so they can perform consistently at their best in competition. Day to day, that includes one-on-one meetings, team meetings, and daily debriefs and reflections with athletes.

He said the work also extends across the full staff group, with a shared focus on reinforcing team identity and standards through consistent communication and language. He described his role as being behind the scenes, supporting both athletes and staff as the team prepares for and moves through events. He added that his background in video and coding gives him another way to support the group.

For Heelis, the opportunity to represent Canada at the Paralympics is both an honour and a privilege. He said this will be his first Paralympic Games, so he cannot yet say with certainty what the biggest differences will be compared with a world championship.

What is clear, he said, is the team’s objective.

“The main objective remains clear for our team; we are ready for the moment to rise together through our daily habits and process to achieve a gold medal performance,” he said.

Heelis said the Paralympic stage brings a higher level of exposure and attention, and he is looking forward to helping the team perform in that environment.

He also emphasized the people who helped him reach this point, saying opportunities like this are shaped by the support, mentorship and care of others. He credits his family, friends, the Axemen hockey family, the Acadia Athletics family and his mentors, and said he hopes to honour those people on Canada’s Paralympic journey.

Heelis said his time with the national program has had a significant impact on his coaching development and program planning. He called the para hockey group a special staff and athlete group and described the program as a true high-performance environment, built on trust, consistency, adaptability, clear communication and accountability.

Watching the athletes’ daily commitment and drive to improve, he said, has deepened his appreciation for what high performance requires. He added that seeing the alignment between athletes and staff — and how that has contributed to the program’s growth over the past three seasons — has been especially influential.

His role with Team Canada has also changed how he sees the game. He said it gives him a broader perspective than working behind the bench, allowing him to observe situations from a different vantage point. That, in turn, has helped shape his awareness and decision-making when he is back behind the bench at Acadia.

Heelis said the connection works both ways.

He said his experiences with Hockey Canada provide a “masterclass” in coaching, team dynamics, leadership and management, particularly in short tournament settings that require constant preparation and adaptation. Those lessons, he said, are valuable as Acadia works toward championship-level moments.

At the same time, he said his work at Acadia has helped prepare him for the international stage. His coaching role has allowed him to help build a high-performance team environment, while his coordinator role has strengthened his planning and problem-solving across multiple sports and programs.

Taken together, Heelis said, those experiences continue to shape the perspective he brings to Canada’s para hockey team.