Extreme sport latest challenge for former Marlies player Max Taylor.
Parkdale's Max Taylor, a former player with the Toronto Marlies, will paricipate in the 2010 Red Bull Crashed Ice, an extreme sport described as a a combination of downhill skiing, hockey, and boardercross.
Staff photo/ERIN HATFIELD
Careening down a hill, navigating turns and negotiating vertical drops and jumps, may not be his smartest decision, admits Max Taylor.
But, participating in the 2010 Red Bull Crashed Ice extreme sport competition is an experience Taylor wants to have; so he is headed to Quebec to give it a try.
"I had to stop playing hockey because of injuries and I am sure this isn't the safest event of all time," he said. "But, it's the first time I am able to do something and no one can tell me not to, so I am excited about it."
Taylor, who lives near King and Dufferin streets in Parkdale, has dedicated the bulk of his 26 years to serious hockey.
A native of England who moved to Canada at the age of four and grew up in Ottawa, he played hockey for the Texas Wildcatters of the ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League, the ECHL is generally regarded as a tier below the American Hockey League) and prior to that he played university hockey for the St. Lawrence Saints.
For the past year and a quarter Taylor played for the Toronto Marlies, the AHL affiliate for the Toronto Maple Leafs, until a head injury abruptly cut his hockey career short.
"Now I am trying to figure out what I want to do outside of hockey," Taylor said. "I had one goal and was like one step away from playing in the NHL... It's kind of frustrating, but I've got to think about the rest of my life."
That's when he saw a commercial for the extreme sport contest on television, so he registered.
Taylor can't really explain why he registered, "just for the rush, the experience, just for fun," he said.
"The only thing I have to worry about is my head, but it is a non-contact sport, so the only thing I really have to worry about is my own skating ability," he said while on break from his current gig instructing five- to 14-year-old minor hockey players at a Dangle Hockey March break camp.
The Red Bull Crashed Ice event is described as a combination of downhill skiing, hockey, and snow boarding.
"You're wearing full hockey equipment, from head to toe, but without a hockey stick," he said. "It is kind of like a luge, but on skates."
More than 12,000 Canadians applied for the chance to compete at the 2010 competition. A lottery system was held, and he was among 1,000 people randomly chosen to take part in one of 11 qualifying rounds across Canada, with the local one being held at the MasterCard Centre for Hockey Excellence in Etobicoke in January.
Taylor qualified and is among 100 men (and 20 women) who will compete in the finals this weekend on a 565-metre track at Cote de la Montagne, a historic hill, midway between Haute Ville and Basse Ville in Old Quebec.
"I guess on average it takes about 45 seconds to get down the hill," he said. "They estimate you are going at speeds around 50 or 60 kilometres an hour."
Taylor left for Quebec, Thursday, March 18. Friday night he competed in a preliminary round. If he finishes in the top 64 he will race in a group of four on Saturday and hopefully make it to the finals. Qualifiers will be narrowed down to a final four in the men's division to compete for a portion of the $5,000 in prize money.
"There is no practice facility, I think they will give you a couple runs just to get a feel for it before the time trials, but as for training there isn't much you can do other than work out, get your legs strong, work on your core and just stay on the ice as much as possible," he said.