An Edmonton physician followed his love for hockey all the way to an international tournament victory for – wait for it – Pakistan, a nation known as a cricket hotbed. Dr. Kameron Sabir is head coach of the Pakistan men’s hockey team, which last week won gold by shutting out Peru in the Division 3 final of the Amerigol Latam Cup. The annual tournament for men’s and women’s teams in non-traditional hockey markets that’s sponsored by the National Hockey League, its players’ association and the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers saw 62 squads from 17 countries and territories face off in south Florida. Pakistan’s women’s team, playing for the first time at the Latam Cup, took bronze in its division. When it started in 2018, the Latam Cup featured five teams from Latin America and the Caribbean. Now, it includes squads from around the world, including Lebanon, Pakistan, Israel, Greece and Egypt. Sabir, who grew up a fan of the Oilers and has played hockey his whole life, told CTV News Edmonton when he was asked to coach the Pakistani team, he did it “because of my passion for the game.” And winning gold in their second year in the tournament “was an amazing feeling.” “It’s a historic victory,” said Sabir, 41. “It marks a watershed moment for Pakistan. It showcases our nation’s potential, and hopefully, it can inspire ice hockey for future generations.” He said Pakistani players arrived in Florida a week before the tournament began to practise and get to know each other before the four-day event in which they went undefeated in five games. “We were able to have some really good practices where we set some plays, went over our power play, the penalty-kill, and the styles that we wanted to play,” Sabir said. “From that, I think the team bought in, let everyone know that, ‘Look, we have the option to make history.’ Every player essentially coming in had a lot of skill. They’re used to being top-line players. We had four lines on our team. Integrating them was integral, getting them to buy into the system, but they were all great sports.” Now, Sabir is preparing for Pakistan’s next international hockey tournament, next year’s invitational Dreams Nations Cup being held in New Jersey. “We’re all taking about a week off, and then we’re going to start prepping for that, set the rosters,” he said. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa
