Ukrainian girls' team gets hockey rest in Calgary at annual Hayley Wickenheiser festival – Calgary
The Ukrainian girls' hockey team is in Canada for a few days of peace and hockey in an arena that doesn't have an arrow-sized hole in its roof.
After a 56-hour trip to Calgary, including a 24-hour bus ride from Dnipro to Warsaw, Poland, part of which required a military escort, the Ukrainian Wings will join Wickfest, Hayley Wickenheiser's annual hockey festival, on Thursday. .
The group of 11- to 13-year-old players was taken from eight different cities in Ukraine, where sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Russia began its offensive in February 2022.
“They all have a personal story of something bad happening,” Wickenheiser said. “We are giving them a week of peace and happiness here and I hope they can handle it.
“We know very well that they are returning to difficult situations. It's hard that way.”
Nine players traveled from Kharkiv, where photos show a large hole in the roof of the Saltovskiy Led stadium where the girls' team WHC Panthers once skated.
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“It was our home ice rink, and we played all our national team championships on this ice rink,” said Kateryna Seredenko, who oversees the Panthers program and is the general manager of the Wings.
The Ukrainian Olympic Committee posted photos on Facebook on September 1 that the Sport Palace in Kharkiv, which housed several hockey teams, was also destroyed during the attack on the city.
Seredenko says the Wings' tough trip to Calgary was worth it because it gives the girls hope.
“It's not a good situation in Ukraine but if they come here they can believe that everything will be fine, everything will be fine, of course we will win soon and we have to play hockey. We will not stop because we love these girls and we will do everything for them,” she said.
“Many of the girls in this Ukrainian team are future national team players.”
Wickenheiser, a Hockey Hall of Famer, is the assistant general manager of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs and an emergency room physician in the Toronto area.
The six-time Olympian and four-time gold medalist organized his first Wickfest after the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, BC
He has had teams from India, Mexico and Czechia in the past decade and a half, but never with a team in charge of Ukrainian logistics.
The Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health took on the task of arranging visas and paying for the group's travel.
“We care about the health of women and children. Sports is such a symbol. “When you see a group of girls coming out of the snow sweaty and working hard on the snow, it's a sign of a healthy girl,” said CEO Julia Anderson.
“He is a healthy child who knows how to participate in sports. We truly believe if we can get girls out there, whether they're in a war zone, or here in Canada, those girls will change the world.”
The Wings aren't the first Ukrainians to seek hockey ground in Canada since the war began.
The men's under-25 team played four games against the university team in early 2023 to prepare for that year's world university games.
Ukrainian teams have also played twice in the Quebec City International Pee-Wee Hockey tournament.
“This is the first time in the history of Ukraine that a girls' team is coming to Canada for a very good tournament,” said Seredenko. “They see how they can play in their future. And they see what it's like to play hockey in Canada. “
© 2024 The Canadian Press
