A hockey team of teenage Ukrainian refugees arrives in Quebec City for a tournament

A group of teenage Ukrainian refugees scattered across Europe by war arrived in Quebec City on Wednesday for a chance to compete in a renowned hockey tournament.

The team of 11- and 12-year-olds landed in Montreal before being bussed to the provincial capital ahead of next week’s Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament, which has previously featured all-time greats Wayne Gretzky and Guy Lafleur. .

The gray-eyed team arrived at the Videotron Center in Quebec City, where they were greeted by local families who hosted them during their stay. Dressed in hats and jackets bearing the Ukrainian flag, the team took to the ice, where thousands of people are expected to flock to the stands to watch them play.

Coach Evgheniy Pysarenko described the team’s presence in Quebec City as “almost a miracle.”

“Before it was an impossible task, now it’s a miracle on ice,” he said.

Pysarenko told reporters at the hockey arena that it’s hard for the players to forget the war in Ukraine, where some have fathers on the front lines fighting the Russian invasion.

But he hopes they leave the tournament with lifelong memories and believes “anything is possible”.

He added that the team are “messengers of hope” and symbols of “spirit, strength and solidarity”.

12-year-old Maksym Kukharenko, whose hometown is Kyiv, has lived in the Czech Republic. He said the trip to Canada was “very long” but that he is excited to play.

“It’s great that I’m going to this country and this city,” he said.

His teammate, also named Maksym, said the tournament is “an opportunity for us to show ourselves to other teams in America, Canada.”

The team’s unlikely trip comes after months of effort by Pysarenko and a Quebec City businessman. They had to sort out visas and organize trips for players displaced by the war, who lived in different parts of Europe.

At least one boy is from Kherson, which spent months under Russian occupation, and others are from Odesa, which has been bombed.

The Ukrainian team will have time to settle in before they are scheduled to take the ice at the Videotron Center on February 11th to play the Massachusetts Junior Bruins.

Patrick Dom, the tournament’s general manager, said the past few months had been an “emotional roller coaster”, full of doubts about whether the team would make it through.

Considering what they’ve been through, Dom said he has low expectations for their performance on the ice. But in this case, the ending points don’t matter.

“When they go back to their country or wherever they come from, they say, ‘15,000 people in white shirts cheered for peace,'” he said.

“They’ll remember this for the rest of their lives. That’s what we want.”

The tournament is organized from 8 to 19 February.

—Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

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