The Ukrainian team’s Hockey Can’t Stop Tour starts in Saskatoon – Saskatoon

The Ukrainian National University Hockey Team traveled to Saskatchewan to begin their Hockey Cant Stop tour against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

Hockey Cant Stop Tour is our intention to show the world’s biggest hockey country that Ukraine is still alive, that Ukraine is a free country, that we are independent, that hockey is still alive, says CEO Aleksandra Slatvytska. Hockey Federation of Ukraine.

The tour is one way the Ukrainian Ice Hockey Federation wants to keep hockey alive and well from Ukraine’s ongoing war against Russia.

This foundation wants to help children stay in hockey, we want to help children who lost their parents in the war, Slatvytska added.

He wants the tour to expand even further to become a long-term hockey relationship between Ukraine and Canada.

That will be the beginning. Various programs, experiences, exchange programs where we can send children’s hockey teams here for some camps or invite Canadian experts to Ukraine to share experiences and information.

For many players of the Ukrainian team, it was the first visit to Canada.

Head coach Vadym Shakharaichuk said it means a lot to the team to be able to travel and play in Canada.

It is very important for us to participate as a game in Canada, Canada is number one in hockey for us, Shakharaichuk said.

Ukraine forward Bohdan Stupak said one thing he noticed right away when he arrived in Canada.

Cold. It’s warmer back home. It’s cold here, but it’s nice, it’s a good feeling when you come here, it’s cold and it feels like hockey, Stupak said.

Stupak said this opportunity means a lot not only to him, but to all the players after their country has been through so much.

It’s tough because we have to play and practice under the missiles they send, sometimes no electricity, but we’re fighting through and getting better from it every day, Stupak added.

The tour will raise funds for refugees, humanitarian goals and for the reconstruction of arenas destroyed in the war.

In his personal career, Mykhailo Simchuk plays for the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. His family is back home in Ukraine. Simchuk said it’s hard when his family is still in a war zone.

Every morning they woke up because of rockets and air threats, it’s so hard, Simchuk said.

The team was unable to get a win as the Huskies won the game 2-0.

Now they head west to Calgary and Edmonton before returning east to play Winnipegs Canada Life Centre.