Their body clocks are still adjusting back to North American time, but a group of 20 BCHL players, their coaches and other officials and family members returned from Russia Tuesday night with a cargo-load of memories.
Canada played a three-game, round-robin event in Podolsk, near Moscow, and one exhibition game and earned a 2-1 record in the tournament and a 2-2 record overall. The team was assembled quickly when more and more BCHL teams' season's were finishing. They had just one practice together before leaving Canada.
The team's first game, the exhibition contest, was a tough one as the Russian Junior Selects ran roughshod over Canada with a 9-2 win. That Russian squad was one of two in the round robin and wound up winning the event.
Canada's first tourney game was also against the Selects and a 6-2 loss was the result. But in true Canadian fashion, the team rallied around the Maple Leaf and defeated the U19 Russian National Junior team and the Slovkian National Junior team by scores of 5-3 and 6-3.
“The pinnacle was beating the Russian National Junior team,” said a weary Ronnie Paterson, the team's general manager who had just returned with everyone else Tuesday evening. “Without question, that was the highlight of the trip.”
That game was punctuated by a bizarre incident that saw a Russian fan go berserk and scale the glass, hop on the ice and attempt to take down Canadian defenceman Jayson Reardon.
“It illustrated the passion and energy any time Canada and Russia get together,” noted Paterson, who credited head coach Tim Kehler and assistant Colin O'Hara for their outstanding work rounding the team into form in such a short period of time.
“When we got back, guys were saying it felt like we'd been together all year,” said Paterson. “I've been blessed with a lot of hockey experiences but this one is the most special.”
Team Canada is a big brand name in Russia and Paterson said after the final game, the team had a few hours to kill and spent it together reflecting on the event in the dressing room for about three hours. When they did eventually leave, hundreds of fans were still waiting to see the players and get autographs.
“I'm very proud of the entire team,” said Paterson. “There were some challenges putting this together, some times where I thought we were going to have to pull the plug, but it was worth every minute.”
