A Ukrainian girls’ hockey team is in Canada for a few days of peace and hockey in an arena that does not have a missile-sized hole in its roof.
After 56 hours of travel to Calgary, including a 24-hour bus ride from the Ukrainian city of Dnipro to Warsaw, Poland, that required an army escort for a portion of it, the Ukrainian Wings yesterday joined Wickfest, former Canadian hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser’s annual girls’ hockey festival.
The squad of players aged 11 to 13 was drawn from eight different cities in Ukraine, where sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Photo: AFP
“They all have a personal story of something awful happening,” Wickenheiser said. “We give them a week of peace and joy here, and I hope they can carry that with them.
“We know full well they’re going back to difficult circumstances. It’s tough that way,” she said.
Nine players are from Kharkiv, where pictures show a large hole in the roof of the Saltovskiy Led arena where the girls’ team WHC Panthers once skated.
“It was our home ice arena, and we played all our national team championships in this ice arena,” said Kateryna Seredenko, who oversees the Panthers program and is the Wings general manager.
Ukraine’s Olympic Committee in a Facebook post on Sept. 1 wrote that Kharkiv’s Sport Palace, which was home to multiple hockey teams, was also destroyed in an attack on the city.
Seredenko said the Wings’ arduous journey to Calgary was worth it because it gives the girls hope.
“It’s not a good situation in Ukraine, but when they come here, they can believe that everything will be good, everything will be fine, of course we will win soon and we must play hockey. We can’t stop because we love these girls and we will do everything for them,” she said.
“So many girls on this Ukrainian team are future players of the national team.”
Wickenheiser, a Hockey Hall of Famer, is the assistant general manager of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs and a doctor who works emergency room shifts in the Toronto area.
The six-time Olympian and four-time gold medalist organized her first Wickfest after the 2010 Winter Games.
She has had teams from India, Mexico and the Czech Republic attend over the past decade and a half, but never a team that ran the Ukrainians’ gauntlet of logistics.
The Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health took on the task of arranging visas and paying for the team’s travel.
“We care about women and children’s health. Sport is such a symbol. When you see a group of girls coming off the ice all sweaty and having worked hard on the ice, it’s a symbol of a healthy girl,” chief executive officer Julia Anderson said.
“That’s a healthy kid that’s able to participate in sport. We really believe if we can get girls there, whether they’re in an active war zone, or here in Canada, those girls will change the world,” she added.
“It’s the first time in Ukrainian history where a girls’ team is coming to Canada to a very good tournament,” Seredenko said.
“They can see how they can play in their future. And they can see how it is to play hockey in Canada,” she added.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
RSS