It didn’t take Sean Bérubé long to understand that Ukraine’s presence at the pee-wee tournament went beyond hockey. The Quebecer who has just returned from Romania met young people smiling and motivated to come and fight with the best teams in the world, but also a teenager who had just lost his father or another who is Worried because he was deployed in a hot area. And all while the young people crossed on their way to the Quebec missiles.
The resident of Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier had set out on the journey with a clear mission: to pick up four young pee-wee players who still live in Ukraine.
A simple task that turned out to be a real adventure in which the obstacles multiplied.
First, Mr Bérubé was to leave Romania in an 11-person van with TVA colleague Stéphane Turcot and his colleagues, who are following the Ukrainian team to produce a documentary about their adventure.
Photo provided by Sean Bérubé
The plan was to pick up the players at the border between Romania and Ukraine, which is separated by the Danube.
But already the first obstacle: A snowstorm is sweeping over the region and it is too dangerous to ask the young people to take the ferry to Romania.
THROUGH MOLDOVA
The coach of the Ukrainian team, Yevgeny Pysarenko, then finds another entry point with the help of knowledge.
However, you have to pass through Moldova to finally arrive at the Ukrainian border. The plan seems concrete: Bérubé goes with the TV crew, while Pysarenko takes a different route to pick up other members of the pee team.
And there you have it: second hurdle.
“The car was manual and I’m not used to driving like that. I have a tractor at home that is manual and I thought it would be the same. So we take pictures, we think we’re good. It took two minutes and I got stuck on a hill! People honked at me and yelled nonsense. That’s when I said to myself: “Bravo, Bérubé, four refugees are waiting for you and you can’t even use the clutch!” ”, he says with a laugh.
Bérubé also contacted Pysarenko, who turned and joined them. He will be the one driving, a decision they didn’t know at the time would be crucial to what comes next.
THE HELP OF A PASSENGER
The road goes well despite the bad weather and they finally approach the border between Romania and Moldova.
Third obstacle: Moldovan law prohibits entry with a rental car.
“On the way, Yevgeny thought about a guy he had played hockey with who lived about 2 hours away. He’s a Ukrainian who also played in the 1994 Pee-Wee tournament! »
The Ukrainian coach therefore asks him to help cross with them.
“He called his boss to tell him he wasn’t coming to work because he had to pee! »
Four young hockey players who will take part in the Tournoi Pee-Wee de Québec left the four corners of war-torn Ukraine, namely Kyiv, Dnipro, Odessa and Kherson, which is occupied by the Russians, last week to join Quebec’s Sean Bérubé her coach Yevgeny Pysarenko on the border with Moldova. The entire group then traveled to Bucharest, Romania to join the rest of the team.
With the help of the Good Samaritan, they manage to enter Moldova and make it to the Ukrainian border.
“It was windy and rainy and you could see the four players on the other side. There was only one fence, the ground was muddy, and stray dogs everywhere. It really looked like the Soviet Union! »
Photo provided by Sean Bérubé
Sean Bérubé and Yevgeny Pysarenko picked up the four pee players at this border post between Moldova and Ukraine.
After explaining the reason for their trip to the border officials, Yevgeny and Sean are finally allowed to cross the border into Ukraine on foot. After an emotional farewell to their mothers, they finally follow the two men to the beginning of this adventure that they will remember for the rest of their lives.
WAR STORIES
On the way back, Bérubé – who speaks fluent Russian – meets these four young people with an atypical CV.
“At first I let her chat. One of my missions there was to get to know the players and their personalities in order to be able to place them with the right host families. »
And he quickly realizes that their conversations aren’t anything that young teenagers her age should have.
“One said quite simply that he saw three rockets fly into the sky on the road to the border, while another said they exploded near his home and debris landed on his mother’s car. »
When Sean Bérubé arrived in Romania, where the entire team assembled on January 28 for his last preparatory camp before leaving for Quebec, he realized that the young people he had spoken to in the car were no exception.
Photo provided by Sean Bérubé
Sean Bérubé (first from left) got to know the Ukrainian team he will be sponsoring throughout the tournament.
ALL ELITE PLAYERS
“We have one young man whose father was recently killed in combat and another whose father is currently deployed in Donbass where things are going quite well. Most of the young people smiled a lot, but he a little less. »
And coming back to hockey, because after all that’s why they come to the pee-wee tournament, the Quebecer was impressed with what he saw.
Photo provided by Sean Bérubé
Two young Ukrainians after a training session in Romania.
” I was surprised. Guys, it’s spinning! I expected that they would come here just to participate, but on the contrary. After all, they are all elite players who played before the war. They enjoy every moment and give themselves to it Cotton. I think they’re going to put on a good show.”
We got the answer on February 11, 11:45 am.
Media interest from around the world
The visit of the Ukrainian team to the Tournoi International de Hockey Pee-Wee de Québec attracted unprecedented media attention and accreditation requests almost doubled compared to the same date at previous events.
As of yesterday, the organization of the tournament has received a total of 52 applications for accreditation, while they usually have around thirty a little over a week before the event.
The 52 include the New York Times, radio stations RFI (France) and RSR (Switzerland). For fairly obvious reasons, no Ukrainian media has made a request to cover the Peewee team.
Since the event confirmed that all of the team’s players and coaches had received their visas to enter Canada, more than 400 articles have been published around the world, including in Spanish, German, British and Singaporean media, on behalf of Canada, according to a press review tournament and made available to the journal.
NO CIRCUS
The Ukraine Team Select, which has been gathering in Bucharest, Romania since January 28, will officially land in Quebec tonight.
While aware of the excitement generated by the Ukrainian team’s arrival at the Pee-Wee tournament, the event’s general director, Patrick Dom, still wants their visit to the old capital not to become a “circus”. .
Media requests will therefore be directed by Sean Bérubé, who reserves the right to accept them or not.
“If they’re comfortable and they say, ‘No problem, you can come, it won’t distract us,’ then why not? Before their games, however, we will leave them their bubble,” said Pee Wee Tournament Communications Manager Julie Hamel.