PAST TOURS - Ottawa, Dec. 27,'08 - Jan. 2,'09
Beijing International Ice Hockey School

Home

About
Men's Players
Tournaments
Maps
Sponsorship
Contacts
Useful Links

Hockey School

Dear friends,

here's a not-so-brief account of my experience coaching my (and Coach Tom's) Chinese Atom Hockey Team at our just-completed tournament in Ottawa.  Happy New Year to all!

__________     _________     __________     __________     __________    __________    _________

The tournament went amazingly!  Despite some totally unbelievable situations, the boys pulled through and did a great job of dealing with the adversity (you'll see what I mean) and staying focused on hockey. 

The potential disaster started on the 27th when Tom and I had just arrived to the Welcome Banquet around 3pm.  We were told that some of the kids (6) and parents had been delayed in Vancouver for over 15 hours due to the weather.  We had a game scheduled for 6pm that day (an exhibition game against Iqaluit) and a tournament game the next morning at 11:45.  We got news that they should arrive shortly and will go directly to the rink - in time for the 6pm game.  "Phew!", right?  Nope - 15 minutes later we're told that the kids made it but their hockey bags didn't!  Thank goodness we had a host team "The Stittsville Wolfack" that stepped up huge by lending us players and equipment in order to play our game.  We won handily - Iqaluit played well but we had just a little too much talent for them.

Canada vs. US @ World Juniors 

The 28th started fairly well - we won our game against a much stronger opponent than the previous day by a score of 5-2.  The missing equipment still hadn't arrived.  That afternoon, the boys had a trip to the museum of Civilization planned - between lunch and going to see the USA-Czech game at the World Junior Hockey Championship.  Lunch at the Chinese restaurant (apparently some of the Chinese parents were fed up with 'Canadian' food by then) took almost 3 hours, thus canceling the trip to the museum; a shame since this would have been a much greater experience than sitting around chewing on sweet and sour pork.  The boys (especially the ones who had a sleepover in Vancouver) were now feeling the jetlag.  We went to the game that night and it was often hard to keep them awake, even though it was an entertaining display. 

On the 29th, the remaining equipment finally arrived and we crushed the Orleans Storm Troopers 12-0.  The parents were taken to the Hockey Life store just before the game.  They went wild.  Nothing remotely close to Hockey Life exists in Beijing, as you can imagine.  A good day.  One of the dads took Tom and me out that night - despite the fact that we had game at 10:55 the next morning.  Great night, so-so morning...

December 30th - Although a little cloudy, we made it to the rink on time and had our toughest game of the tournament.  The Brockville Jr. Braves gave us all we could handle, leading into the 3rd period.  We called on our top players to get us out of the jam and Timo from Germany and Max from Canada (by way of Switzerland) gave us all the offense we needed.  We won the game 5-3 - a clutch performance since it was a "win or go home" scenario.  Between games - we had our first playoff game at 5:30 that evening - Tom and I wanted to go to Hockey Life as well.  We took Max and his Mom with us since they had forgotten something the day before.  So, after lunch, the rest of the team went to a mall to shop and we did our thing - planning to reunite at the rink at 4:45pm.  Sounds fairly simple, right?  What could go wrong?  Well, when everyone had arrived at the rink and the boys got into the room, we realized that Max's equipment wasn't there.  It was too much to ask that one of the 35 people on the bus remember to bring in the bag of the kid that wasn't there... wow.  After a wild-goose chase to locate the bus driver who had by now driven to an empty lot, we got Max's bag back 5 minutes before game time.  Another boy lost his 50 collected pins around the same time (for an hour, until he looked in his other pocket) and threw a major fit.  As usual, the boys came out with fire in their eyes and we dispatched of the Almonte Thunder 9-2.  That night we got home and watched the Habs and Senators (Tom's from Ottawa) both win and we slept well.

The 31st came with all sorts of excitement tied to it.  Not only did we have our QF game against a team that looked quite strong (we scouted them the previous evening) but also because we would be going to the Canada-USA game that night!  Our game against the Hawks of Hawkesbury went well.  We were never in any danger and cruised to a 7-2 victory.  The Beijing Imperial Guard program founder, Phil Ho, managed to score 2 30-person boxes to Scotiabank Place for what ended-up being a classic game - with Canada winning 7-4.  We were primed to meet up with our friends for a toned-down New Year's Eve celebration as we knew we'd have to be up early for the SF at 10:25 the next day (and if we won, the final at 3:30).  As Tom, Mikko (another dad) and me approached the bus (we were the last to leave the building), we were intercepted by Kate (the main organizer and a mother) yelling "Vincent's not on the bus!"  Vince, our #1 goalie who's parent's had left him in the care of the remaining 20 adults there (Tom and I don't count - we were acting like kids), had been forgotten.  So much for getting to the party before 11:00.  Back to the rink we went to have Vince paged and to alert the security staff of a missing 10-year old boy.  Thankfully he had on his USA jersey, which made it much easier to find him.  We got to the party at 11:30 and left at 1:45.  A solid and fun two hours though.

At 9am on New Year's Day, we got a call from Phil.  Right away, Tom's mom says "don't worry, they're up..."  But alas, he was calling for a much different reason.  There was a fire at the team hotel!  What?!  We hurried into the car and booked it down to the Radisson.  The streets were blocked off and the evacuated guests were herded into the Delta across the street.  Only half our players escaped with their hockey bags.  Many of the other half didn't even have footwear.  It was literally a sprint to get out of the place.  From what they told me - smoke was everywhere and getting down the stairs without encountering it was almost impossible.  One of our players and his dad climbed down a fire ladder from the 10th floor!  Everyone was distraught.  Thankfully, everyone (from our team) was safe and in one piece.  The French media was desperate for an interview and I was the only one there that spoke the language.  Tom got to give a happier interview to the English media later on.  Now the challenges ahead of us were to get the game pushed back and to get the equipment out of the hotel rooms.  The tournament director pushed the game to 11:30 (which wasn't really enough time) and wouldn't go any further (we suspected they were annoyed about our lop-sided scores and didn't mind if we'd had to forfeit).  Four of us stayed behind in an effort to get the remaining bags out of the hotel.  Because the fire was deemed to be arson, the cops wouldn't let us in as it was a crime scene.  We finally were promised that the fire department would drive our missing stuff to the rink in Kanata in time for our final (assuming we made it).  Again, the Stittsville host team as well as other local teams pitched in to get our boys equipment that fit.  Then, once again, the boys were mentally strong enough to play a great game and win 9-4 against the Carleton Place Kings.  The fire department stuck to the their word and had all the equipment at the rink in plenty of time for our 3:30pm final game.  As all great Championship teams do, we saved our best effort for the final against a very worthy opponent, the West End Devils.  Our positioning and passing was impeccable - there was a stretch of about 2 minutes when our boys kept the puck in the offensive zone without taking a shot while making about 15 passes.  Getting 9-10 year-olds to make 3 passes in a row is usually cause for celebration.  7-1 was the final score and we were crowned Champions!  We made sure the boys got to take the trophy on a victory lap around the ice. 

Coaches Mark Simon & Tom McCabe  

The game must go on -- with borrowed gear Families lend visiting team hockey gear after players unable to retrieve bags due to fire   By Katie Daubs and Sarah Dea, The Ottawa CitizenJanuary 2, 2009 It was a typically Canadian response to a fire. After all the humans were out of the Radisson Hotel, an unusual evacuation order crackled over the police scanner: retrieve the hockey bags. "Well, we're in Canada," said Bonnie Fowler, the grandmother of a player of the German Eagles atom team. "They couldn't guarantee about my purse, but the hockey bags were being delivered." Yesterday morning, a three-alarm fire, deemed suspicious by police, injured five people and forced the evacuation of the Radisson Hotel. One woman was seriously burned. Those injuries were deemed not life threatening last night. The hotel had been filled with New Year's Eve revellers and hockey families from Germany and China, who were in town for the Bell Capital Cup. The hockey bags belonged to the Beijing Imperial Guard, an atom hockey team, who had a semi-final match against the Carleton Place Kings at the Bell Sensplex at 10:30 a.m. yesterday. Seven of the Imperial Guard's early risers had been waiting in the lobby with their hockey bags when the fire alarm went off at 8 a.m. But like any team, there were a few stragglers, and half of the team couldn't get their gear, said Kate Kirkwood, the manager of the team. After they were shepherded with other guests to the nearby Delta Hotel, 13 young boys congregated for an unconventional pep talk surrounded by people in pyjamas and bath robes. "That woman deserves a medal," said Mrs. Fowler, after she watched Ms. Kirkwood rally the young boys for the game. They left the Delta hotel at 10:45 a.m., and with six bags of borrowed equipment from a Kanata team, ripped open the first period with five goals. The final score was nine to four, earning the Beijing Imperial Guard a spot in the tournament's final game. But before the gold medal game of the Atom House B division began, there was some great news. Firefighters had been able to retrieve the six hockey bags from the hotel, and transport them to the arena. "It was a great city effort," said Ms. Kirkwood. "You have amazing people here." And the gold-medal game? The Beijing Imperial Guard brought it home with a 7-1 victory over the West End Devils. "We felt so happy that's how the day ended for the boys," Ms. Kirkwood said. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen http://www.ottawacitizen.com/game+must+with+borrowed+gear/1133195/story.html

Two seriously hurt in suspicious Ottawa hotel fire Updated: Thu Jan. 01 2009 8:53:56 PM CTV.ca News Staff Police are investigating a suspicious fire at an Ottawa hotel that caused at least $1 million in damage and sent two people to hospital in serious condition on Thursday. Fire crews were called to the Radisson Hotel at 402 Queen St., shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday, said Ottawa Fire Services spokesperson Kim Ayotte. When they arrived, firefighters found the second floor of the hotel engulfed in smoke. They quickly put out the fire and evacuated the hotel's 400 guests. An Ottawa police media release said that 105 hotel guests "were provided with help in finding new accommodations" following the fire. Ottawa police Insp. Paul Johnston told CTV News that the fire had caused "extensive damage to the second floor" and injured five people. Johnston said two people were in serious condition, while the other three were dealing with smoke inhalation injuries. Acting paramedic team leader Cory Van Delst told CTV.ca that each of the two most-seriously injured people had been admitted to hospital suffering from burn injuries. A 30-year-old woman suffered second-degree burns to 15 per cent of her body and a 26-year-old man suffered both first- and second-degree burns, Van Delst said in a phone interview on Thursday evening. As of Thursday afternoon, the Ontario Fire Marshal was taking part in the investigation at the scene, as were members of the Ottawa police arson unit and local fire investigators. While early estimates put damage from the fire at $1 million, that figure could rise after the investigation is completed, Ayotte said. Three hockey teams involved in Ottawa's Bell Capital Cup tournament were staying at the hotel, spokesperson Aaron Robinson told CTV.ca. Parents and children from two Chinese teams and the parents of some German team members were evacuated safely and suffered no injuries, he said. Members of one of the Chinese teams even played in a semi-final game after they were evacuated on Thursday morning -- although the start time of the game was pushed back by one hour. http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090101/ottawa_fire_090101/20090101?hub=TorontoNewHome

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20090102.FIRE02%2FEmailTPStory%2F&ord=40646984&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true