A team of young hockey players from this province is heading to Europe tomorrow on what will be the experience of a lifetime.
Head coach Steve Hodder says the call went out among high school hockey players who didn’t make the cut for the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Memorial High School Hockey Tournament to gauge interest in a series of exhibition games and tour of WWI memorials in Europe – and the response was overwhelming.
(A caribou statue stands in Gueudecourt, France, as part of the Trail of the Caribou. Photo courtesy Veterans Affairs Canada.)
Hodder says the team is made up of three players from St. Anthony, two from Twillingate, and the rest from schools across the metro region.
The Newfoundland Trail of the Caribou team will play a tournament in Brussels involving teams from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and France, as well as three exhibition games.
Each of the players has been paired with a Newfoundland Regimental soldier who died in WWI, and they will be visiting the graves.
Hodder says they have an exhibition game against the Fog Devils this afternoon at 3:30 at Twin Rinks and are hoping to see a good crowd before they leave for Europe.
“We’ve got the President of the Royal Canadian Legion in Kelligrews, he’s going to come out and do the opening ceremony. We’re going to sing Oh Canada! and the Ode to Newfoundland, so if anybody is in the area and they’re interested…and want to bring their kids out, it will be 3:30 at the Twin Rinks.”
