The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
They had only been practicing as a team for a few months, but that didnÕt stop the Manitoba Polar Ice from heading across the world to take part in a hockey tournament. Zach Garrett, of Creighton, was one of many on the team who flew to Japan for a five-team tournament. It was the first time Garrett had been to Japan and in the circumstance in which he was there, he called it a Òvery good experience.Ó The Polar Ice, made up of players from across the province placed in second place in the worldwide tournament. The boys, ages 14 and 15, played a team from Edmonton, Russia and two teams from Japan. Though there were some parents who took in the trip, the players werenÕt spending much time with their own families. ÒWe didnÕt really see them,Ó says Garrett. Òwe stayed with a (host) family. (They were) very kind and friendly and they gave us lots of stuff.Ó As the boys were in Japan for a hockey tournament, there were also celebrations going on each night, which provided a fireworks display. As for spending a week in a foreign part of the world, as far as Garrett was concerned, he says it was Òamazing.Ó And it wasnÕt just hockey the boys took part in. ÒWe played tennis, bowling and played baseball,Ó he says. ÒAnd we went on the big mountain in Sapporo.Ó To keep with the tourist activities, Garrett says the group went on a one-day sight seeing adventure where they visited museums and the ski jump, which was used for the Olympics. But hockey was the real reason the boys travelled to Japan. As the week went on, the Polar Ice defeated the other teams on the roster, but came short in one of their games, putting them in second place overall. The schedule was to have finals in the tournament, but the teams ran out of time and went with the round robin scores to decide on placings. With the hockey tournament a backdrop for getting together, Garrett says there was opportunity to meet all of the players and get to know one another. ÒThere were opening and closing ceremonies...which were pretty fun. And the closing ceremonies...had a supper with all of the teams,Ó he says. And to be closer to the other teams, Garrett says he was staying with a few of the other players at his host familyÕs house. As the tournament wrapped up and the teams prepared to come back home, Garrett says they passed out Canadian memorabilia to the Japanese. ÒWe gave them shirts, pins and maple syrup as well,Ó he says. ÒWe gave them handfuls of pins from Flin Flon and Creighton and invited them to come and see us if they were ever in Canada.Ó Thinking back to August, when the teams were together, Garrett says he remembers one big difference between the Canadian and Japanese teams. ÒThe big difference I saw with the Japanese team, which was the reason they lost so (often), is that when you hit them, they would give us the puck. ÒWeÕre bigger and hitting them harder and getting penalties.Ó But Garrett did notice than while they were sitting in the penalty box, the teams from Japan had Òa lot of finesse on the power play.Ó And before heading back to their respectable homes, the teams traded their jerseys.
