Skating through sand
In a desert land with only three ice rinks, Canada’s favourite sport is taking hold The United Arab Emirates even has a national hockey team, Geoff Baker writes
It was tough enough for Faisal Saeed Al Suwaidi and his 19 countrymen to explain in broken English why they were standing in a Burger King drivethru line in the middle of the night. Tougher still when puzzled Mississauga motorists heard that they are members of the United Arab Emirates national ice hockey team. Anyone bright enough to locate the tiny cluster of seven Persian Gulf kingdoms on a map would still be hardpressed to believe Canada’s sport has a home in a place of sand, camels and sultans. But there apparently are some pucks among the wealthy nation’s pearls and palaces and its finest hockey players are on a dream trip to Toronto this week that will see them face a squad of former NHL players. The first order of business for the hungry players upon arriving here early Tuesday morning after an exhausting flight was to seek out food at the burger joint next to their hotel. “We were a bunch of guys standing there and cars are coming and they’re saying ‘ What are you guys doing?’ ’’ said Al Suwaidi, 29, the human resources manager of a hotel in Abu Dhabi and a defenceman on the U. A. E. national squad. “ And we told them, ‘ The same thing as you. We’re ordering food — but we don’t have a car.’ ’’ The players are used to strange looks and questions — mainly from folks in their own country. Soccer is the big sport there, though hockey was introduced by Canadian expatriate workers nearly 30 years ago.
“ Imagine, people from the desert playing ice hockey,’’ Al Suwaidi said. “ This trip is a dream come true for us.’’ That dream became reality when the U. A. E.’ s national airline, Etihad, wanted to promote the launch of its inaugural flights to Canada. The airline became a team sponsor, a dialogue began with Canadian officials and the squad received an invitation to play the Legendary Hockey Heroes — an NHL oldtimers’ team including Steve Shutt, Dale Hawerchuk and Gilbert Perreault — Saturday at Brampton’s Powerade Centre.
They’ll attend a Hockey Hall of Fame reception tonight and take in a junior game tomorrow. Their first real hockey stop came yesterday at the National Sports store in Scarborough. No stores sell hockey equipment in the U. A. E., forcing players to buy gear online — and pay costly shipping fees — from a European distributor. Seeing aisle upon aisle of sticks, helmets, pads and other equipment yesterday had some players thinking they were in paradise.
“ It’s amazing, I’ve never seen anything like this before,’’ said team member Hamad Al Bolouki, 22, a computer engineering student, nodding at the stick shaft, two blades, stick wax and tape rolls in his shopping basket. “ I guess you can say that Canada is the mother of the game.’’
Standing nearby, his basket filled with tape and skate guards, Al Suwaidi looked out at the midday rain and shivered. “The one big difference I’ve noticed about Canada,’’ he said, “ is that it is so cold.’’ Temperatures can reach as high as 50C in the U. A. E.
Al Suwaidi was posted to a job in Denver in 1996, got taken to a Colorado Avalanche game and was smitten with hockey’s fast pace and physical contact. Returning home, he found it easy to join the national team and learn the game on the fly.
“ There are not that many players to cut,’’ he said. “ They would actually welcome more players to come and try out.” The country’s three indoor rinks are used mainly for family skates. Al Suwaidi learned to skate there, as did teammates — some of them soccer players, others just contrarians.
All are unpaid and have day jobs, but attend practices — some travelling up to 90 minutes each way — five times per week. Al Suwaidi joined the team seven years ago and figured it would be easiest to play goalie, but was talked out of it and told to try defence.
Other than a Belarussian goaltender and Russian coach, the squad uses U.A.E. nationals from a 12- team league that includes expatriates and clubs like the Abu Dhabi Scorpions and Dubai Mighty Camels. Nets are constantly being repaired, scoreboards don’t always work and fans and media often ignore their games. To raise money, a national hockey federation was formed in 1998. The squad began travelling internationally and, surprisingly, won some tournaments against established teams from Japan and Hong Kong. They also won a German tournament in 2003, beating professional clubs that included Canadian- born players.
“ They play very much within a system,’’ said Norm Labbé, an Ontario native who works in the U. A. E. and referees hockey games. “ They are all assigned a position and a responsibility and they have it drilled into them to stick to it.’’ Questions and comments from curious opponents are the norm. Al Suwaidi said a German player told him, “We’ve been tricked by you guys.’’ Another approached him while he was washing his hands in the men’s room.
“ The guy said ‘ How the hell do you guys know about hockey?’,’’ Al Suwaidi said with a laugh. “ We like surprising people.’’