Digby Peewee C team’s trip of a lifetime
Team travelled to Ottawa after winning the Canada 150 Rink Hockey on the Hill contest
Managing four kids at home, four kids’ hockey schedules and two house league hockey teams all paled in comparison with the reality of flying with a group of 17 pre-teen boys to Ottawa.
“I never thought in a million years we’d actually win it,” said Rosanna Manzer, manager of the ClareDigby Minor Hockey Association’s Digby Peewee C team that won a travel-expenses paid trip to Ottawa over the holidays.
The excitement over winning the Canada 150 Rink Hockey on the Hill contest to represent Nova Scotia as the only boys team from the province soon turned to nerves as Manzer contemplated travelling with a large group of other people’s children.
“This trip took the title ‘team manager’ to a whole new level,” Manzer said. “It was a lot of planning and co-ordinating and fundraising. The parents really worked hard on that. But I was actually a bit nervous. I was really, really hoping nobody got sick on the plane or while we were there.”
As it turned out, many of the team members’ parents opted to pay their own way to go along, but while they were able to book into The Digby Peewee C team during their trip to Ottawa after winning the Canada 150 Rink Hockey on the Hill contest. the same hotel, they were all on other flights.
But Manzer said, in spite of the late arrival home on New Year’s Eve, and a few minor bus delays in Ottawa, the team was well behaved and the entire experience was “fantastic.”
“I’d do it all again,” she said. “They had so much fun.”
That said, some parts of the trip didn’t exactly turn out as planned – the deep-freeze in Ottawa meant the outdoor games on the outdoor 150th rink were all cancelled.
“The boys were a bit bummed about that,” Manzer said. “But kids are so resilient, they quickly got over it, and some of the arenas we got to play in instead were really amazing.”
ON THE ICE
The Digby team ended up playing teams from Nunavut, Ottawa and British Columbia in their roundrobin division of the Bell Capital Cup, but dropped all three games – 5-1, 5-2 and 1-0.
“Yes, they lost all three games – they just couldn’t settle down in the first two and the last game was so close and they really played more like themselves. But even with the losses, they kept their spirits up. They knew they’d worked hard,” Manzer said. “They were just so excited to be there and be part of it all.”
Each year since 2000, the annual Ottawa International Hockey Festival, known as the Bell Capital Cup, welcomes minor hockey teams to the nation’s capital from across Canada and around the world to compete in the world’s premier atom (nine and 10-year-olds) and peewee (11 and 12-year-olds) minor hockey festival during the holiday season.
EXCITING EXPERIENCES
For the Digby team, staying at the same hotel as teams from Nunavut and Switzerland was fascinating, Manzer said.
The boys were also dazzled by being driven around each day by an assigned large white bus with space for their hockey bags underneath the seating.
“They thought that was so cool, having their own bus, like they were the Mariners or something,” Manzer said.
Being put out of the tourney early meant they had a couple of days for sightseeing. The team visited a couple of museums, went swimming, skated for fun on the 150 ice rink and attended an Ottawa Senators game.
“The Senators won for us,” Man- zer said.
She said the Digby team also made quite an impression on the teams they played by handing out gift bags to each opposing team member that were filled with souvenirs – pins, flags and postcards – from Digby and Nova Scotia.
“The team also had their Nova Scotia flags and before each game they would do a skate around the rink waving their flags – it was really amazing to watch,” Manzer said.
For Manzer the highlight of the trip was the time the team spent with their coaching staff, shopping for souvenirs to bring back home.
“It was so sweet to see,” Manzer said. “They were coming up to us and asking, ‘Do you think my mom would like this?’ I loved that moment. It was just the best.”
As for the boys on the team, including Manzer’s son Isaiah, they’re all still talking about the trip, at school and on social media. Manzer is grateful to everyone who helped make the trip happen, from parents to local businesses and local politicians.
“The support we received was incredible – we were just stunned and amazed by it,” she said. “We received support from so many different people and places – and everyone was so happy for us – so genuinely happy that we had this opportunity. People will never know how grateful we are.”