Pee-Wee hockey team heading to Quebec

As seen in ThisWeek News
Thursday, February 8th, 2007

DON DELCO
ThisWeek Staff Writer

By Paul Vernon/ThisWeek Columbus Blue Jackets Pee-Wee player Jude Warner practices with the team Jan. 19 at the Chiller North.

Gord Rivington entered Chiller North recently, toting a large hockey-equipment bag and wearing a "Hockey Night in Canada" hat.

He was in his element.

Rivington was selected as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets' Pee-Wee hockey team for players born in 1994. Beginning Feb. 8, the team will compete in the 48th Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament before returning Feb. 18.

"I grew up in Canada, and this is all you've ever heard of are these 12-year-olds that play in this tournament," Rivington said, referring to past participants such as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and current Blue Jackets NHL all-star Rick Nash. "It's an experience these kids will never forget."

Rivington grew up in Ottawa before leaving in the early 1980s to play hockey at Ohio State University. He returned to central Ohio in 1993.

When asked about the tournament, he grinned.

"This tournament is part of my culture," Rivington said. "I think I'm more excited than the kids. It's an experience I don't think these kids will understand until they're standing there."

Last October, tryouts were held and 17 of the best Columbus Chill Youth Hockey Association (CCYHA) players in central Ohio were chosen for the team. To qualify for the team, a player had to be 12 years old at the time and may turn 13 from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2007.

"It's basically an all-star team out of Columbus," Rivington said.

Since 1999, the CCYHA, with help from the Blue Jackets, has sent a team every year but 2000. The trip costs $1,200 per player; the cost is subsidized through the Blue Jackets and fund-raising efforts.

Once in Quebec City, the players stay with host families, or billets, and the parents stay in hotels.

"This will be my fourth year going and my wife, Angela's, fifth," said Rodney Warner, father of Jude Warner of Pickerington. "It's a culture of hockey up there. You're seeing the best of the best with the 112 teams in this tournament. It's pretty special."

More than 300 teams worldwide applied to compete in the event.

"The most important criteria is, you have to be good," tournament general manager Patrick Dom said. "We usually accept all the teams from overseas for the international side of the tournament."

Since the tournament's inception in 1960, teams have come from China, England, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico and South Africa. This season, the Pee-Wee Blue Jackets are the only team from Ohio.

When it comes to choosing teams from the United States, Dom and his peers trust past experience.

"You know if you take the top three teams from Detroit, you're in business," Dom said. "The fourth and fifth teams in Detroit, I know I have better teams somewhere else in the United States although sometimes we can make exceptions."

Warner, a center, is making his second consecutive trip to Quebec and is following in the footsteps of his older brother, Jacob, now 15.

"Last year was a lot of fun," he said. "It was some good hockey."

The tournament lasts 10 days and overlaps the wintertime Carnavale by four days. The Carnavale shuts down Quebec City for three weeks.

"The hockey is awesome," Rodney Warner said. "It's a neat place to be up there. It's an old town with cobblestone streets that makes it a beautiful place. You also see outdoor hockey rinks at every corner. It's the way of life up there."

In addition to the tournament, exhibition games are played to ensure teams will get sufficient ice time. One disadvantage the Pee-Wee Blue Jackets face is that the team will practice only 12 times prior to leaving Feb. 8, with no game-time experience.

Jude Warner isn't worried, though.

"We're working well together," he said. "We talk a lot on the ice."

"(Rivington) is a good coach, too," left-winger Nick Maley of Bexley said. "He knows a lot about hockey. Also, Jude has told us about what we will be doing when we're not playing hockey and telling us about the families. It seems like it'll be a really cool experience."

According to former team manager Beth Stalnaker, Maley's expectations will be met.

"My son, Cameron, went the first year in 1999, and it's not about hockey all the time," she said. "It's about culture and meeting different people from different countries. It's as much social and cultural as it is about hockey.

"My son is now 21, and he still talks about it. It's like they appreciate it when they're younger, but as they get older, the kids come away going, 'Wow, I got a chance to do something very few other kids I hang out with or play hockey with ever get to do.' It's like a little badge of honor."