By Dan Plouffe, from January’s Ottawa Sportspage
It was a dream matchup for the Nepean Raiders Minor Peewee ‘AA’ team at the Bell Capital Cup as they wound up playing the Jokerit team from Finland they were hosting during the Dec. 28-Jan. 1 event.
“Who coulda wrote it any better?” smiles Nepean parent Donnie Carle, whose wife and team manager, Dawn, organized the billeting arrangements. “Just to get to the finals is a huge experience in itself and then to play our billets, it’s a storybook end.”
The Raiders families were so eager to host their Finnish counterparts that they had to hold a draw to determine which ones would get to host a young foreign pair. With mini-sticks, X-Box hockey and karaoke singing to keep them entertained, the bond was almost instant between the 11-year-olds from thousands of miles apart.
“They’ve had a blast,” Carle adds. “The first day when they slept over, our two billets had their own room, and the next day, they were all sleeping in the same room. They’re all saying that they’re best friends.”
Mitchell Mercier and Aiden Arscott scored for Nepean, but Jokerit got the upper hand in a well-fought 4-2 final.
“It was kind of weird. They were staying at our house and then all of a sudden we get to the game and we have to be enemies with each other,” recounts Nepean captain James Fretschner. “But we were hoping we’d play against each other in the final. That was the biggest highlight.”
The Minor Peewee ‘AAA’ Raiders won the biggest prize out of area teams at the tournament that featured over 400 teams, including a record 15 from overseas.
Visit SportsOttawa.com’s special Bell Capital Cup page for more coverage.