Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – When you think about sports in countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Venezeula and Mexico, ice hockey is not really the first thing that comes to mind.
But for MacEwan Griffins goaltender Eric Ward, he found out first-hand how much passion for the game exists around the world when he decided to sign up to play in the Amerigol Latam Cup in Florida Aug. 21-25.
The event bills itself as the premier international hockey tournament for non-traditional markets.
Ward's mother is Chilean, so he contacted their federation in a bid to join the team and they were pleased to add him to the roster.
"She was super happy," he said of his mom. "My grandparents on that side were very happy. I think they told everyone in their Chilean community – their church and everyone. They were very happy.
"Even just being down there, I was kind of surprised how many fans come up (from Chile). We were getting 200 fans a game, which is really cool to see. All the countries that were down there had a couple hundred fans.
"Mexico had a Mariachi band at every game playing. It was just a really cool experience seeing Hispanic countries play hockey and seeing the game grow like that."
Ward and the MacEwan Griffins kick off non-conference action this weekend in a home-and-home set vs. cross-town rival Alberta on Friday (7 p.m., Clare Drake) and Saturday (5 p.m., Downtown Community Arena).
In preparing for the season, he found out the late August Amerigol Latam Cup was an under-rated level of hockey.
"The first game was a big surprise for me," he said. "I think we lost like 8-1. I was talking to my mom and dad after and I was expecting to go in and 'I'm a U SPORTS Canadian guy – this is going to be a step down, I'll just go have fun.' But it was, 'OK, never mind, this is actually decent hockey.'
"For the rest of the tournament, we were able to win and I played well until we played a powerhouse Algerian team who ended up winning the tournament. Most of their players were France Div 1."
Powerhouse in hockey and Algeria aren't usually in the same sentence, but boasting a roster stacked with French pros, they beat Ward and Chile 8-1 in the semifinals.
"I think we fought really hard that game," said Ward of Team Chile, which was comprised mostly of Americans and a few Europeans of Chilean descent, some members of their top-ranked roller hockey team, a couple other Canadians and one other U SPORTS player – Marco Lopez of Waterloo. "The boys laid everything on the line, no matter what the score was. We all stood up for each other.
"At the end of the day, Algeria played together so much longer and they were a better team, so there was nothing we could do that game."
The experience certainly opened Ward's eyes to the growth of hockey around the world.
"It was so cool – even learning about how many good players were there," he said. "There was a guy on Central America, who was drafted to the NHL 10 years ago and he played like six years in the AHL and is now playing Div. 1 in France. There were a couple Div. 1 players in Mexico from (Arizone State).
"Seeing how many people really care for the game down there and even watching the younger ages – U12, U14, U16 – how the fans interact and how serious they take it, I wasn't expecting that from South American countries. To see that was really cool."
