February 11, 2023 will forever be etched in the history of the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.

The game between the Ukrainian team and the small Boston Bruins captured the imagination of people in the ancient capital. The newspaper delved into this historic moment in the company of four people who, each in their own way, but all from within, experienced the arrival of Team Ukraine Select.

A monster and an unexpected enthusiasm

Sean Bérubé increased the acrobatics so that young Ukrainians could take part in this tournament. And despite the magnitude of the war in Ukraine, and despite everything he had to do to pick up some of these young people in the war zone and bring them to Quebec, he never imagined that their arrival in the old capital would be on this scale.

A few weeks before her arrival, her story was first told in the media.

“Two or three weeks before they arrived, I started getting calls from journalists wanting to talk to me, and that’s when I realized it was bigger than I thought.”

François Robert, who hosted two young Ukrainians during the tournament – including one who has been back in Quebec since September, but we'll come back to that – was also impressed by the enthusiasm shown by Team Ukraine Select on January 1st^um February 2023, when he was part of the convoy responsible for greeting the team at the Montreal airport and driving them to the Videotron Center.

“When we arrived in Montreal there was already a lot of media and I realized something was happening. But when we got to the Videotron Center and got out of the vans and I saw the number of cameras that were there, I said to myself, “Okay, it's big.”

And “big” is probably an understatement. The Ukrainians led a rock star life that even led them to an invitation to Geoff Molson's locker room at the Bell Center for a Montreal Canadiens game.

Photo credit: QMI photo agency, Joël Lemay

Too strong a team? We do not know. Burnt? Yes!

As soon as they arrived in Quebec, they attracted attention. However, there are questions behind the scenes as they wreak havoc in exhibition games and some are beginning to question whether they have been underclassified by being placed in Class AA.

Taking note, the tournament's general director, Patrick Dom, is taking extreme measures: he is preparing a second version of his calendar in advance in case Team Ukraine Select is actually too strong for Class AA.

Photo credit: Photo Stevens LeBlanc

As February 11 approaches, the day of their first game, which will likely be sold out, Dom becomes more worried. All this enthusiasm ultimately led to a serious correction for the Ukrainians and then the tournament was accused of being too lenient towards this team with a Hollywood history.

“I had the bitch,” Dom didn’t hide it. Damn, it ends 10-0 for one or the other. We heard that they were really strong and that he attacked other teams with volleys. It would have been fatal.”

In the end, and this is no longer important, we will never know whether this team was really too strong for the others. Firstly, she didn't win the tournament and secondly, she never played in official matches like she did in exhibition matches.

“They played crazy games in exhibition games that they didn't do during the tournament,” recalls Sean Bérubé, who admits he was also worried about the team's ranking.

At one point he asked them why they weren't playing like they did before the tournament.

“The audience made her very nervous. They were used to playing at home in front of 10 or 15 parents.”

One more thing: the team was approached from all sides. Certainly great experiences, but they completely drained the players' energy. When they were eliminated in the third game against the Vermont Flames, they had returned from Montreal the day before to see the Canadian.

The schedule will also be reduced this year so that young Ukrainians can focus more on the main reason for their visit to Quebec: the Pee-Wee tournament.

Photo credit: Photo Didier Debusschere

A historical game

But all of this behind-the-scenes excitement won't go down in the annals of the Pee-Wee tournament. It's the February 11th game between Ukraine and the Boston Bruins.

In a Videotron center full of people dressed in white in support of Ukraine in the war against Russia, players from both teams first gathered arm in arm around the center circle to listen to the national anthems of both countries. A poignant moment and images that went around the world.

“This is my Twitter photo [maintenant X] “That got the most likes,” Dom says with a laugh. This photo is exactly what we wanted for this match. When I think about this game, that’s the image I have in my mind.”

For his part, Olivier Hubert-Benoit, Sean Bérubé's right-hand man when Ukraine arrived in Quebec, was at the forefront of this historic moment. Even before the two teams stepped on the ice, he knew how powerful what would happen that day would be.

“I was in the locker room where everyone was so nervous. Then the boys came out and I still have a photo of the two teams meeting in the passage. I was in the middle of it and I knew it would be a historic game. Everything that happened went beyond sports.”

For his part, Sean Bérubé has very special memories of this game, which he watched… on a screen in the basement of the Videotron Center!

“At the beginning, as the players entered the ice, I walked to the edge of the ice and took the time to look at all the people who had passed by. It was a beautiful moment and I made the most of it. However, when it started, the stress came and I watched the game from below. I don’t know if it’s superstition or what, but I preferred to stay there!”

In the end, this game presented an ideal scenario worthy of Hollywood: the little Ukrainians won, but were hot, largely thanks to the brilliance of the young Boston goalkeeper James Borccuzzi, who kept his team in a 1-0 lead for two and a half years in the third In the third third, Team Ukraine Select finally managed to thwart them and claim a 3-1 win.

“I cried,” admits François Robert. It was magical. We spent a lot of time with the players and got to know them. Seeing high school kids applauded by an NHL-worthy crowd was truly touching.”

The result: six players return to Quebec

The everyday life of some families in Quebec changed completely after the arrival of the Ukrainian team, as six players decided to return to Quebec to settle there. This was the case, among others, with the two friends François Robert and Olivier Hubert-Benoit and their spouses Geneviève Beaucage and Marie-Claude Pageau, who agreed to take in the young Matvii Kulish and Nikita Staskevich.

“Having a resident in our house changes the family dynamic for many,” says Hubert-Benoit, who is already the father of a boy and two girls. However, it was a very positive experience for our family. We put back an ice rink and Nikita and my son Alexis became like two brothers. »

Photo credit: Photo provided by Olivier Hubert-Benoit

But all is not rosy, agrees François Robert, a teacher like his partner who had to endure the recent strike while continuing to tend to the needs of his three daughters and Matvii Kulish.

“We thought about it with our hearts, but we hadn't thought about several aspects, including the budget,” he admits. However, there is no doubt that it is an incredible experience on a human level.

Photo credit: Photo provided by François Robert

Ukraine will return to the Pee Wee tournament this year, but enthusiasm is already much lower than last year.

“It's different! Last year it took us a week to find our host families, while this year that's not the case. I warned the coaches. “The players would love to go back and watch an NHL game, but it will not be like last year,” said Sean Bérubé, who made sure the host families understood that they were not obliged to keep the pee with them, after the tournament.