It’s Friday afternoon and the score is 2 – 2 at the annual International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament in Quebec City, with teams from 17 countries around the world competing.
It’s going into over-time.
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Now in its 51st year, both the tournament and the sport have seen a lot of changing trends, including inviting more girls on the teams.
The two teams on the ice are big rivals: the Antoine Girouard Gaulois from Quebec and the Hershey Bears from the United States.
“We always have good teams from Quebec, but you know, in America, slowly hockey is becoming better than it’s ever been,” said tournament president Michel Plante.
Sport lovers say out of the match-ups of 120 teams, the Quebec-U.S. games are some of the best to watch.
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In the Gaulois versus Bears game, it eventually goes into a shoot-out.
Finally, Gracie Dwyer picks up her stick – it’s the 14th attempt on a net…and she scores.
“I was just playing. I wasn’t really thinking, I was just going, like I was in the zone,” Dwyer said.
She admits she had a plan.
“Somebody was like, ‘go to your backhand because a teammate before scored like that,’ so he just slid the other way and then I just put it in,” she said.
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Dwyer is the only girl on the Hershey Bears, but she’s not the first.
“We have a good group of boys – and a girl – who really play their hearts out,” explained Hershey head coach Doug Yingst.
“This is the third girl we’ve had on the Hershey team. They’ve all really been good. This girl here, she’s got a chance to play Division One college hockey, if she keeps it up.”
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Dwyer said her goal is to play in the Olympics, but for now, she has some advice when it comes to playing with the boys.
“Just be tough on them. We’re as tough as them and tougher,” she said.
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