It was a pre-dawn practice for the Kelowna peewee Rockets on Tuesday morning.
Head coach Byron Ritchie is putting his squad through their paces
“We pride ourselves on hard work.” Ritchie said.
But don’t let the peewee’s pint size fool you, because these kids are titans of the tournament circuit so far this season.
“I think we’ve been in four tournaments so far, won three of them, lost in the final, a shoot out in the Pat Quinn tournament,” Ritchie said.
The peewee Rockets are fresh of a tournament win in that hockey hot bed of
“Phoenix, Arizona. . .” Ritchie said.
With a record of 35-4-2 and 1, these 11- to 13-year-olds, are hockey tournament belles of the ball and they’re about to head off to grand-daddy of them all,
the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.
“As far as peewee hockey, it’s probably the biggest tournament in the world,” Ritchie said.
19 countries in all will attend the tournament.
Some of the top talent in the world at the 18,000-seat Videotron Centre, the arena that replaced Le Colisee in Quebec.
And all of the Kelowna peewee players are stoked to be headed to la bell province
“It’s awesome, the teams are great, they are coming from all around, all in Europe, so it’s just awesome to play,” said peewee Rocket Jaxsin Vaughn.
“It’s going to be an awesome experience I get to meet all the kids from around the world it’s going to be awesome, said another Rocket, Ethan Mackenzie.
But because this is community minor hockey, this awesome experience, comes at a cost . . . one with a big dollar sign in front of it.
“It’s not private hockey, it’s not an academy. It’s kids coming from all different backgrounds, socio-economic status backgrounds,” said Marni Adams a parent of a peewee Rocket.
So before the team can head to Quebec, they’ll host a Super Bowl party this weekend at the Rutland Centennial Hall, hoping to raise funds and help defer some of the costs.
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