December 21, 2011
SISEC Selects hockey team training at Spray Lake Sawmills family Sports Centre.
For the Cochrane Swiss International Sports & Eduction Centre academy hockey team, better known as the SISEC Selects Midget team, the holidays are bittersweet.
Of the 21 hockey players, who arrived in Cochrane for their 10-month stint with the SISEC Selects at the end of August, about half are able to head home for the holidays, while the rest remain with their billet families for the duration of Christmas and New Years. Home for these 14-18 year olds includes America, Finland, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine.
“It’s natural for everyone to miss their families back home, but it’s a part of the growing process,” said Selects associate head coach Topher Plonka, who is joined on the management team by head coach Fred Voser and assistant coach Hugh Dunlop.
“Their billet families have been unreal and have helped them feel like they’re a part of their families.”
Some of the remaining kids will have their parents travel to Cochrane for the week, while others will spend Christmas with their billet families.
“It’s pretty hard,” said 17-year-old Mikhailo Rudenko of Ukraine. “But you get used to it. I wanted to go home this year, but it was pretty expensive.”
The SISEC Selects wrapped up their 2011 calendar year with a 4-4 tie on Dec. 18 against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons; ending 2011 with 16 wins, six ties and 13 losses.
The team will break until Jan. 2, which is when practice resumes.
“I think from the start of the year, they’ve been adjusting to a busy schedule,” said Plonka. “We’re on the ice every day with a heavy schedule of more than 80 games.”
The SISEC Selects play against other academy teams, including teams from the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL) and the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League (NAMHL).
For 17-year-old Arttu Koivula from Finland, adhering to a busy schedule is part of the whole experience, and making friends along the way has made being alone during the holidays a little easier.
“It was easy to make friends because nobody had a friend when we came here,” said Koivula, explaining that he prepared himself for the loneliness of Christmas a while ago.
Watching the 21 teens mature and develop — both as hockey players and as individuals — has been a big note of satisfaction for Plonka.
“I’ve noticed an overall improvement skill-wise and an adaptation to a more physical, Canadian-style of hockey,” said Plonka, a former assistant coach with the Castlegar Rebels, earning the Kootenay Conference championship with the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League last season.
“It’s been a big learning curve for me. I’ve learned a lot about myself and about their cultures.”
The SISEC Select’s next home game will be Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Spray Lakes Sawmills Family Sports Centre versus the Banff Hockey Academy (BHA).
Visit sisec.ca for more information.
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