Local players embrace Czech Challenge

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

For a few young Strathmore Minor Hockey players, Brett Fairbairn, Hunter Langen and Adam Moore their recent trip to the Czech Challenge was an experience none of them will ever forget.
It was a bit of an adjustment having to play with a few new teammates but they built stronger new friendships, while getting to tour some different cultures on and off the ice.
Langen was on the Canada Cowboys 2003-2004 team that started off the trip on the right foot, coming out of the mini-preliminary tournament with a silver medal in Bratislava, Slovakia, and he said the pace of the game is different than what he is used to in the Canadian style of game.
“It was a good experience,” said Langen. “It was a lot more quicker and faster than here. You had to make decisions quicker.”
His favourite team to play against was Russia because of their strengths with the puck possession and positioning on the ice.
“They just knew where everyone was,” he said. “They can find someone open, and their passes were really hard and on the dot.”
The players had to make adjustments not only to the different teams but also to the arenas, as they encountered a rare concern that can be seen only every so often at some arenas.
“We had to see through fog,” said Langen. “The fog was up to the tip-top of the players and you couldn’t see the puck. You had to get used to the arenas, very old and in bad shape.”
The tour took the team through Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria and Germany, and there were a lot of sites that he enjoyed taking in when they had a break from the ice. He was amazed with the cathedrals, the big old buildings and the salt mines near Salzburg, Austria.
Langen’s team bowed out in the bronze medal game in the Czech Challenge.
His father Mike was head coach and thought the speed of the game over there set a great example for many of the games.
“No matter where we went there, the team from Russia and all the teams from Czechoslovakia just skated,” said Mike. “Every single kid on the team was smooth, down, legs bent 90 degrees. That was the coolest thing for me to watch was how good they were on their edges, and could pass and receive at speed.”
Fairbairn’s 2004-2005 Canada Cowboys team saw great results at their pre-challenge tournament in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.
They brought home silver from the pre-challenge tournament before winning gold at the Czech Challenge.
The centremen said that positioning is the key because of the wider international ice surface.
“Sometimes you had to dump it really fast if you’re going to dump it, otherwise you would’ve iced it,” said Fairbairn.
His favourite team to play was the Czech Selects team because they provided great competitions in the couple of games they played each other.
“They were a faster, harder team,” recalls Fairbairn. “And they were always close games every time we played them.”
He also liked the salt mines, castles and the amusement park.
Fairbairn’s dad, Brett, was behind the bench for his son’s team as the head coach and thought the team settled in nicely once they figured out how they matched up with the competition.
“The biggest challenge was to get the team to come together as a team,” said Brett. “Once they figured out that everyone was similar skill levels rather than individual home teams where they’re the stars, everybody was the same calibre and can make those same passes and the guy would receive them and get the puck back.”