6 young Ukrainian hockey players who came to Quebec City for tournament will move there
'They're coming back home,' says volunteer who co-ordinated move
When 13-year-old Maksym Shtepa left Quebec City in February after playing alongside 17 Ukrainian players in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, he told his family he wanted to go back one day.
"It was a perfect trip," said Maksym, speaking from Romania, where he has lived for the past year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
He was part of a team that captured the hearts of Canadians, by participating in the tournament and playing in front of thousands in the Vidéotron Centre in Quebec City.
Come August, his dream of returning will come true and he'll be among six young Ukrainians moving to Quebec City.
"We're all getting ready. We're so happy. We're talking about it almost every day and we are so excited to see how it is in Canada," said Maksym.
He says he's looking forward to reconnecting with the friends he made during the tournament.
He knows he'll miss home but at least he'll be surrounded by family. His mother and siblings will move to Quebec too. Teammates Artem Kovalenko, Mykyta Staskevych, Ehor Kosenko, Matvi Kulish and Ehor Pyshalko will be moving alone.
The kids' visas were only confirmed this past week, said Sean Bérubé — the volunteer who has helped organize their move abroad.
He says out of the six Ukrainians, five are still living in the country — two in Dnipro and Odessa and one in Kyiv.
"They've been [having] really heavy bombings in Odessa," said Bérubé. "I'm in contact with their parents, but it's been tough lately."
Months ago, Bérubé co-ordinated the Ukrainian team's involvement in the tournament, volunteering his time helping the team's coach — and his former teammate — Yevhenii Pysarenko with paperwork and visas from Immigration Canada.
He says the idea of them remaining in Quebec City first came up at the end of the tournament.
"They had asked their host family in Quebec if they could stay and go to school here and play hockey in Quebec. But at that time, because of the visa they had come [with] … they couldn't stay longer than a certain period of time," said Bérubé.
"[I] had a few conversations with their parents back in Ukraine and their host families here and then we decided to do the best thing, for them to go back."
Come Aug. 25, he says the kids will arrive in Quebec City and board at the homes of host families while starting Grade 8 at St. Patrick's High School in the hockey program.
"I'm really excited," said Bérubé. "I missed them a lot actually … I look forward to them coming back."
WATCH | Ukrainian peewee team in awe upon arrival in Quebec City in February:
'They're coming back home'
Preparation for their move first started in April and ramped up over the spring, says Bérubé.
He says the adults around them have explained to the players that experience of staying in Quebec City might be different this time around — as back in February Bérubé likened their experience to living like "an NHL star."
"We warned them. We told them that 'Hey you're coming back. You're not going to be like a superstar … You have to come back and go to school and be serious,'" said Bérubé with a chuckle.
"They're really motivated kids. They're very serious. So they want to come study here and play hockey."
To cover the costs associated with this move, he says they set up a not-for-profit foundation, Mission Druzhba — named after the first Ukrainian team that played in the Quebec peewee tournament in 1992.
Once they arrive in Quebec City, Bérubé says the players will likely start working toward their goal of playing professional hockey for the Remparts — the major junior team they watched play during their visit.
"They want to make their career in Quebec," said Bérubé.
"They fell in love with Quebec and they kind of feel that they're coming back home."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
