How a holiday on P.E.I. turned into a hockey dream for this 9-year-old Australian
'He has been shown nothing but the true Canadian love,' Flynn Sturrock's mother says
Flynn Sturrock had barely even skated before coming with his family from Australia and joining the North River Flames hockey team in Cornwall, P.E.I. Now he loves the sport and is determined to keep playing.
The nine-year-old and his family came to P.E.I. in September for a long holiday from Melbourne, Australia, where hockey is not the popular sport it is in North America.
"It seemed fun, and I wanted to learn to skate," Flynn said in an interview with CBC News on Thursday.
"He's a go-getter … he wanted to become a Canadian, so hockey really tickled his fancy," his mother Jenny Sturrock said. "He's actually really impressed me because he'd never really skated before."
Flynn attended tryouts for the North River Flames, where he said he was by far the slowest skater.
He admitted he was "very nervous… what if I didn't make the team?"
But he did make the team. His mother said Flynn leaned in to the opportunity and has taken every chance to improve, pushing to attend family skates at the local rink and studying YouTube clips of hockey customs.
And his teammates and coaches encouraged him every step of the way.
"Everyone has embraced us and helped us, so for Flynn, he has been shown nothing but the true Canadian love," his mother Jenny said with a big smile.
"Whenever he had fallen over or accidentally been the person who has been offside, his teammates rush in, give him a pat on the back and say: 'Come on, mate, let's get moving forward.'"
Once-in-a-lifetime moment
After several months, however, Flynn hadn't yet had a career-defining moment: his first goal. So at a recent tournament, teammates Alex and Jack decided to try something, with their coach's support.
They told Flynn to stand at the net, and said they'd try to pass him the puck so that he could score.
After two tries, the Australian boy indeed got the puck in the net.
"I was yelling with excitement," Flynn said.
"I was stoked, I was like mind-blowned. I loved how happy he was because of it," said his friend Jack Staples.
"He stood there in shock as well," Flynn's mother said. "He was smothered by his teammates with so much love, and all the parents, everyone was screaming and the coaching staff all turned around and looked at us and I nearly started crying. It was just amazing.
"It's like a once-in-a-lifetime, huge confidence boost."
NHL connection
After that game, Flynn and his family found they had something in common with Jordan Spence, who plays for the Los Angeles Kings.
Spence is thought to be the first Australian-born National Hockey League player. At the age of 13, he too moved to Cornwall, P.E.I., where he played for the Mid-Isle Matrix. Later came ice time with the Summerside Western Capitals and eventually the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
After a few years in the AHL, Spence was picked up by the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.
"Jordan was playing on the same rink that Flynn, several years later, comes along and has his first goal. It was just incredible," his mother said. "Us Aussies, we love to make an impression wherever we go."
Flynn has since been studying up on Spence and wants to follow in his footsteps.
"I learned that if you keep trying, you can make anything, like the NHL," he said.
Flynn and his family are moving back to Australia in a few weeks, but he plans to continue pursuing hockey at home.
He said his favourite thing about the game is the teammates; he plans to stay in touch with the friends he's made on the ice.
His mother said the family plans to eventually return to P.E.I. for another visit.
With files from Taylor O'Brien