“It was more than just an ice hockey game tonight.” Evgheniy Pysarenko faced reporters on Monday night after the Ukraine side confirmed a 2-0 win over Romanian Wolves to continue their journey at the Tournoi International de Hockey Pee-Wee de Québec.
• Also read: The young Ukrainian whom Quebec gave a smile
• Also read: Pee-Wee Tournament of Quebec: a hopeful win for the Ukrainian people
But it wasn’t easy for him to smile.
“We had a very, very high level of motivation tonight,” he replied to a colleague who asked him if he felt his players were less nervous on Monday than they were last Saturday, when they played their first game in front of a Videotron Center presented.
MARCEL TREMBLAY/QMI AGENCY
This motivation: to play for her teammates, whose father is on duty, but also for Yehor Kosenko, whose father died at the front a few weeks ago.
To fake the picture, Ukrainians had hung a country’s flag behind their bench. On the yellow part of the latter were engraved the names of the fathers of forward Mykyta Staskevich and goalkeeper Matvii Kulish, who always defended the freedom of their country on the front lines.
Why yellow? To show they’re still down, alive.
On the blue part the names of Kosenko’s fathers, as well as the father of a young hockey player, friend of the group, who also recently died in combat.
MARCEL TREMBLAY/QMI AGENCY
“The blue is supposed to represent that they are in heaven now,” explains Pysarenko.
This flag was presented to the players before the game.
“As he [Kosenko] When he saw his father’s name, he started to cry. Everyone got up and hugged him. It was quiet for a few minutes,” added the coach.
They honored her
Despite the emotions of the moment, young Ukrainians managed to continue to make their country proud by beating tough Romanians.
Maksym Kukharenko and Ivan Bilozerov scored for the winners, who play their next game against the Vermont Flames at 8 a.m. Friday morning.
MARCEL TREMBLAY/QMI AGENCY
But this next game was secondary. What mattered was that Staskevich, Kulish, Kosenko and the rest of the Ukrainian team once again managed to do honor to their country and those who defend it.
Kulish made a shutout for the occasion while Staskevich was involved in scoring the second goal for his team.
“Ukraine will win the war. It will end and after that there will be peace, ”the latter started after the meeting, recalling for the umpteenth time that his presence in the pee-wee tournament goes far beyond ice hockey.
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win needed
On the other hand, the young Romanians tearfully saw their dream come to an end and Pysarenko sympathized with them. He has lived in Romania for 20 years and knew most of the young wolves.
“I saw them cry after the game and I really felt sorry for them because I work with some of them in Romania. I know their parents and their coaches but at the moment we need this win more than they do. »
And by “we” he probably meant a whole country.