The Outdoor Hockey League (OHL) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. From its humble beginnings in a Regina classroom to a league which is now spread across Saskatchewan, the OHL allows all youth the opportunity to play hockey by removing the financial barriers. Over the next several weeks we will be highlighting stories from volunteers, former players, and the media over the past 20 years. Please tune in weekly for a little piece of hockey history.
Below is a story, first published in 2007, that featured newcomers to Canada enjoying our national sport, thanks in part to the OHL.
A new life, a new sport
By ROB VANSTONE
Leader-Post Feb. 17, 2007
Sergei Meretikov, whose hockey career is only several weeks old, poses for a photograph during an
Outdoor Hockey League game and declares: “I’m the Russian Rocket."
Meretikov's play does not yet elicit comparisons to the original Russian Rocket - former National Hockey
League star Pavel Bure. However, Regina's Russian Rocket is undaunted.
The 19-year-old Meretikov is a newcomer to the Queen City. He is enrolled at Regina Public Schools' Adult Campus, where some of the students are steered toward community programs as part of the recreation and integration process.
An important link is Trent Wotherspoon, a teacher and student support counsellor at the two-year-old campus. Wotherspoon's father, Craik, is the principal at Cochrane High School. He assists in running the site and also laces up the blades, along with Cochrane students and members of the local community.
Cochrane is near the OHL's Dixon rink, where games are played each Wednesday. The site is run by Craik
Wotherspoon, volunteers from the adult campus, along with teachers from the Martin Collegiate and Campbell Collegiate vocational satellites.
“When l came to this school, I didn't know how to skate,” Meretikov says. “They asked me if l wanted to play hockey. I said, ‘l do play hockey, but only floor hockey on Sundays.’ Trent, my teacher, said, ‘Come out. We'll give you full equipment.”
“Every Wednesday, I'm on the ice. Trent always calls me the next Ovechkin. I know how to skate and keep my balance, but I don't know how to stop.”
The Dixon rink is a weekly stop for a handful of immigrants.
Salif Turay, 20, is originally from Sierra Leone. He moved to Senegal before arriving in Canada in July.
The Haji Saleh brothers - Asadullah, 14, and Ammullah, 11 - are also regulars on Wednesdays. They are from Afghanistan.
“They want to learn a new sport,” says Hafiza Haji Saleh, 20, who is the boys' sister and temporary legal guardian. “They enjoy it a lot.”
“They're just in a hurry to learn hockey.”
•••
The fast pace suits Meretikov just fine.
The energetic, outgoing Russian has embraced various aspects of Canadian culture since arriving in this country in 2000.
Meretikov enjoys hip-hop and rhythm-and- blues music. He has aspirations or becoming a recording artist or a music producer. He has also pondered the possibility of becoming a chef.
The personable Meretikov is a young man with goals, including those scored in the Outdoor Hockey League – an Ehrlo Community Services program which makes organized hockey accessible to young people who face financial impediments.
Oddly enough, he did not play hockey in Russia, despite the sport's popularity in his native land. Soccer and basketball were his preferred sports while growing up. Even so, Meretikov does cheer for Russia when it plays Canada in international hockey.
“My friends get on my nerves sometimes,” he says with a laugh. “They’ll say, ‘Canada won this game.’ I’ll say, ‘Wait until next year Russia will win.’”
Meretikov was raised in Rostov – a city of 37,000 people, which 90 kilometres south of Moscow.
When Meretikov was five, his parents died in a house fire. Meretikov and his two brothers escaped. Their sister was not in the house at the time. Their parents were trapped.
Meretikov spent the next nine years in Russia with adoptive parents before travelling to Toronto in 2000 to visit his grandparents. He has been in Canada ever since.
After spending last summer working at a Salvation Army camp in B.C., Meretikov moved to Regina at the suggestion of a friend. He quickly enrolled at the adult campus. His goal is to finish Grade 12 in 2008.
“Regina is a good place,” he says. “There are respectable people - actually, way more respectable people than in Toronto.
“The first day when I came to the school, l made at least 10 friends, just like that. People don't judge you by the look of you. They judge you by what's inside.
“It's a small community and you see people every morning. You'll see the same people on the bus. Toronto is such a huge place. It's probably going to be the next New York City. I like Regina because it's small and there are so many friendly people here.”
•••
One of those friendly people is Turay, whose life story has some parallels to that of Meretikov.
Turay has also lost his parent. His father died when Turay was four. His mother passed away 12 years later.
He lives with two sisters (Zainab and Mariatu) and a niece (Ndeye Awa Seck).They became landed immigrant' in July.
Turay speaks four languages - French, Creole, English and Wolof (the latter of which is the most widely spoken language in Senegal). He also speaks very softly while flashing an easy smile.
“Because he comes from a soccer background, we're trying to get him involved with that,” says Stacee Young, who is a bridging teacher at the adult campus. “There isn't the cost issue with hockey because of the Outdoor Hockey League. He can be outfitted with full equipment without any cos.”
That arrangement is to Turay's liking.
“I want to learn how to play hockey,” he says.
Although the equipment cost are not as exorbitant in soccer, there are expenses such as registration fees to consider. While waiting for for a breakthrough on the soccer front, Turay is immersing himself in his studies.
“He has been here only six months and he has already gained a Grade 12 credit, which is amazing,” Young marvels. “He should feel good and very proud of that.”
•••
The Haji Saleh brothers are already teeming with pride. They have regular debates as to their comparative merits in hockey.
“They always talk about hockey,” Hafiza says with a smile. “They're always saying, ‘When Wednesday come?’ They just can't wait.”
Hafiza was born in Kabul. Her father died when she was eight. The Taliban was in power at the time.
“They killed him,” Hafiza says, quietly.
Hafiza's siblings and her mother promptly moved to Islamabad, Pakistan, where they remained until two years ago.
The family applied for landed immigrant status and arrived in Regina, where the Haji Salehs were sponsored. One year later, Hafiza’s mother died of cancer. Hafiza was suddenly the guardian of her three siblings - her sister, Nafiza, and the hockey-playing brothers.
Aminullah and Asadullah are in Grades 6 and 8, respectively, at Thomson School. Nafiza is in Grade 10 at Balfour Collegiate.
A typical day for Hafiza includes housework (including responsibilities such as making breakfast, doing laundry and cleaning), school work (she is studying English and math) and earning a living by vacuuming cars at Suds Full Service Car Wash.
Unlike her brothers, she is not involved in sports.
“I'm so busy that I don't have the time,” Hafiza says with a chuckle.
She would like to get more involved with computers. She cites becoming a journalist as a career goal. Each day, she dutifully works toward the attainment of her objectives.
The faculty at the adult campus has taken a great interest in Hafiza and her family. That is reflective of the staff’s interest in the students as a whole.
The interaction is not solely in the classroom. Young frequents the Dixon rink while providing encouragement and, if necessary, a ride.
“As a staff, we try to get involved as much as possible,” Young says. “Teaching and education doesn't just run from nine in the morning until three or 3:30 in the afternoon. It's a lifetime experience and it extends beyond the four walls. It can entail attaching sports or cultural events (to the educational component) or taking students to different activities.”
Hockey is a different activity for the newcomers to Canada. It eases the transition to a new life.
“l don't want to make it sound corny or romantic, but it's such a neat cross section of society,” Wotherspoon says. “Everyone is here for fun. Everyone is supportive of each other. All skill levels are welcomed. All differences are accepted.
“They don't keep track of goals scored. It's sort of the softer side of sport.”
