Callum Robinson laced up his skates for his first ever hockey game Thursday night in Halifax.
He plays for one of the two Irish teams participating in the SEDMHA Minor Hockey Tournament this year – one U13 and one U15. Both teams have players who have never competed in a game prior to the tournament. Team manager Aisling Daly told CTV News accessibility is the reason.
“So, we only have one ice rink on the island in Northern Ireland. So technically, the Republic of Ireland doesn’t have a rink,” said Daly.
The lone rink is in Belfast and, for those wishing to lace up, the time on the ice is limited.
“As you can imagine, ice time is really difficult to come by. So, we generally get about an hour a month for each of the age groups,” said Daly.
For Robinson, who lives in Kilkenny, that means an eight-hour round-trip for one hour of ice time.
“We have about a 50/50 split between the kids on both teams, 50 from Northern and 50 from Southern Ireland,” said Daly.
When it comes to the rules of hockey, the Irish players are noticing there are differences from the game they play at home.
“We don’t have offside or icing. So I’m still kind of getting used to that. I got called probably once there,” said Robinson. “But, I’m learning, and I think I’ve improved a lot.”
For Molly McGillian, playing with the boys is the only option in her home country.
“I practice a lot at home to be honest. A lot of work at the gym and then work shooting pucks and stuff to keep up with the boys,” said McGillian.
While she is used to that aspect of the sport, the level of competition in Canada is different.
“It’s insane compared to what we have at home, because we don’t really get competitive with the teams to play against in Ireland, and we only get to train together like once a month. So, it’s different,” she said about her experience.
McGillian notched a goal in their second game of the tournament and Robinson recorded his first assist. The team has won their first two games, an improvement over last year’s group that wasn’t able to secure a W.
“We were here last year, and, it was the best tournament,” said Daly.
She said the positive experience led them to bring a team again this year.
“The team, our national squads, has just been to prep for these age groups. It’s competitive, there’s different levels in the tournament,” she said.
In addition to the hockey experience, the players are learning about life in Canada as they stay with billet families.
“Our kids are actually getting the whole Canadian lifestyle experience. They are making friends for life, they are even playing street hockey. It means so much because back home these kids are probably the only kids in their community that play hockey,” said Daly.
For the Irish players, the hard work and travel time is worth it to play the game they love.
“For this,” Robinson grinned. “This is the reason, because this is the dream.”
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