A local Pee Wee hockey team travelled to Quebec for 10 days this month.
"It was really fun," offered goaltender Alex Geddes.
"It was a big city, an old city, with lots of one-way streets," recalled McKenzie Welke.
They played in a tournament against teams from all over the world, the tournament called Turnoi International de Hockey Pee-Wee de Quebec.
It is regarded as an upper echelon event for the players in it.
As compared to some of their regular season games in the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League, this Quebec thing was a far bit different.
"This was a good experienceand seeing (all) the other teams," notes 12-year-old centre Derrick Budz.
"It was a really good experience," adds left winger Alec Zawatsky.
All teams competing in the Tournoi were divided into four divisions: The Elite, the AA, B and C divisions.
Games were played at Colisee Pepsi, a venue Tyler Stratechuk admitted was well beyond anything he's seen.
"It made it more fun playing hockey in a big rink."
Head coach Ed Zawatsky said it was the biggest combination of a culture shock and sports experience mixed into 10 days.
"The actual gamesthe culture. Hockey's a real cultureall brought together."
In terms of the scoring detail, Zawatsky's Terriers put up some decent goal totals.
Among the opposition Yorkton faced were: Drummondville, Switzerland, Colorado, German Selects and the Finnish Selects.
What Zawatsky and five of his players all agreed on was that the Swiss were not just out there to get away for a little holiday down in ice-cold Quebec.
"Their skating and positioning wasn't like anything we've seen this year," he explains.
"It was tough for us to control.
Zawatsky added that a lot of European hockey is based on soccer.
"They controlled the puck," recalled Zawatsky, before adding that there weren't a lot of penalties called in that game, but the Swiss did manage to score one power play goal.
Final score was a 4-1 loss.
In the exhibition games, Yorkton played an elite LA Kings Pee Wee team, a team that was under the Elite division. Yorkton won 4-3 in a shootout, said Zawatsky.
"They were a top notch team."
Next for the Terrier club was the Colorado Thunderbirds.
"It was the same good-tempo game," he said. "They played us hard."
Final score was a 2-1 loss. In their last two games, Yorkton went perfect, beating the German Selects, 4-2 and knocked off the Fin Selects, 4-1.
"They came out and played well," said Zawatsky of his team's last game of the tournament. Upon conclusion of the experience, he said he hopes the skills and attitudes will hopefully be reflected in the team later on.
"I guess time will tell," said Zawatsky with a bit of a laugh. "It's about development."
The final question put to the head coach.
Will he ever get a chance to do it again?
"I sure hope so!"
