For Carey Ellison, it was the perfect trip. Joined by her husband, Vair, her brother Mark Ellingson, his wife Rheanne and her father Ralph, the group made the journey to the Czech Republic to take in the 2020 World Junior Hockey Championship.
Carey and Vair got married in 2012 in the eastern European country, so when the group decided to take in the tournament and saw it was in the Czech Republic, they jumped at the opportunity.
“We have no roots to the area,” Carey said.
“The truth is I minored in Soviet history in university and fell in love with eastern Europe.”
The group decided to take a trip to the Czech Republic before the host cities were announced. They assumed Prague, the capital and largest city would be the host, but had to change when Ostrava and Trinec were announced as the hosts.
“Months later, looking at the website I noticed the host cities had been listed and it definitely was not Prague,” Carey said.
“I did some research on the area and broke the news to my family but insisted it was still doable if everyone was interested - and they were.”
Carey and Vair have been in the Czech Republic since October and were joined by the rest of the group before Christmas.
Earlier in the year, the group had to decide which city to base out of. They chose Ostrava.
“All of the semi-finals and medal games were in Ostrava, which was the main reason we chose Ostrava over Trinec,” Carey said.
“What we didn’t know at the time was what pool Canada would be in and where that would be. That was a big risk we took, but we talked as a family and figured because Ostrava is the bigger arena of the two, it was likely the powerhouse teams would be placed there. Our gamble paid off.”
Carey said they were able to see every game in Ostrava but two. With such a busy hockey schedule, they didn’t have any chance to do much else.
“We didn’t really have time to do tours,” she said.
“Even though the city has about 200,000 people, it’s amazing what shuts down over Christmas and New Year’s. We weren’t prepared for that - our Christmas supper came from a gas station because nobody at the hotel spoke English and translated restaurant hours and dates wrong. We did catch the tram to the downtown area a few times and we walked the squares and streets.”
Carey said that most of the hotels in Ostrava were taken up by the teams themselves. The group stayed in a hotel that was a seven minute train ride away.
“It was the barest bones hotel you can imagine,” she said.
“No kettle, coffee pot, fridge, TV or alarm clocks in the room and the mattresses were concrete. No one spoke English but at $60 a night we couldn’t complain too much. Speaking with others, especially those on tours, many people had to stay in Poland which was about an hour away or other Czech cities up to an hour away. We spoke with a few Canadians at other hotels who had their passports and electronics stolen so we thought we were lucky.”
Despite being over 7,000 kilometres from home, the Flin Flon contingent managed to find some friendly faces. They ran into family friends from Naicam, Sask., a teacher from Vair’s school in Ontario and former residents of Flin Flon.
“We wore Flin Flon Bombers scarves so it was noticeable,” Carey said.
“The people who wanted to talk to us the most were the Europeans. We were celebrities! Everyone stopped for group pictures with us. Usually it was the Czechs or Russians. At first, I honestly thought it was a case of mistaken identity, but everyone really loves Canadian fans.”
The group got the happy ending they wanted, as Canada earned the gold medal, defeating Russia 4-3 in the final game of the tournament.
“When Canada played, the crowd was a sea of red,” Carey said.
“Some Mounties from Alberta brought a massive Canadian flag to pass around at the beginning. Being under that really charged the atmosphere, but for games where Canada or Czech Republic weren’t playing it was a quieter atmosphere.”
Carey said the Americans were the least passionate fanbase.
“I was shocked - they didn’t wear USA jerseys like every other fan of every other team playing,” she said.
“It would be NHL jerseys or regular clothing, maybe a hat with a flag on it at best. A few had flags, whereas every Canadian either had a Team Canada jersey on or Canadian clothing. We saw so many suits made out of maple leafs, Canadian pyjamas, Canadian onesies, spandex Canada flag body suits. If an award had to go to the most colourful fans, Canada would definitely win.”
While the trip was enjoyable, it was hampered by a bad flu that it seemed everyone was suffering from.
“As soon as we landed, we dropped our suitcases off and went straight to the emergency room as we have been sick since December 20,” Carey said.
“The doctor was shocked our eardrums didn’t pop from all the flights from being this sick so I think we are lucky. I’m hoping I can take half the week off and feel better to catch up towards the end. At the end of the trip, nearly every Canadian in the arena seemed to be sick.”
Carey said the atmosphere was incredible, and the family is looking to attend the tournament again.
“It was fabulous. The vibe was incredible,” she said.
“We heard reports of 4,000 Canadians being there. The gold medal game was a nail-biter. We were cheering. We were screaming. We were holding our breath.”
