Self-proclaimed as the number one beer league hockey team, a group of amateur players from Austria are testing themselves against Canadian opposition on an international tour.
The Sport Club Fair Play hockey team of Innsbruck, Austria took on the Ottawa Selects at the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre Wednesday afternoon.
The Sport Club Fair Play hockey team say they are a group made up of amateurs “who are aging too quickly.” The team has almost 40 players between the ages of 25 and 65.
“When we got the call, we immediately said, yeah, we’ll play you,” said Ottawa Selects team manager Chris Cullen.
But despite being an amateur, beer-league hockey team, the Austrian club are still looking to live out their professional dreams.
“It started with two guys in the locker room and a beer in their hand, and they thought about, let’s do it, a real hockey trip,” said Werner Chizzali, a member of the Fair Play team and a former U18 Austrian national team player.
“It’s fun to hang out with the guys and try to play hockey in another continent. None of us has done that before. So, let’s just have a good time together and meet locals here that play hockey.”
The team says they planned the trip to focus on team building. This year, the decision fell between visiting Florida or the “motherland of hockey” – Canada.
While the choice was politically based, Chizzali says even people in Austria are aware of the current tensions between Canada and the United States.
“Yes, we do [know]. We’ve also seen the images and videos of the Four Nations Face-Off. It was the first round-robin game. Intense, yes,” he said.
Earlier this week, the Austrian team faced off against a group of amateurs from Toronto and will head to Montreal on Thursday for their final exhibition game.
Despite having never met before, Cullen and Chizzali say their two teams plan to share some beers after their game regardless of the scoreline.
At a time when political tensions are rising, the teams say it’s a show of camaraderie and how international relations should be handled.
“We’re going to have a barbecue in the back of the arena and have some beers there and some hot dogs,” said Cullen. “And just talk as much as we can about hockey and just life in general.”
“[The beer] tastes good, especially after you played hockey,” said Chizzali.
“So, this seems like a universal thing with Canada and Austria.”
