Ukrainian girls team finds hockey haven at Wickenheiser festival in Calgary

A Ukrainian girls hockey team is in Canada for a few days of peace and hockey in an arena that doesn't have a missile-sized hole in its roof.

After 56 hours of travel to Calgary — including a 24-hour bus ride from Dnipro to Warsaw, Poland, that required an army escort at one point — the Ukrainian Wings will join Wickfest, Hayley Wickenheiser's annual girls' hockey festival, on Thursday.

The squad of players aged 11 to 13 was drawn from eight cities in Ukraine, where sport facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Russia started its invasion in February 2022.

"They all have a personal story of something awful happening," said Wickenheiser. "We give them a week of peace and joy here and I hope they can carry that with them.

"We know full well they're going back to difficult circumstances. It's tough that way."

Nine players are from Kharkiv, where pictures show a large hole in the roof of the Saltovskiy Led arena where the girls' team WHC Panthers once skated.

"It was our home ice arena, and we played all our national team championships in this ice arena," said Kateryna Seredenko, who oversees the Panthers program and is the Wings general manager.

Ukraine's Olympic Committee posted photos and wrote in a Facebook post Sept. 1 that Kharkiv's Sport Palace, which was home to multiple hockey teams, was also destroyed in an attack on the city.

Seredenko says the Wings' arduous journey to Calgary was worth it because it gives the girls hope.

"It's not a good situation in Ukraine, but when they come here, they can believe that everything will be good, everything will be fine. Of course we will win soon and we must play hockey. We can't stop because we love these girls and we will do everything for them," she said.

"So many