Two 12-year-old Olds residents are back home after winning a silver medal during an international peewee hockey tournament in Europe.Steven Bell and Hayden Sotheran were members of the Canada Cowboys AAA peewee hockey team. Both are pleased to win silver, although they would have preferred to win gold.From July 27-Aug. 10 they toured Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany, playing in the Czech Challenge Cup, which featured teams from about six countries.The tournament was in a round-robin format. Sweden won the gold medal.The Canadians were oh, so close to winning the gold though. They lost their opening game to the Swedes 3-2.“If we would have beaten them we would have got gold,” Sotheran says.The Cowboys were strong. After that opening loss, they tied Latvia 2-2, hammered Germany 11-2, beat the Czech Republic 4-1, and edged Slovakia 5-4.Bell played left wing and Sotheran, who normally plays forward here, played defence over there.Sotheran says he improved as a defenceman as a result of the experience.When asked how he improved, he says “quicker decision-making and better at reading the plays.”Bell says he usually plays left wing so there was no adjustment for him in Europe.Bell fired in three goals over the course of the tournament. Sotheran got one, but then as a D-man his role was basically to prevent goals, which he figures he did.One big adjustment for them was the fact that, unlike Alberta, in Europe, peewee boys are allowed to hit.And they did.“In Europe they hit pretty hard,” Sotheran says. “They were more used to it.”Generally speaking, Europeans are known for playing a more skilled game rather than laying on the hitting. Although the Europeans the Cowboys played did hit hard, they also showed lots of skill – especially the Swedes, according to Sotheran.“Sweden was really good at moving the puck,” he says. “Everybody touched the puck before it went in the net, usually.”Size was another factor, they say.“They're really tall and big,” Steven Bell says.Sotheran says there was only one way to counter that.“Be faster than them,” he says, adding the Cowboys managed to do that.The ice was also bigger – Olympic size or so in two of three arenas they played in, according to Bell's dad Chris.“(There was) more room behind the net, that's all I can think,” Sotheran says.Bell and Sotheran say they'd like to play in Europe again if the opportunity comes up.While they were over there, they got to tour several cities: Venice and Rome in Italy, and Salzburg, Austria.“It's way different,” Sotheran says. “There are a lot of castles.”Bell agrees.“Their cities are older,” he says.Before the big tournament in Prague the Cowboys made an Alberta connection.They played a mini tournament in another city in the Czech Republic: Ceské Budejovice. That tournament was hosted by Jaroslav Pouzar who played for the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s, and was on a couple of Stanley Cup-winning teams during that time.
