Hockey rivals team up

Posted Feb 9, 2012 By Brier Dodge

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EMC Sports - Cross-town hockey rivals Carleton University and the University of Ottawa's varsity hockey teams meet for on-ice showdowns several times a year.

But they've also met off the ice once a week for the past three years, volunteering at a Running and Reading program at Vanier's Robert E. Wilson Public School.

Both teams assure that as much as they are fierce competitors on the ice, they leave it all behind when they leave the rink.

"It's good because we know we're all giving time for a good cause," said University of Ottawa team captain and Robert E. Wilson program co-captain Érika Pouliot. "But it's weird because on the ice we're rivals, and here we're friends."

The Running and Reading program is run by Start2Finish, started by women's marathon record holder Silvia Ruegger. Volunteers include varsity athletes from multiple sports at both Carleton and Ottawa, the Carleton Navigators club, and police foundations students from Algonquin College.

Pouliot has been at the program for several years, brought out with teammates by her former hockey coach.

When the coach switched to Carleton to coach the Ravens, the Ottawa Gee-Gees players continued to volunteer - with her new players joining.

"We're working with kids and doing something beneficial, so there isn't any reason to create a rivalry there," said Carleton forward Kristen MacDonald. "But obviously it's intense on the ice when we play."

The volunteers work with children from the schools on their fitness and their reading skills, followed by a healthy snack to send them home.

The past few years have been so successful that on Jan. 24, the teams split up for the first time to add a second Vanier school to the Toronto-based program.

It is difficult to add additional schools to the program because of the high volunteer-to-student ratio the program needs to be successful.

MacDonald is co-captaining the program at Queen Mary Street Public School, only several streets away from Robert E. Wilson.

In its first week, it was a full house, with 35 students now registered, and more interested in joining.

MacDonald is volunteering with six other members of her team, and co-captaining the program with Carleton University men's player Jordan Deagle. So there's a new twist for the two teams, who will take all the students who participate to compete in a 5 km Toronto race in the spring.

It gives them something to talk about other than their games against one another.

"We'll talk about other games, but not 'the' game," said Pouliot, referring to when Ottawa and Carleton play each other.

The competitive women's hockey world is small, so many of the players have played on past elite teams together, or play ball hockey in the summer.

"You get an opportunity to meet them in a different context, you get to know them more as people," MacDonald said.

And it's a tight race between the two teams, and who's on top may depend on who you ask.

The Gee-Gees have come up on top when it comes to head-on match-ups between the teams, but the Ravens have a higher league ranking.

But that is all put aside every Tuesday, when they work with the enthusiastic children, many of whom are not in any organized sports outside of the weekly club.

"The varsity athletes are good role models for these kids," MacDonald said. "I just really enjoy this program because you can see the difference it makes in the kids, having a mentor in their life is really important to show them there are opportunities."

Outside of athletic and academic varsity mentors, the children are given the big goal to work towards - the Start2Finish 5 km race in Toronto.

Before the race, they will all be given brand new running shoes from Brooks, and then taken on a day trip to race against other Running and Reading Clubs.




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