I intended to blog and vlog on a daily basis while in Morocco but I initially had no internet and when I finally did get a Moroccan sim with some data I was then too busy playing and managing the team to write more than a little tweet or facebook status update.
As I’ve said before I’m not much of a creative writer so it will be more of a day by day description of my experience in Morocco at the first African club cup of ice hockey.
Firstly, I think its great that we have managed to make this happen in the first place. Myself, and Moroccans Adil El Farj and Saad Tawfik have been discussing this idea for over a year, many emails, facebook messages and skype calls exchanged. If I’m not mistaken this is the first all African tournament to ever take place, this is actually history.
So I arrived in Rabat on the morning of the 24th, I was met by Mimoun Mrini, brother of Khalid the president of the Moroccan Ice Hockey Federation, I know Mimoun from the Arab cup back in 2008, and also my captain and friend Harond Litim, and our goalie Hichem Bourebrab, who had just arrived from Montreal, this being the first time I’d met him in the flesh. We quickly went back to the hotel, met the rest of the team, then quickly went straight into a meeting with Khalid Mrini, the officials and management from all the participating teams. We discussed the plans for the the week on and off the ice, looked at the schedule for games and training and made the draw. We went over the rules, some of which I wasn’t too happy about, it was obviously a 3 on 3 tournament due to the size of the rink, it was 3 x 15 minute periods on stop clock, there would be no face-offs – after any goal or goalie freezing the puck the play would just start from behind the net (I hated this rule, to me it makes it a scrimmage not a game), and for all penalties it would be a penalty shot and no a player leaving the ice. With these rules in mind you can see why the scores were so high.
On day 2 we had our first chance to see the rink, we had our first practise at 12pm, we had no games this day but the other teams did. If I’m honest I found the first day of games poor and quite disappointing, in particular the Anubis/Eagles game. The difference in level was huge and the Tunisians did not hold back at all, I think the game ended 19-0, if it wasn’t for the Egyptian goalie it could have easily been 30-0. The other games we all Morocco games and were also quite disappointing.
On day 3 we had training at 8am, and two games in the evening, the first against the Egyptians and the second against the Tunisians. After seeing the game yesterday we knew Anubis level so we went in to it using it as a warm up for the later game and to work on our passing and tactics. We won comfortably 15-3, I scored 2 and got 2 assists. The Egyptians are a great bunch, never giving up and were really just playing for the love of playing, great sportsmanship and were very popular amongst all the teams. They also had two 14 year olds on the team. After watching two Moroccan teams play it was time for us to play the Eagles of Carthage. we went in knowing they were the strongest team in the tournament, I decided to take the managerial role for this one and didn’t dress. We ended up losing 11-6 although the game was tighter than the score reflects and it probably ended up being one of the best games of the tournament, a good level of hockey with lots of intensity.
Day 4 there was no practise and no games. We spent the early part of the day at the beach and in the evening we were invited to the Czech Republic Ambassadors leaving dinner party at her residence. The food and drink was really good, but more importantly the Algerian ambassador to Morocco was in attendance and it gave me my first opportunity to make contact with him and explain in more detail what we’re doing and what we’re about. It seems as though we made a good impression as this was the start of some great support by the Algerian embassy. I’ll talk more about this later.
Day 5 was semi final day. We took on Rabat Capitals and Carthage Eagles took on Casablanca Moroccan Mallers. We went into the game pretty confident, but well aware the the Capitals were the strongest Moroccan team in the competition, with players like Kabbaj, Bouchaoui and Bougouinon. They went ahead early but as the game settled down it became quite even and at one point was 9-9, but after some poor calls by the referee the momentum seemed to change and the Capitals pulled away winning 17-10. The ridiculously high score being down to the fact there was no face-offs. In the other game Carthage Eagles beat the Moroccan Mallers 11-8, so on the final day we’d play the Moroccan Mallers in the 3rd/4th game.
Day 6 again there were no practise or no games, in the morning we were invited to the Algerian embassy. The embassy is beautiful, it’s like an old Andalusian palace. We had an audience with the ambassador Mr Benyamina, we had tea and cake and discussed our project with him. After he left, we continued to talk with the other embassy staff and was shown around the embassy.
That afternoon there was an All star skills competition and Algeria vs Morocco exhibition planned for Casablanca Mall. After we finished at the embassy we jumped in the bus and raced to Casablanca which was an hour and half away. Already running late, our driver got lost, eventually getting there 2 and a half hours later. By the time we walked into the rink in Morocco Mall the event had already finished. We drove back to Rabat, another 2 and a half hours due to traffic, we got changed and headed to a gala dinner. It was good food and good music. Awards were handed out all around. Sat on my table was the heads of each team, the Moroccan ice hockey president Khalid Mrini, the president of the French ice hockey federation Luc Tardiff and the premier secretary of the Algerian embassy Hamid Mekki.
On the final day we were up against Casablanca Morocco Mallers for the 3rd place game prior to the final between Carthage Eagles and Rabat Capitals. The mallers started quickly and I thought it wouldn’t be our day, but in the 2nd period we took full control and started pulling away, winning comfortably 21-11. Again, a ridiculously high score due to there being no face-offs so its basically non-stop. A 3rd place cup but still felt great all the same, our first tournament launching my new club and our first bit of silverware, the crowd was great and we had the Algerian embassy to celebrate with us. Carthage Eagles went on to win in the final 8-7 as I suspected they would do, well done to the Tunisians and president Ihab Ayed, a good friend of mine.
All in all, great experience, things could be improved no doubt but so so many positives to take away from it, I really do hope this is an annual event, it’s essential for our countries to work closely and to grow together. For me this has just reinforced for me there is a place for hockey in North Africa, this can happen and I will continue to work hard to make this happen.
Stay tuned for more photos, videos and posts about the African club cup.
