Roaring Fork Valley-based youth hockey program to lace up for Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament
What will Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, and players with Roaring Fork Valley-based youth hockey program Colorado Extreme Hockey Association all soon have in common? By next February, they’ll all have shaved ice at the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.
What the Super Bowl is to the National Football League, the now 64-year, Canadian-based spectacle is to hockey players ages 11-12. It attracts youth peewees from across the globe, and many times is a formative springboard for National Hockey League Hall-of-Famers, even going as far back as Guy Lafleur.
Colorado Extreme, a youth hockey association that got its start on an oval rink in Crown Mountain Park in 2021, is so far sending to the tourney 15 or 16 youth hockey players, who will stay with French-Canadian host families.
In addition to embracing the Quebec-Nordique culture, the Colorado Extreme players will be led by coach Bryan Berard, who was hired in June and just recently arrived in the valley from Rhode Island. First pick overall in the 1995 NHL draft, the American-born defenseman eventually beat out fellow rookie Jerome Iginla to nab Rookie of the Year — otherwise known as the prestigious Calder Trophy.
“Helpfully, I have a French-Canadian last name, so it helps us to get in,” Berard, speaking of the Quebec tournament, joked with The Aspen Times on Thursday. He also estimated up to 150 tourney participants. “We can play anybody from team Japan; I believe a team from China is there. So it’s definitely going to be a stage at the international level.
“But I think the off-ice experience is going to be just as important as playing games on the ice.”
Colorado Extreme Founder Sheldon Wolitski formerly played juniors in British Columbia, Canada, and DI college hockey at the University of Alabama Huntsville before later making his way to the valley. Looking to expand hockey to midvalley and provide ice time and free equipment for players, the former Aspen Junior Hockey board member created a local nonprofit youth hockey program.
Wolistski, founder of a multi-million-dollar IT company, established a small pond-style rink at Crown Mountain before building a full, outdoor, regulation rink flanked by a mountain in the countryside east of downtown Carbondale.
Having now expanded Colorado Extreme to Rifle and Craig, the program supports up to 600 kids, he said. Some of who are receiving a chance to play in Quebec.
“This is what it’s all about, for me and Sheldon,” Berard said. “When we got these kids into the peewee tournament, I had the chills, almost like a tear in my eyes. I just know how important it is to these kids, to experience that.”
The influx of NHLers, like himself, to Colorado Extreme programs is becoming more noticeable. Just last year, Wolitski hosted a professional alumni game in Carbondale. In freezing temperatures, visitors could spot the breath coming from the facemask of former New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist as he manned net. In a makeshift locker room adjacent the rink, pros, like former Colorado Avalanche great Milan Hejduk, laced their skates as they bantered about trades and contracts.
And now the kids have Berard — a former Olympic defenseman who notched 76 goals and 247 assists in 619 NHL bouts — imparting his knowledge.
“He’s a great communicator with the kids. The kids look up to him,” Wolitski said. “But the magic really happens when he gets on the ice and how he instills that mentorship through the rest of the coaches because we have a fairly young coaching team.”
Wolitski is also truly looking forward to Colorado Extreme players experiencing the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.
“If you would’ve told me four years ago that four years later I’d have Bryan Berard as a president, we’re getting into these international tournaments, and we’ve had 600 kids? No way — I never thought it would happen,” he said. “But when you hire good people and everyone has the vision and the dream to grow the game, and the NHL is supporting that, things start to happen.”
Berard — saying “this is why I’m here” in regards to the effort of Wolitski and Colorado Extreme — agrees.
“It’ll just be awesome,” he said of the tournament. “It’s a family experience, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Ray K. Erku can be reached at (970) 429-9120 or rerku@aspentimes.com.
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