AAA Blue Jackets ready for the experience of a lifetime

Colton Matracia might sound mature beyond his years when he says this, but he doesn’t want to miss school this week.

He has a good excuse, though.

Matracia is one of 17 members of the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets 12-and-under team that is in Quebec City for the 65th Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, the prestigious annual event that matches youth teams from all over the world.

The team boarded its bus and left for Canada on Tuesday evening, a 16-hour drive that left Matracia plenty of time for some homework, to have a few snacks and to spend time with his teammates.

Now that he and his teammates are in Quebec, they’re part of a hockey – and life – experience they won’t soon forget.

“I’m super excited,” Matracia said. “Even missing school, I don’t really mind it. This last month, I’ve just been waiting for it. I’ve been dreaming about it. It’s going to be a good experience.”

It’s become a rite of passage for the AAA Blue Jackets 12U team to take part in the tournament each year, and there’s really nothing like it. Not only is the tourney one of the biggest youth hockey events in the world, it’s a cultural experience unlike any other, with the players billeting with local families, enjoying Canadian experiences like pond hockey and dogsledding, and hanging out – and trading pins – with young hockey players from all around the world.

“It’s amazing,” said head coach Todd Ehrie, who is coaching his sixth team to take part in the tournament over the years. “It’s a hockey thing, obviously, because it’s a huge tournament like the Little League World Series and a lot of NHL guys have played in it, but they billet with French-Canadian families, they get immersed in the French-Canadian culture.

“What’s cool is they get to experience it, and it’s kind of like they’re little kids going into this and they turn into young men when they leave because they’re on their own. It's something you’ll never forget.”

Members of the team include Matracia as well as Jayden Beatty, Max Beatty, William Bechtol, Lucas Cea, Landon Detmer, Mason Fotheringham, Will Fusonie, Cooper Hackett, Maxwell Lammers, Grant Mahler, Peyton Miller, Jackson Pedersen, Rocco Petraglia, Henry Ribic, Beau Ricart and Preston Seaton.

The AAA Blue Jackets played an exhibition game today and have another tomorrow before their first game of the tournament Saturday vs. the Anaheim Jr. Ducks. If they win, they’ll advance to play Wednesday; with a loss, they’d be back on the ice Monday.

Their first game of the tournament will be held at the Centre Videotron, an 18,000-seat arena that will be filled with local fans excited to support the teams on hand. CBJ forward Mathieu Olivier – who played in the event growing up – will be on hand to drop a ceremonial puck before the game.

“It’s unique because for a lot of kids, they will never play in front of that many people,” Ehrie said. “I know I never did. The whole city is coming out to watch elite 12U hockey players play, and they are just happy to watch good hockey, and they cheer for everyone. That’s what makes it unique for the kids and for the families.

“You play in an arena, and the kids are always a little nervous for the first few shifts. I always remind them, ‘It’s going to be OK. The rink is 200-by-85. You’re going to be all right.’ But once they get into it and embrace all the emotion and all the people there, it’s really cool to see how they raise their level of play.”

As you might expect, given the stature of the tournament, a bevy of NHL stars have taken part, including Johnny Gaudreau, whose memory will be honored before the CBJ’s first game in a ceremony that will feature his old junior team from Hershey, Pa.

Notable standouts to take part over the years include such names as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Guy Lafleur, as well as current CBJ players Olivier, Zach Werenski, Sean Kuraly, Dante Fabbro, Kevin Labanc and Jordan Harris. AAA Blue Jackets alums Connor Murphy, Jack Roslovic, Carson Meyer, and Kole and Kiefer Sherwood all landed in the NHL after playing as well.

So how will this year’s squad fare? It’s always hard to tell, but they have an experienced coach in Ehrie, who led the 2014 Blue Jackets team to the program’s only championship at the tournament.

“It’s a hard-working team,” Ehrie said of his current squad. “It’s one of the higher-level teams in the country. They’re playing in a really strong division with the top teams, so they’re going to have to perform their best. What I love about them is I’ve had them for two years, and they always have stuck together and gone through adversity. We have a motto with all of our teams, ‘Hard to play against,’ which is what we try to teach these kids, so I like that about them.”

The players also have no lack of confidence in their ability to have success.

“We have good competition, but I think we’re good enough,” Matracia said. “We’ve had some practice; we know what we’re doing. The season has been up-and-down. There’s some games that we’ve been really good, there’s some games we could do better, but this tournament, I feel like we’re gonna do good.”