NEW THIS MORNING
California hockey team's lost luggage arrives in time for first game in Ottawa
The return of a holiday hockey tradition in the city of Ottawa got off to a shorthanded start for some teams.
The Bell Capital Cup is underway at arenas across Ottawa for the first time in three years, but the airline baggage disaster and travel delays across the country meant some teams arrived without their equipment.
One team from Orange County in California arrived without their luggage after it got caught in the baggage mayhem at Toronto's Pearson Airport.
"We had 40 people and about 70 pieces of luggage were still missing,” said Kathryn Fuji-Hara, whose son was playing on the team.
As the team scrambled to get ready to play their first game, support came pouring in from the community.
“We had people at the rinks, people asking to help out and not one person said no. Everybody was just like, 'How can I help?'” said Mark Slubman, the Bell Capital Cup general manager.
"They literally brought a truck load of old gear they had and they just let us all pick what size fit. Even Play It Again Sports gave us a huge discount, which helped us out,” said Carlos Marshall, the Orange County hockey club coach.
The team borrowed gear and purchased some as well, but it still wasn’t the same.
“It was super hard to shoot and everyone was falling over,” said Fuji-Hara.
At the eleventh hour, the bags arrived early Thursday before the team took the ice for their first game of the tournament.
“They were able to track some of our air tags and locate and pinpoint some of our luggage,” said Fuji-Hara. “We woke up this morning to a lobby full of hockey gear, stick bags, and luggage. It was wonderful, a Christmas miracle.”
The gear appearing just in time.
“I feel like everyone was excited that their gear was there because yesterday we were doing our practice and everyone was not used to that gear and everyone was all stressed out and then when we found out that our gear was there, everyone was so relieved," player Colin Cantwell said.
The team ended up winning their first game and is hoping the next step might be the championship game, scheduled for this weekend at Canadian Tire Centre.
With files from CTV News Ottawa's Jackie Perez and Josh Pringle
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