WHL NOTEBOOK: Trio enjoys Belarusian Christmas in Brandon

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This article was published 11/01/2022 (1531 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You have to hand it to James and Monika Montgomery: The Brandon couple found a way to make three 18-year-old hockey players from a distant country feel like they were home for Christmas.

The Montgomerys, who billet Belarusian forward Zakhar Polshakov of the Wheat Kings, happily granted him permission to invite a pair of his former teammates to the Wheat City. That allowed Prince Albert Raiders goalie Tikhon Chaika and forward Vladislav Shilo, who are also from Minsk, to enjoy a Belarusian Christmas together in the heart of the Prairies.

“Christmas is a big holiday at home,” Polshakov told Wheat Kings broadcaster Branden Crowe on Tuesday morning in Medicine Hat, who then translated from Belarusian. “This was very nice to have it in Brandon. We are all happy it could happen.”

Polshakov and rookie forward Jesiah Bennett both billet with the Montgomerys, and were discussing their Christmas plans one day in early December. Polshakov was originally thinking of visiting Prince Albert and eventually wondered if he could bring his two friends to Brandon. The three came up with the idea together,

*We knew each other from back home,” Polshakov said. “We are friends. We have talked since coming to Canada. I like that we are all here together going through this change.”

Naturally, it didn’t take much persuading to get the Prince Albert players to make the trip.

“Me, Vlad and Zakhar were talking about how we miss the Russian language because everyone here speaks in English,” Chaika said by phone from Prince Albert on Tuesday. “It was a really good idea. I said ‘Why not?’”

The plan came together quickly, with the two Raiders arriving on Dec. 19 and leaving on Boxing Day.

“We didn’t hesitate for a second,” James Montgomery said. “We welcomed them with open arms.”

It has certainly been an adventure for the three players, who were all late to arrive in Canada this season due to the difficulty in acquiring a visa, an issue greatly complicated by COVID.

Belarus is an eastern European nation bordered to the north and east by Russia, on the south by Ukraine and on the west by Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The country is home to 9.3 million people, with Minsk, the capital city of two million, located in the centre.

Chaika, who played with Polshakov the last two seasons in Belarus, speaks the best English of the three so he became the primary contact.

“The three guys spent a lot of time together of course,” James Montgomery said. “They had obviously missed being able to talk in their language. We conversed but Tikhon would clarify a little bit if necessary … It was apparent early in their visit that Tikhon was the point guy because he had the most confidence in English.”

Polshakov speaks to his parents every day via video calls, but this was something different. Monika had a good sense of how important it was to them as she listened to a lot of talking and laughing.

“It was nice to hear him somewhere other than the basement speaking his language and going out and having fun,” Monika Montgomery said.

“They were a lot louder than I’m sure they are at their billets when they’re all by themselves,” she added. “That was kind of nice.”

Polshakov certainly appreciated the opportunity to speak Belarusian.

“Very nice,” he said with a laugh. “It felt normal.”

The Montgomerys began billeting in 2018 when Czech goaltender Jiri Patera arrived. Monika actually knows how to speak some Czech after spending a year in Prague, but Patera is fluent in English.

The pair, who have also looked after Teydon Trembecky and Ben Thornton briefly this season, were both in situations earlier in their lives when someone took them in while they were a long way from home.

“It was our turn to pay it forward,” Monika Montgomery said.

But it’s more than that too.

“Not having kids ourselves, having billets is a good thing for our marriage and for just everything,” James Montgomery said. “It keeps us on point and gives us something to look after other than ourselves. It’s just an all-around exceptional experience being billets.”

The Montgomerys usually split the cooking because of Monika’s shift work but she was in the kitchen on Christmas Day. The result was a traditional Canadian Christmas meal.

But not everything went quite as they expected.

“They stayed up super late on Christmas Eve,” Monika Montgomery said. “They were like ‘Can we do presents now?’ We were like ‘Well, we were going to wait until tomorrow but OK.’ They opened their presents and they bought us a present and put together a Christmas stocking that we hung by the fireplace. Then they went out for a drive and came back.

“Christmas Day, I cooked turkey and a big Canadian Christmas dinner.”

They also discussed the differences in traditions.

In Belarus, New Year’s Day is the bigger holiday, and it involves big family gatherings and eating open-faced sandwiches and caviar.

All three players reached out to their families via FaceTime so they were able to at least able to see everybody that way.

“It was a little bit sad because they wanted to meet me and be with me because I really miss my family,” Chaika said, adding the trip to Brandon made it easier.

“Everything was good but I was still thinking about my family,” Shilo added. “It’s not usual so I was missing them. It’s not easy but I like everything here.”

Prior to Christmas, the three players played a lot of video games, watched some hockey and movies, went to some restaurants and had some workouts to stay in shape during their break.

The trio also had a chance to drive into Winnipeg. Bennett left his car in Brandon so the three piled in for a road trip one day to do some shopping.

Another highlight was a trip up to the Montgomerys’ cabin and an afternoon spent snowmobiling, which was new to the trio.

“We were driving the snowmobiles,” Chaika said. “That was really exciting. It was a really good experience for me and Vlad. It was really a fun time.”

Shilo agreed.

“It was great,” Shilo said via translation by Chaika. “There was a lot of adrenalin. It was my first time on a Ski-Doo. I want to try it again.”

With a game on Dec. 27, the pair headed back to Prince Albert on Boxing Day with an appreciation for the experience they had.

“He’s our friend,” Chaika said. “We were so happy to see him and he was happy to see us. It was really an awesome Christmas. It was special because every Christmas we spend with our families and now we had this opportunity.

“I’m really thankful for Zakhar’s billets. They were awesome.”

Polshakov agreed.

“James and Monika are nice people,” Polshakov said. “They brought us into their home and fed us and laughed with us.”

But it wasn’t just the players who got something special out of the visit.

The Montgomerys also benefited.

“We just loved it,” James Montgomery said. “It was really fun. Making them meals and just seeing them interact and have so much fun together, you could tell they missed that and missed each other.”

He said it was nice to get to know the two Raiders as people rather than just players.

His partner agreed.

“It was really neat,” Monika Montgomery said. “There is an open invitation for them to come back if they ever want to hang out.”

 

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