Fraser Valley Cascades enjoy home cooking on road trip to Manitoba

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This article was published 02/12/2023 (710 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Carmi Wilson and Stephanie Karpan get to take part in a great, unofficial tradition of post-secondary sports this weekend.

When kids move away for university, they may enjoy freedom and independence, but definitely miss their mom’s cooking. This weekend, Reece Wilson and Max Paddock are getting repeated reminders of it.

The former Neelin Spartans and their University of the Fraser Valley Cascades are in town playing the Brandon University Bobcats, so the whole team is being treated to not one or two, but three straight home-cooked suppers.

“This is definitely looking like a lot better meal than any of us have made in the past three months,” Max Paddock said on Thursday evening as he eyed Carmi’s spread of barbecue ribs, mashed potatoes, corn, Caesar salad and garlic toast.

The Cascades congregated at the Wilson residence after flying in from Calgary on Thursday afternoon. They loaded their plates and ducked their heads through doorways — well, everyone except the five-foot-10 Reece and six-foot-three Max — and headed downstairs to eat. They were as quiet as they’ll be all weekend, save for one Ryan Adams asking how you’re actually supposed to eat ribs since he’d never had them before.

Upstairs, the parents, including Bobcats head coach Grant Wilson, ate with UFV bench boss Nathan Bennett. Rival coaches eating together the night before important Canada West matches might have been the strangest part for Grant, if not for Carmi sporting the enemy school’s sweater for the evening. Then again, it’s understandable she might want her son to win on his only regular-season weekend at the Healthy Living Centre.

As Reece sat back following a long travel day, he was filled with gratitude for everything his mom has done to help him get where he is, all while supporting her husband’s incredibly busy life as a university volleyball coach.

“It’s massive. Everything we do is because of her. She makes the things we do possible so it’s really nice to have her support us in every way,” Reece said.

“Being there to support, whether it’s in school or volleyball or life in general, having her on our side always willing to do whatever she can to help us be the best version of ourselves possible, it’s amazing.

“It’s special, just bringing the team over to where I grew up. It’s kind of cool to bring them home.”

Friday was Karpan’s turn and she pulled together a fantastic burrito bar in the mid-afternoon to ensure the players could digest it and be ready for a 7:45 p.m. start. The team went straight back for seconds after Friday’s match.

Max Paddock was equally excited to have his team over, and simply to eat at home again. Since joining the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats six years ago, then moving to Nova Scotia to play U Sports hockey at Acadia before switching sports, Paddock has sacrificed a lot of family time.

“It’s been tough the past six years. I moved away when I was 16, but it’s made that relationship that much better, coming home at Christmas time or in the summer, making those short times more valuable and more meaningful,” he said.

“She’s just been a great support for me. She’s someone I know I can talk to and we’re like best friends in a way. We don’t have anything to hide with each other, just open communication, which is great.

“Mothers are the key to life, right? They’ve given so much of their time … throughout their whole life, taking time off work, making sure we’re fed … I don’t have enough words to speak for my mother and for Carmi, what they’ve done over the years.”

The team’s going back for another meal before today’s 6:45 p.m. match, so the moms will do it all over again. Their unwavering support for their families, dating back to when Grant Wilson assistant coached the Bobcats under Stephanie’s husband Russ Paddock, who’s now the BU athletic director, is certainly not lost on Grant.

“I’m sure at times Carmi probably felt like a single parent. There were a lot of times I was busy with our team and on the road, and she dedicated a lot of time toward helping Reece achieve his goals. Part of the reason she worked part-time all of those years just to be able to make that work,” Grant Wilson said.

“I know Reece is thankful, certainly I’m thankful. It’s been a long, winding road, but to think it helped get him where he is, we’re certainly proud of that.”

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