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Teamwork - © 2007 Terry Hayes

The above photo was taken during my first year in Moscow; I was the embassy goalie (there was no one willing to play the position except the embassy commercial counselor and myself). The Commercial Counselor, Roger Bull, went on to become an ambassador and is better known for marrying (I think) Rickman’s wife.

Aggie Kuklowitz, the tall fellow in the back row, was an ex NHLer and his two young sons played on the team. Aggie went on to become the translator for the 72 series between Canada and the Russians. Aggie now lives on Gabriola Island (the ferry commutes from Nanaimo).  

Mike Foster, top right, was the senior EL. For some reason there were no communicators on this team; the next year Tim Sullivan and Bob Hutchins joined the team and the military imported a real goalie.  

Each year we played a friendly (but very serious) game with the Czech’s and had a banquet at our embassy; great game but I gave up the first goal by directing it into the net off my goal stick (no wonder we imported a goalie). We did win the game with our collection of imports from the Swedish and Finnish embassies; not to forget the two Americans on our team. We had a lot of fun even if the freezing weather on an outdoor rink was less than refreshing.  We also played an annual game against the Russian Department of Foreign Affairs, or whatever it was called. They went out of their way to neutralize our offensive threats by bringing in talent from their national team.  

Terry

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© OFARTS Canada 2007 Old Foreign Affairs Retired Technicians, Canada The opinions expressed here are those of the contributors. Accuracy of facts has not been verified in all cases.