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11-year-old Tupper Laker brings U.S. hockey to Russia

Karter Kenniston will represent the U.S. in a hockey tournament in Novomoskovsk, Russia. Facing off against eight other countries, the 11-year-old has been honing his hockey skills in preparation. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

TUPPER LAKE — An 11-year-old from Tupper Lake will represent the United States in May at the EuroChem Cup hockey tournament in Novomoskovsk, Russia.

Karter Kenniston has been on the ice since he was 3 years old and is one of 14 players selected to make America’s debut at the EuroCham Cup. The tournament is in its sixth year, but this is the first time the U.S. has been selected to play among the dozen teams representing eight countries; also including Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania and Switzerland.

When Kenniston’s parents Korey and Christi learned that Karter’s AAA select team, the Syracuse Nationals, had been chosen to play defense for the country in Russia, they didn’t believe it at first, but after hearing it from coach Brad Chartrand, rushed out to get passports and buy plane tickets.

Karter has played many tournaments in Canada, but May 25 will be his first time crossing the Atlantic with his skates.

“I was a little nervous at first,” Karter said. But now, he said, he feels confident and is not letting his nerves get to him. He knows he will face some of the best these countries have to offer but is excited for the challenge.

“I think they’re going to be really good because in my experience with Canada, a different country, I’ve played some really good teams there,” Karter said.

He has played with the Tupper Lake team until this year, when he joined the Nationals on defense. Christi said he plays aggressively in front of the net. Karter has been drilling on his backward skating in preparation for the tournament, practicing his strategy of matching an incoming skater’s speed, stealing the puck and skating it out of the zone. He said Coach Chartrand, who played with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, pushes the team to skate 100 percent on every drill.

To gain endurance for the five-day tournament, he has also been doing push-ups every day with a deck of cards, flipping a card and doing the number of push-ups it dictates. The tournament is made of four divisions; teams will play round-robin style games for the first few days to earn prime seating in the playoff bracket.

Each day after the games, the Kennistons will be able to tour the country, trying Russian food, learning about Russian culture and spending a day at Red Square in Moscow. The tournament will be played in Novomoskovsk, but the players will stay in Tula. Albany and Tula, Russia, are sister cities, with boards in each country promoting a connection between the two.

Schoolchildren of each grade in Tula will be assigned a country competing in the tournament to learn about, and will cheer their respective countries on, dressed in that country’s colors. Russian President Vladimir Putin is even supposed to make an appearance to watch the championship game. The Nationals have all been given extra jerseys with their names to give to the students as a parting gift.

The Kennistons will also bring Karter’s twin sister and their grandparents for the chance to visit Eastern Europe.

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