Women’s hockey fever took hold in Southeast Alaska this month as the best teams in the world play for Olympic gold in Beijing. That’s because one Czech hockey star has a huge, close-knit Hoonah family rooting for her.
The Czech women’s hockey team made its debut at the Olympics this year. They lost to the United States in the quarter finals last week, but their strong preliminary games and an early lead against the US in the quarterfinals made some noise in the women’s hockey world.
“There was pretty much no opportunity for her to excel at the level she needed in the Czech Republic for as a woman, as a young lady. So I think I just really admire her for being at the place that she’s at,” Lindsey said. Valerie Veler is Alena and Thomas’ cousin in Hoonah. She says Alena’s Olympic journey has brought her huge family together.
“She ate whatever foods we had, which is cool because when you come in from the Outside, a lot of people who are not familiar with our way of life don’t have a desire to try different things. And she’s very open,” said Veler.“I totally leaked tears because it’s like, how awesome is that to have somebody representing this, you know, she’s married into our family, but instantly she’s like, one of us,” she said.