After their experience, Sweet and Cahow left Kazakhstan with lighter bags and heavier hearts as they, along with the rest of the Canadian team, donated much of their equipment to the local team.
“A bunch of us just handed out our equipment and our old sticks,” Sweet said. “We left a lot of stuff with them.”
Sweet and Cahow also hope to make future fundraising plans to bring more hockey equipment to Kazakhstan.
The duo, as they head into the 2004-2005 season, hope to bring back their rejuvenated love for the sport of hockey.
“[In Kazakhstan] I don’t think I thought about it as much,” Cahow said. “I think I just enjoyed playing over there so much that it’s something that I wanted to bring back with me here.”
The intense Harvard hockey program might even seem comforting after the unusual summer experience.
—Staff writer Carrie H. Petri can be reached at cpetri@fas.harvard.edu.