Cape Breton Screaming Eagles heading to Russia for hockey tournament

The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles are going on a road trip, but it’s not to one of their usual destinations. The team is heading to Russia to represent the Canadian Hockey League at the Junior Club World Cup.

The week-long tournament begins Friday and the Screaming Eagles will compete against teams from eight other countries, including Latvia, Sweden and the U.S.

Two of the players on the Screaming Eagles’s roster are from Russia.

“When I came in Canada, they showed me this city, you know, and I can show just my country, our city in Russia and it's very good for us,” said right winger Maxim Lazarev.

Head coach Marc-André Dumont thinks the tournament will help the team identify its strengths and weaknesses.

“How do we do skill-wise, speed-wise, system-wise towards the Finnish team, towards the Belarus team?” he said. “So, it's gonna be a match up that's gonna allow us to get to know ourselves better and when you know yourself better, then you can build and you can become better in certain areas of your game.”

The Eagles's first game is Saturday against the Czech Republic team.