Ariel Carr doesn’t like to be the centre of attention — her mother Denise says she never has.
But for a quiet, self-effacing 15-year-old who is obviously uncomfortable when heads are turned her way, she has had a lot of it lately.
Carr was recently handed two awards as the minor hockey season wound up, in an arena filled with fans regardless of which team they were supporting, making as much noise as they could to acknowledge the recognition.
One award was for best sportsmanship on her Under-13 team. Coach Matt Unruh says she was chosen by the coaching team to receive that particular award not only because she was tied for the fewest penalty minutes for the whole season, but for her spunk, and the “grit and dedication she showed in coming back to hockey after such adversity.”
She took it in stride being the only girl on the team, he continued, and “didn’t ever let that bother her,” and as he joked when giving her the award, “for putting up with all the knuckleheads.”
The other award she received was a trophy created just for her, a decision made by minor hockey representatives who recognized that what Ariel had overcome to return to the sport she loves. “It was an extraordinary situation, unlike anything we’ve seen before or ever will again,” explains James Cadeau, who coached her during her atom years.
The journey that led to her stepping back on the ice in Virgil last September after a three-year absence is one many NOTL parents and kids know about, and have followed for as long as they have known her and her family.
Ariel was born two-and-a-half months premature in Hamilton, weighing just three pounds, 15 ounces. She had no movement on her left side — it was determined she had a stroke before she was born — and spent more than three months in the hospital before her parents, Denise and Ace, could bring her home to a household of seven siblings.
They were given the devastating news that Ariel would probably never walk — but they soon saw signs of her strength and determination as she crawled, stood up, and eventually began taking steps, although with a limp.
She also had trouble with movement in her left hand and fingers, but despite her challenges, with seven siblings who all played hockey, and a dad who has coached the sport for 18 years at every level, Ariel was determined she would play as well.
With lots of hard work on the ice, her dad and siblings helping out, she was able to join minor hockey, beginning with the Timbit program. She continued through three years in atom, but then was she forced to take a break. She was facing and then recovering from surgeries to straighten her spine from a candy cane-shaped curve caused by scoliosis, a condition that caused her pain, restricted her movement and her lung capacity, and made her tire easily.
She was expected to be at Sick Kids Hospital for five to six months for two surgeries, beginning with a halo traction application. In a two-and-a-half hour surgery, eight bolts were used to attach a halo to her head, and over the ensuing months in the hospital weights were gradually added to help strengthen and straighten her spine for her second surgery.
It was then that the halo was removed, and two metal rods were attached to either side of Ariel’s spine to straighten it, each about a foot long. She also had three ribs removed — at 47 inches and 43 pounds, she was small for her age, and they had grown into one of her hips and were pressing against her lungs.
There may be more surgeries necessary as she grows, Denise explains, to lengthen the rods.
Her surgery took place just as hospitals became aware of COVID and began preparing for it, earlier than expected, but the surgeon who was performing it had called her parents and told them he wanted to do it before the hospital began filling up with COVID patients. Denise and Ace had to deal with COVID restrictions, taking turns staying with Ariel, and there was no Ronald McDonald House open for them to stay nearby — they were both driving back and forth to be with her.
The good news was Ariel also ended up going home much sooner than expected. Although she had some post-surgery complications, Denise says the doctor explained he had drugs to help Ariel with what she was going through, which included pneumonia, but no drugs to treat her if she contracted COVID, and she was already having problems with her lungs.
It was March 25, 2020, that she had her surgery, and the doctor sent her home March 30 after being in the hospital for about two months.
And, as Denise points out, “it was March 30 that she received her awards” last week, after the final game of the season — an exhibition game her team won, although it was clear at the arena that night the kids on both sides of the face-off were out there having fun.
In the time before Ariel was able to return to hockey, she and her family would often be seen in the stands, cheering on her former teammates while she waited to recover and rejoin them.
She was given her doctor’s okay in September for the 2022-2023 season, and Phil Leboudec, NOTL Minor Hockey convenor, made the decision to allow her to play one age group below, partly because of her size, but also due to the challenge of her not having played in the intervening three years.
“Everybody could tell she loved hockey and was just pleased to be able to play again after her multiple surgeries,” says Unrah. “To be honest, I was a little nervous when she would skate aggressively toward the boards and win a puck battle. She not only worked hard, but was glad to help her teammates shine as well, more often than not passing the puck and looking for assists more than goals. Tenacity — that’s the word I would use to describe Ariel.
Her father Ace has said that from Ariel’s early days on the ice “her hockey IQ was amazing,” and Cadeau agrees it still is — even after the break from hockey, she seems to have the ability to be in the right place at the right time to get the puck, and to look quickly around her, as Ace taught her to, in order to know who to pass it to.
“We didn’t know how it would work out — she had to catch up,” explains Cadeau. “We didn’t know what to expect. She’s playing the game really well,” he adds, mentioning a great wrap-around goal she scored. “She’s back.”
Denise admits to being nervous watching her play. There was one game, she recalls, when Ariel was pushed into the boards and dropped, and Denise was very frightened. Ariel was unhurt, but her mother says she still worries when she sees Ariel chased into the boards, adding, “that’s why I don’t go to many games. I still don’t like the hits. It’s just too hard to watch.”
But Ariel got through the season without injuries, and she tells The Local she really enjoyed being on the ice again, playing without pain or fear. At the beginning the boys ignored her, she adds, but once they realized she could play, “they began treating me just like part of the team.”
“She likes beating the boys,” Ace adds, proudly noting there are many times when she has stopped a goal for them.
Ariel says she wants to play next year. She will likely move up to the next age group — and if she does, she’ll be 16, playing on a team of under-18s, although that hasn’t been decided yet. She is definite that she has no interest in finding an all-girls team — she has always played in NOTL, and that’s where she wants to stay, she says.
“I’m just happy for her to be able to play,” says Cadeau, who admits to being her biggest fan from the first year he coached her in atom, and even more so now, knowing what she has been through. When he handed her the trophy, he said, “I don’t think she even knows the words ‘I can’t.’”
“You are so inspiring,” he said to Ariel. “When people see what you’ve done, what you have accomplished, it makes them think there are difficult things they might be able to do too.”
And he repeats what he told The Local when Ariel was first facing surgery. “She may be the smallest player, but she has the biggest heart. Everyone can learn from her.”
Ace, who has been called ‘Mr. Hockey’ for his involvement with the league and the many years he coached, tears up when he talks about all Ariel has been through.
“I don’t know if I could have done what she did,” he said. “I watched her with those weights, watched them go up and down, and it was killing me. I don’t think I could have gone through that.”
Once Ariel was out of the hospital and on the road to recovery, he admits to missing the father-daughter time they spent together through hockey. He laughs and says in order to spend time with her, he would tell her he was ready for a pedicure, and take her to the nail salon so they could both get their nails done — he has the photos to prove it.
Because as much as Ariel loves playing hockey and being on the ice with the boys, she allows a glimpse of a little bit of the girly girl in her. She loves nail design, she says, and going to the salon or doing her own. She likes to be creative, and might even consider nail design as a future, she adds — but her very favourite thing to do is shop for shoes.
She shows off her black and pink Air Jordans, which match her sweatshirt, and says she has 10 or 12 more pairs at home, in different colours. And after taking the time to talk to The Local Saturday morning, asked what she was going to do for the rest of the day now that hockey is finished, she said, “go home and buy another pair of shoes online.” There was a colour she was missing and hoped to find.
Ace has one more message he wants to pass on from the family, which is to thank the community for being so supportive. During the time Ariel was in the hospital, with siblings at home and parents taking time off work to drive back and forth, many people stopped by with cookies and food, and everyone was calling and asking after Ariel. One neighbour dropped off a cheque for $500, he says. Denise jumps in with a reminder of the kids who wrote letters to Ariel to cheer her up when she was in the hospital.
“I can’t say enough about the people in this community and all they did for us,” says Ace. “I want them all to know how much we appreciate it. It just blows me away thinking about how great this community is.”