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“The idea of establishing an International Hockey Mom’s Day came to us from the many mothers we see at the Carpathian Junior Hockey League games, whose cheering is much louder and more emotional than the male part of the public,” said Oleg Moller, vice-president of the Carpathian Junior Hockey League about the origin of the idea. He then continued: “We’re aware that the role mothers play in raising a hockey player is much greater than merely their encouragement at the games. That’s why we decided to establish this new tradition, even though there is already a Mother’s Day that honors all mothers and motherhood in many countries of the world. That is, to devote one day especially to the mothers of hockey players, because they certainly deserve one.”

The part that mothers play in their son’s or daughter’s hockey career is much broader than just taking them to practice and cheering for them at games. Mothers are the ones who wake up early in the morning to prepare a snack or pack things for a hockey game. They make sure that the hockey equipment isn’t torn or broken down anywhere in the corners and that everything is washed and dried. They not only know how to encourage but also to comfort their kids after a bad game, and it is often mothers who are able to economize so that there is enough money to buy equipment or attend camps and tournaments.

“When we came up with this idea, we first checked on the Internet to see if anything like it already existed. To our great surprise, similar days can only be found in the USA and Canada, but not in Europe. In the current season we have 25 teams from nine countries in the league, so I think we’ll be able to establish this tradition over a relatively large geographical area. We hope that the players will join in and on this day show their thanks to their mothers for all the things they do for them,” said Peter Kločanka, CJHL director, before adding: “We’ll celebrate International Hockey Mother’s Day for the first time on Saturday, 8 February. At that time, the third round of the current CJHL season will be taking place, so we’ll try to come up with something to please the mothers present.”

In the coming years, this holiday will always fall on a Saturday during the fourth international IIHF break. In 2021 this will be 13 February, followed by 12 February 2022 and 11 February 2023.