At first, Beth Conrad and Carrie Froess had their thoughts about taking in two strangers.

"We were nervous," Froess said. "We did not know what to expect."

The Ukrainian Hockey Camp and Cultural Exchange brought nearly 40 kids to Erie, double the amount of athletes from the first year. Conrad and Froess both housed two Ukrainian players each for this year's month-long camp.

Before Conrad invited Ukrainian players Ivan and Igor into her home, she already had experience billeting Erie Otters center Pano Fimis.

"I have the best Erie Otter that the world could ever give," Conrad said.

As a retired teacher, Conrad says things went better than she could have ever imagined, from baseball games to thrilling amusement park rides at Waldameer. She said would do it all over again.

"I'm very lucky that it was a great experience because they looked at me like their grandma and treated me as such," Conrad said.

Froess mentioned it was a learning curve for her first time billeting.

"They had peanut butter for the first time," Froess said. "They had a hot dog, of course, Smith's."

She was ultimately inspired to do it by her sister, former Erie News Now anchor Emily Matson, who took in Erie Otters first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer last season.

"The relationship that we saw the family have with him," Froess said. "They become a member of your family."

Froess said the hardest part was the very end of the camp when the players had to return home.

"The biggest thing I learned was that it is very hard to send them back to Ukraine," Froess said.