We were off to an early start today. The bus was scheduled to leave the hotel at 8:30 this morning. We had a quick breakfast and loaded the bus and we were off...
850m into the trip (at the exact same spot Tracey and I realized we forgot the rings on Tuesday) we realized we had forgotten the tripod for the camera. We alerted the bus driver and he was quick to turn the bus around. A u-turn in bus is not an easy task when you think about it, but he pulled it off.
Donnell ran into the hotel, got the tripod and we were ready to roll!
The two hour drive to Lahti was rainy and felt like it was taking forever. But seeing as this was Alayne’s first bus trip, there was no shortage of entertainment.
Lunch was next on our agenda. Pointing out that it is now 10 am local time... and we just had breakfast 2 hours ago. But I guess that’s how you have to roll when your game is at 2pm. The location for lunch was outstanding! We had a view of a ski jump facility and we got to watch a couple of ski jumpers practice! It was pretty cool to see.
Then we got back onto the bus for what should have been a 2 minute drive over to the rink. We got slowed down by what I like to call an obstacle... A couple of Finnish athletes were walking ahead of the bus at a very slow pace, so we could not get by. Clearly I am not adjusted to the time change, cause my reaction was ‘do they not see that the buss is trying to get by?’. Clearly I did not catch on the gamesmanship that was going on. Let the rivalry begin!
Into the rink we finally go and it’s time for the team warm up. The athletes usually start off with some sort of fun game. I guess it sometimes can get pretty intense because Keely started the game off by saying that today’s game would be non-contact! Basically two teams, one water bottle at each end, you have to try and knock down the other team’s bottle with the ball. Very entertaining I must say.
Individual warm-ups were next.
Alayne (who has arrived now in case you didn’t already know) and I saw this as our opportunity to find a spot to set up shop. Mission accomplished! Centre ice press box will do the trick
Once we were set up (computers, internet connection, etc) we then had to go confirm roster information for our stats site (Leaguestats). We needed the starting line-up and confirmation on positions for some players on both teams. Got the info from Canada no problem! But getting this from the opposing team was not quite as successful. We now understand that they were waiting to see who Canada’s starting line up was to determine theirs. Fair enough. But identifying the athletes who will play centre seems to be some sort of national secret.
Anyone have any insider information for us?
On-ice warm up and team presentations was up next. Canada looked good out there. I couldn’t wait for the first free pass! Very cute ceremony before the game, National Team athletes from both teams were escorted by young Finnish ringette players. Cute!
National Anthems were up next. Well at least that what I think it was suppose to be. Not understanding the announcer can do that. But seeing as everybody was standing up, I put 2 and 2 together. Minor glitch... the anthems wouldn’t play! Lots of feedback and stick sounds were coming from the PA system but no anthem. The announcer came on and said something funny and clever (again just a guess, given that most fans were laughing). Anthem cancelled it seems. Hmm is the PA system broken I wondered... when all of a sudden what else but ABBA’s Mama Mia! came blearing through the rink! It took a couple seconds (and head bobs) to confirm that it was indeed that song. But I guess thats better than the Finnish rap that played during warm up. (Side note: To me Finnish rap is the equivalent to French Rap, it should result in a radio station change every time... just saying)
OK. GAME TIME!
Not the start we all thought... Finns up by 2 after 6 minutes of play. BUT not to worry... Canada fired back. Lots of great plays up the ice, good drives to the net, but in the end the Finns came out ahead. The final score was 8-5 for Finland. But not to worry, we will get them back when it counts!
Click here to view game summary.
Team Canada Scoring Summary:
(Period, Goal, Assist(s), Time)
(Period, Goal, Assist(s), Time)
Goalies: Keely (#1) played the first two periods and Meghan (#31) played the third. Bobbi (#30)came in for the fourth period.
As I was sitting here watching the game, providing live updates on Twitter I got quite wrapped up in the game. When Canada scored its first goal I cheered out loud... which then got me thinking, it is appropriate to cheer when sitting in the press box? Whatever... GO Canada GO! I cheered for the nice plays, the goals... you name it!
We captured some photos of the game and have posted them on our flickr site as usual. Be sure to check them out!
We are now off to a team meal that is hosted by the Pelicans (The hockey we saw the other night) I am not really sure what that means. But that is the information that has been provided on the schedule. Also, it says that Finland will be there as well... Rivals? Dining together? This could get interesting, non?
Have a great day! (As it is still morning where most of you are)
I’ll be back tomorrow!
Play it. Love it. Live it.
-FL
** Je fais la traduction de ceci suite au souper J À plus!!
