I am writing yesterday's entry on Saturday morning instead of when I typically do it which is right before I go to bed. This is because both Kerri and France were leaving early this morning. We all stayed up drinking Harbin beer and just hanging out until about 3:00 this morning. We really had a great group of girls here, everyone has been really nice and we have had a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get assigned to another IIHF event in the future and will get to see some of these girls again. As I have said before, this has been a learning experience, not only about Chinese culture but also about what life as a female official is like in Sweden, Finland, Canada and China.
Back to the day yesterday, it was the finals for the girls. I worked the bronze medal game - Slovakia vs Finland. It was a really exciting, back and forth game. Finland was up 3-1 with about 2 minutes left when Slovakia scored a beautiful, tic-tac-toe power play goal to bring them within one. They pressed hard the last minute of the game but couldn't tie it up so Finland ended up with the bronze medal. One thing I haven't really understood here is the coaches theory on pulling the goalie. Throughout the whole tournament, I think I have only seen it done once. Slovakia had possession deep in Finland's zone, I can not understand why on earth they wouldn't pull the goalie and try to get a goal, especially since they had just scored on the man advantage. The same thing happened when Finland was playing China the other night, they had a power play with a minute left when they were down by one but didn't pull the goalie. Makes no sense to me, but maybe that is why I'm a referee and not a coach. The final was China vs Canada and to nobodys surprise Canada won. I worked the last time these two played and it was pretty much a blow out (Canada won 8-1). This time it was a little closer (4-1) but Canada controlled the game for the most part, especially in the 3rd. The Chinese are much better than I expected and their coach seems good but they just aren't on the same level as Canada yet. However I think all of these teams (with the exception of maybe Great Britain) are getting better and if they keep developing they will eventually start to challenge the US and Canada more. That will be a great thing for women's hockey and it is exciting to watch the game develop and become so much more popular.
Today is my last full day in China. Part of me is excited to get back home but part of me is sad this experience is ending. It has been awesome and unforgettable. An experience like this makes all of the hard work and frustration worthwhile. Hopefully I've had a good enough tournament to get invited to another tournament in the future, although I don't think anywhere else in the world could compare to China. Matt, who has been all over the world, even said to us three Americans that if we can survive China we can survive anywhere. The plan for today is to run out to the one store so everyone can pick up a few last minute gifts for people from home then go to the gold medal game for the guys. Their game is at the girls rink because there is twice as much seating. Boy are they in for a treat when they see the facility we have been skating in all week. Gotta love skating with the fresh smell of piss in the hallways and exhaust/pollution/smoke over the ice. They are going to be so thankful they had all of their games in the brand new rink. Tonight everyone is going to some Chinese barbecue. I've also got to pack today, getting everything home is going to be an adventure. I didn't buy too many big things but I have to get home all of the clothing the gave us. That should be interesting.
I'll try to update one more time before I go home but if I don't get to it I'll certainly do so once I get home. I've put a bunch more pictures up on the website (www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate). I'm also going to try to steal Tara's camera at some point and take any good ones off of her camera so look for updates!
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