What a game!!!

Good afternoon from Paris! The last 24 hours has been a whirlwind!  We started out Sunday morning with our normal meeting.  During the meeting, one of the French scorekeepers came in carrying a newspaper.  There was a big picture from the previous nights game of me during a face off!  Everyone had already been joking how I'm the only one that shows up in the IIHF website pictures so they were really laughing when it was me in the paper as well. I was sure to grab a few copies, but now I am a French celebrity, haha.  After the meeting, we walked down to this small farmers market in the middle of Caen.  In France, apparently everything is closed on Sundays so this market was crowded!  After exploring for a bit we headed back to the hotel for lunch.  Lunch was beef pieces on a skewer with potatoes.  Now those that know me know I'm not a huge beef fan so when I do eat it it needs to be cooked just right.  Well I cut open my first piece and I swear the thing wasn't even fully cooked.  Everyone else had the same problem, even those who like their meat rare wouldn't eat much of it.  They took them all back to cook more so lunch took forever!  By the time we were finished, it was almost 2:30.  Since the first game started at 5 we didn't have time to go to the WW2 museum which I was a little disappointed about.  

After taking a little pre-game nap and packing, I headed over to the rink with the other girls to watch the first game, Italy vs Great Britain.  Both teams were winless but it turned out to be a really good game with Italy winning 4-2.  After the game ended I started my pre-game prep routine and went out for a run.  While I was running outside past all of these beautiful historic buildings (in shorts I might add) it really hit me about what a great experience this has been.  I know I've mentioned it before here but who would have thought when I started officiating that I would have the opportunity to travel the world and work a game that determined a world champion.  To me, that is just so cool and it makes all of the hard work I have put in the past couple of years worth it.  Katie, Ann Ruth and I were all outside stretching on our own when Maurice came out to talk to us.  He never comes to talk to us pre-game so I knew something was up.  He said apparently there may be a goalie equipment measurement - there had been some talk about it in the directors meeting earlier.  We went over the procedures and all checked our rulebooks about the specifics so we were ready.  

The game finally started in front of another sold out arena and was being televised.  The fans were really loud - it reminded me of when I was in China working the team China games.  Czech scored about 3 minutes into the game and really controlled the play for most of the period.  With about 3 minutes left there was an icing.  Ann Ruth fetched the puck to do the drop and I see the Czech captain skate over to Katie so I go join the meeting.  She told us they were requesting an equipment measurement of the goaltenders glove so the rumors were true.  Per IIHF rules, goaltender equipment measurements must wait until the end of the period so we played out the last few minutes.  As soon as the buzzer sounded I made a beeline towards the French goalie.  I had to get to her before she could go to her bench to prevent any chance any modifications could be made.  She looked at me like I had 4 heads when I told her I needed to take her glove.  I'm not sure if she just didn't understand English, thought I was crazy or a little of both so we headed to her bench to have a manager translate.  I took her glove and we went over to the Czech coach to find out specifically what he wanted measured.  With any equipment measurements you have to specifically name what you think is illegal and that is all we check, nothing else.  If it is deemed legal you serve a 2 minute delay of game penalty; if it is illegal the other team serves a 2 minute penalty and cannot use the equipment.  He said that according to the IIHF rulebook, the wrist protection area of the glove has to be 2 parts, it cannot be 1 piece.  He pulled out a picture he printed and circled and told us he warned them earlier so this was obviously planned. We took the glove to the locker room where Maurice, Frederick (the tournament director) and the 3 of us all took a look at it.  The Czech coach was correct that it was indeed illegal.  We brought the French coach in to explain, and even though Maurice is fluent in French she was struggling to understand because the glove has the NHL approval sticker on it.  I'm no expert in goalie gloves but I would tend to agree with her that if it had that I would think it would be good anywhere.  While we were explaining this we here a loud crash out in the hallway.  Arina, who was the stand-by official for the game, came running in to our room saying the coaches were fighting.  Apparently a French coach went over to the Czech locker room to have a few words and they ended up in a big shoving match.  By the time that was settled and we finished the glove conversation we only had a few minutes to get ourselves together for the next period.  The French started the period a man down and the goaltender was wearing her back-ups glove.  Czech did not score on the powerplay, and all of us admitted after the game we were kind of happy about that.  I completely respect the gamesmanship on the Czech's part but at the same time it would stink to have a world championship decided on a powerplay goal on an equipment technicality.  This whole event really fired the French team up because they definitely had the better of the play during the 2nd period.  The game got really physical and chippy after the whistles.  Ann Ruth and I worked our butts off to make sure nothing exploded.  At one point a Czech girl and a French girl were staring each other down cage to cage so I got right between them.  The Czech girl started to skate towards the French girl after I pushed her back a little so I really stepped in there.  I don't think she was expecting it and fell flat on her back.  The entire crowd started cheering for me after that, it was pretty funny.  At one point about halfway through the period the French goalie made a really nice glove save she skated out towards the Czech bench shaking her glove at them.  I have to admit that made me laugh as well.   The game ended without any further incidents and Czech won 3-0 with an empty net goal.  It was a great game and an absolute blast to work.  We stayed on the ice for the awards ceremony where we were presented with a gift (a polo shirt) from the French federation and the teams were all presented with their medals.  The Czech anthem was then played and I got chills down my back listening to the players sing their hearts out. 

After the game, the whole team of officials had a champagne toast in the locker room locker room to a job well done.  It was a blast working with all of those ladies.  We encountered some challenges along the way all coming from different parts of the world but we came together as a team and did one hell of a job overall.  I'm very proud to be a part of that team!  After packing up we went back to the hotel and had dinner and a few more glasses of champagne, wine and beer.  At about 1am we all realized that our shuttles were coming in only a few hours and we had to finish packing and get some sleep.  Maurice, Meagan and I were assigned to ride the team Denmark bus.  They were picking us up at the hotel at 5:15am so I only got maybe 3 hours of sleep.  Some of the other ladies had a 5am shuttle and a few had a 7am so I think everyone is dragging today!

I attempted to sleep most of the way to the airport but after I woke up I started talking with one of the Denmark players.  It was interesting to hear her perspective on the tournament as a whole and how the Danish hockey association supports them.  Funding is a huge problem for all women's hockey teams, even in the US and Canada.  She said that it was huge that they won the bronze medal because now the Danish federation will provide them with more support and could potentially start an under 18 national team.  We arrived at the airport and we all went our separate ways.  I am really sad the tournament is over, but at the same time I'm also really excited because my vacation has now officially begun!