The trip home and recap of an amazing 2 weeks!

We got back to the hotel after the opera and got packed up to leave.  Our flight was at 10:20, however we had to take the metro and train to the airport so we left around 6:30 to give us plenty of time.  I ended up having a pretty rough night, the sandwich I had for dinner didn't agree with me and I spent a good portion of the night praying to the porcelain gods.  I was just praying it was out of my system before I had to get on the 10 hour flight home. What is it with me getting sick just before I have to fly lately?!?  First it was Vegas, now here! We got to the airport plenty early and when we checked in we realized the flight was not full.  I picked a row of 3 seats towards the back of the plane, hoping at least one of them would remain empty so I could spread out.  Luck would have it that both seats remained empty so I was able to spread out and I slept for the first 7 hours of the flight.  Thankfully, I stopped getting sick but the only thing I ate was a granola bar, and despite being a little hungry I was too nervous to try anything else before getting of the plane!  Once in DC I had to go through customs, where I got stopped because I had peanut butter and cashews in my bag.  Who would have thought that would have caused a red flag!  After passing the test, I had a 2 1/2 hour layover before the quick, 40 minute flight to Philly.  We were a delayed about an hour but I was still home and on my couch by 7:15.  I did everything in my power to stay awake to get back on eastern time but I still ended up waking up at 5:15 am and was on my work computer by 6:00 going through the 417 emails I had.  Luckily I've got Monday off so I have a nice 3 day weekend to recover and get caught up with life.  I've officially decided that Monday is my New Years day, during which I'm going to start fresh and get back to eating healthy, working out regularly and tackling my New Year's resolutions. 

I've had another great tournament and trip.  I worked my butt off to get ready for this tournament and I am hopeful that it showed on the ice.  Experiences like these make all of the hard work and sacrifice worthwhile.  I feel pretty good about my performance, and I'm hoping I did well enough in the IIHF's and USA Hockey's eyes to earn another opportunity.  Even if I don't, I have no regrets, I left everything on the ice and took care of what I can control.  Each tournament and subsequent site seeing trip has been very different, but all have been an absolute amazing experience.   I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to visit 7 different countries (China, France, Belgium, Holland, Czech Republic, Hungry and Austria) because of hockey.  I've met so many great people from all over the world, all of whom have a common interest in our love for the game of hockey.  I've got a new respect for the opportunities we are given in the US, many of the girls I met would kill to have the opportunities we have.  And seriously, how many people can say they spent 2 weeks in Europe visiting 3 amazing countries and came home in the black financially and lost weight?!?  Huge win!  I've said it once and I'll say it again, who would have ever thought that when I dragged myself out of bed that Saturday morning to go to the officiating seminar that it would lead to experiences like these?   Until next time!


PS Tons of pictures will be posted on my picasaweb site and Facebook this weekend!

A night at the Opera

So the Opera, where do I begin? We read in a number of guides that you could get standing room only tickets the day of the Opera for really cheap so we decided to give it a try.  Kyle, Dina or I had never been to an Opera other than Phantom of the Opera, but I'm not sure you can really count that!  When we had checked on Tuesday night, they told us we had to get in the queue for tickets between 5-5:15.  After we grabbed sandwiches for dinner we took our place in line.  I'd say there were maybe 30 people in front of us, and you could tell many of them were not Opera rookies like us!  They had little folding chairs and reading materials for while they waited in the line.  The security was pretty strict in that you could not leave your place in line at all, otherwise you had to get in the back.  We watched a group of 3 people where the one guy left to go get coffee or something and they would not let him back in line with the rest of his group.  Finally, a little before 6:00 they started to move everyone through the ticket line.  You could pay 3 Euro for tickets up top or 4 Euro for tickets on the bottom floor.  We opted for the tickets up top just because we figured we would have better photo opps.  After purchasing our tickets they shuttled everyone up the staircase and had us wait in another line.  Around 6:15, they opened the doors and everyone made a run for the best standing room seats.  Again, you could tell we were the rookies because we were completely unsure of where to go while others knew exactly where they wanted to be.  I wouldn't be surprised if there were fights for areas at times.  There were 2 rows of standing area, each with a railing in between.  Think bleachers style.  Once you got to your "area",  you staked your claim by spreading a scarf or ribbon along the railing.  Again, we were rookies because the only thing we had was the scarf I had been wearing - the veterans brought everything from shoelaces and ribbons to mark their territory.  We then were forced to check our coats and bags.  After checking everything, we had about 40 minutes to kill before we had to be back in our "seats" so decided to walk around and take some pictures.  The inside of the opera house was just like you would envision it in the movies - a huge marble staircase in the front of the building, box seats all in the mezzanine levels, beautiful woodwork and sculptures throughout.  It was gorgeous.  We walked downstairs to take some pictures and quickly decided we were the rift raft of the show.  Most of the men had on jackets and ties, some even had tuxs and many of the women were all dressed in ballgowns.  Meanwhile, we are in jeans and track jackets from walking around outside all day.  We were all thirsty so we decided to stop at one of the concessions and purchase some bottled water, which was served in a glass and cost more than our actual ticket!  While we stood around drinking our water we just did some people watching - it was interesting that while the majority of the people attending were older, many looked as though they were around our age or just slightly older.  After finishing our drinks we headed back up to where we belonged, with the rest of the tourists in jeans and the old, cagey veterans in their shirts and ties with their little foldable stools.  

The show we were seeing was called La Forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi.  It is a relatively famous Italian opera based on a Spanish drama Don Alvaro (thank you Wikipedia).  It started out with the full orchestra playing some beautiful music while a weird video was played on the screen covering the stage.  After the orchestra was finished their piece, they raised the video screen and the opera began.  Man did those singers own a set of pipes!  While I thought the people in Phantom of the Opera could sing, I'd never heard anyone that could sing like these people.  The entire thing was in Italian, however they had little screens on the back of each seat (or in our case along the railing) where you could see a translation of what they were saying.  Despite those screens, the story was definitely still difficult to follow.  According to Wikipedia

One Day in Vienna

Today was our last full day in Europe and our goal was to tackle all of Vienna in a day.  Since we had a lay of the land from walking around last night, we got an early start to the morning and headed to St. Stephan's Cathedral (yes, we also saw a St. Stephen's in Budapest).  This church was more like the "typical" European Church, lots of stone and marble and very dark inside.  While it was pretty, we all agreed that the St. Stephan's in Budapest was much cooler.  This church felt like it had sold out a bit, with lots of tourist "attractions" inside.  The one thing that was pretty cool was you can hike up to the top of the bell towers for great views of the city. You had the choice of the North tower with the elevator or the South tower that included 343 spiral steps.  We opted for the South tower because we were told it had better views and we all felt like we could use a little exercise.  We made our way up the dark, narrow spiral staircase and were definitely huffing and puffing by the top.  That said, the view was definitely worth it.  After taking in the view we went back down the staircase - much easier going down than up!  After St. Stephan's we headed over to the Hofburg Palace Complex.  Hofburg palace was the home to the Hofburg family, who ruled over Europe for a number of centuries, starting back in the late 1200's.  It is huge - the main building has over 2600 rooms.  Now the complex is home to the Austrian president's office and a number of different museums.  In our "Vienna in a Day" guide, it suggested we see the silver collection, the Imperial Treasury  and the Imperial Apartments (Sisi Museum).  When we went to buy tickets we found out that there was an English speaking tour of the Sisi Museum at 2:00. We decided that might be worthwhile so we bought tickets.  Since we had some time to kill prior to our planned 1:00 tour of City Hall we decided to go through the Silver Collection ourselves.  It was pretty crazy, they showed all of the different types of place settings they used throughout the Hofburg regime.  The dishes and silver wear had so much detail, but I think the coolest part was probably the exhibits that showed what an actual table would look like.  The center pieces were crazy and there were more forks, knives and glasses than I would know what to do with!  Apparently the meals were 11-14 courses in this time so all of the cutlery and glasses had a purpose for each specific course.  After touring the Silver Museum portion we headed over to City Hall (Rathause) for our 1:00 tour.  It is a huge, gothic looking building that has lots of spires, the highest of which goes 102 meters in the air.  It was built between 1872 an 1883.  Back then there was a rule that no building could be higher than the highest cathedral.  To get around this, the architect put a statue on top of the highest spire who's fingers when just above the Cathedral.  The statue (they said it weighs several tons) is suspended on the top of this spire and has the ability to rock up to 10inches with wind.  It was definitely a cool building and we were glad we took the tour.  We hustled back to Hofburg for our 2:00 tour of the Sisi Museum.  The Sisi Museum shows a portion of the palace that  was home to Empress Elizabeth, one of the most famous Empresses of the Hofburg dynasty.  She ruled in the mid to late 1800's, until she was assinated in 1898.  Our tour guide was awesome - she spoke great English and gave us all sorts of interesting facts.  One of those facts was she told us there was a locked door between the Empresses quarters and her husband's quarters.  If he wanted to see her he had to knock and get permission.  Her area of the complex was by far the warmest as well, but only got up to about 64 degrees in the winter.  The rest of the palace only was able to be heated to about 39 degrees.  She was also ahead of her times in that she loved to exercise.  They showed her "gym" which included rings, a pull up bar and a wood thing you could climb.  I wonder of she could do a muscle up?!? :-)  After the museum, we realized that tour took too long and we wouldn't make it to the Opera house tour that started at 3:00.  We were disappointed but definitely ok with it because our tour guide was so great.  Since we were going to miss the Opera tour we decide to visit the Imperial Treasury while we were in the Hofburg Complex.  The Treasury contained many of the jewels of the Hofburg empire, including the crowns of the Holy Roman and Austrian emperors.  Some of the displays dated all the way back to the year 1000.  Crazy that something that old could still be in such great shape.  After seeing the jewels, we went to grab a quick bite to eat before we had to wait in line to get Opera tickets.  The Opera definitely deserves a post of its own, it was quite the experience!  Overall though we hit almost every item on the Vienna in a Day Guide so I'd say we were successful in our quest to get a feel for Vienna.  It is a really pretty city, but I must say I think we all thought Budapest was a little cooler, just because it was so different from every other European city any of us has ever been to. 

Travel to Vienna

Today was a partial travel day.  We got up, grabbed breakfast from a small little bakery across the street from our hotel then packed up and headed to the train station.  Last night we looked up trains to Vienna and found several options but one of them was without any transfers for only 36 euros so we decided to give that one a go.  When we got to the train station to buy tickets the lady in the box office was super nice and told us it was actually cheaper to buy round trip tickets (only 25 euros) vs one way.   So strange but we definitely appreciated the advice!  After we got our tickets we bought some drinks at the station then got on the train.  It was about a 2 1/2 hour train ride during which Dina and I started to go through some of the pictures we had taken during the tournament and delete all of the crappy ones.  That is the beauty of digital cameras, you can share all of your good shots easily and delete the ones that don't turn out!  

We arrived in Vienna at about 1:45.  Our railway station had a metro connection so we bought 48 hour passes, hopped on one line and transferred to another that dropped us off right outside of our hotel.  We had figured all this out before we left Budapest using google transit - what did we do prior to computers?!?  After we checked in to our Courtyard Marriott (again, it had American style beds and pillows), we relaxed for a little bit and got ready to head out for the evening.  Our plan was to head over to the Opera and try to get tickets for a show tonight - we were told that you can get very cheap standing room only tickets the night of the show and it is worth going in to see, even if you aren't a fan of opera.   We took the metro to the "city center" of Vienna and got off at the stop around the corner from the Opera.  When we came up above ground from the metro we were in the middle of a little park surrounded by huge, beautiful buildings.  After getting our bearings, we walked a few blocks and found the Opera house.  It was massive and absolutely gorgeous.  After taking a lap around it we found the ticket office to see if there was a show tonight.  There was, but it was only a pianist and singer.  Tomorrow night was there was an actual opera, complete with full orchestra.  We decided we'd rather see the full show so we left and went to go grab dinner.  We found a cute little cafe around the corner from the opera and grabbed a quick bite to eat.  The lady at the hotel, along with one of our Vienna in a day guides both suggested we take the Tram around the inner ring of the city so we decided to do that to get the lay of the land.  It seemed like every stop we were pointing out the window at another huge, beautiful building.  We decided to get off and walk back so we could take pictures and look at everything closer.  We passed by City Hall, Museum Square, Parliament, a theater, the Hofburg Imperial Palace,  and Vienna State Opera.  We plan on visiting and taking tours of most of these places tomorrow during the day but it was really cool to see them all lit up at night.  We finally got back to where we started then hopped back on the metro to go back to the hotel.  Tomorrow is going to be a busy day but we are looking forward to it!  

Budapest in a day

What a day!  Budapest is an amazing city, I'm so glad we decided to come here.  We started off around 10 on the Pest side and took the metro to the Parliament building.  It was unbelievable - so big and ornate.  Everything we read suggested to take the tour so we bought tickets for the 12:00 tour.  Since we had some time to kill we walked over to Freedom Square and St. Stephen's Basilica. St Stephen's is Budapest's largest church and took over 50 years to build. They said no tickets were required to go in but before you can enter a priest is sitting at the entrance collecting mandatory "donations" of at least 250 forint (that is only about $1).  It was well worth the "donation" because the inside was very different from other famous churches we have seen.  It was mostly marble as opposed to stone and the inside had tons of gold decor.  It was breathtaking.  After leaving the church we made a quick stop at Starbucks and headed back to Parliament for the tour.  The tour was definitely worth it!  The guide spoke English, and although she had a thick accent we were able to pick up some really interesting facts.  The building was built in 1902 and survived the war with minimal damage.  In the center of the grand hall they had the Hungarian crown jewels of St. Stephen on display.  It was pretty cool to see a huge gold crown in person!  After seeing the jewels we moved to the Parliament hall, where they still have regular meetings.  Dina, Kyle and I all said that if we ever had a meeting in a room like that we would be too busy looking around at the ornate paintings and sculptures on the walls and not pay a bit of attention.  It was interesting, the oldest representative of parliament is 90, the youngest is 24 and less than 10% of the representatives are women.  After finishing the tour we walked along the Danube to the Chain Bridge to walk to the Buda side of the city.  The Chain Bridge is a huge suspension bridge that was built in 1849.  It was the first link between Buda and Pest and it was apparently built because a famous Hungarian reformer was unable to cross the river due to storms and in that time his father passed away.  The Buda side of the city is built up on a hill so once we crossed the bridge we took a cable car up to the Castle district.  The Royal Palace was the first thing we saw.  The original castle was completely destroyed during World War II so after the war a new castle was built and meant to mimic a medieval city.  Again, it was incredibly detailed and ornate - it looked like it was built in the 1800s, not the 1950s.  After taking some pictures and watching the changing of the guards, we wandered around the castle area a little more and saw the Hungarian National Gallery and Budapest History Museum.  We skipped going in but the buildings were gorgeous.   We then headed to Fishermen's Bastion, where there was another beautiful church along with breathtaking views of the Pest side, including the Parliament building.  After taking a ton of pictures we were hungry and cold so we stopped in a little cafe and had a late lunch.  We then took the metro back to the Pest side and stopped into our hotel to grab another layer.  We got lucky and had pretty good weather (sunny and high 30's) but after being outside all day we were all a little cold and as it was getting dark it was getting significantly cooler.  When we were at the bath's the last night we saw this huge castle in the distance so we decided to go check it out.  Turns out it was on the edge of Heroes Square, which is the entrance to the City Park.  There were huge statues of significant Hungarians in these big arches.  It was all lit up because it was getting dark and looked really cool against the sky.  As we were walking over to the castle on the edge of the park, we found the Hungarian National ice skating center - an outdoor ice sheet about as big as a football field.  Unfortunately it wasn't open today, otherwise Dina and I would have grabbed our skate and gone out for a spin!  The castle we saw turned out to be the Vajdahunyad Castle, which is a copy of a famous castle in Transylvania, Romania.  It was built in 1896 out of cardboard and wood but became so popular they rebuilt it with stone and brick. It currently houses the agricultural museum.  It was all lit up and looked so cool.  After the castle we headed back to the hotel.  Kyle wasn't feeling well so we just ordered dinner from the restaurant downstairs and figured out our plans for tomorrow.

We hit basically all the major sites of Budapest so tomorrow we are going to head to Vienna.  We had been told you could take a boat along the Danube but apparently they only run from April-October so unfortunately we have to take the train.  The train is only about 2 1/2 hours so we will get into Vienna around 1:30.  We decided to stay at the Courtyard Marriott there as well as we have gotten used to our American style beds!  Looking forward to exploring another new city tomorrow!

From Zlin to Budapest

Dina, Kyle and I are going to be staying in Europe until Thursday, January 12th to do a little touring.  Most of our fellow officials had to leave Zlin really early to get to Vienna to catch flights home (some as early as 1:00 am and 3:30 am) but we were able to sleep in, which was nice.  Since we experienced so much of Prague on Thursday we decided to skip going back and instead go directly to Budapest.  We looked up trains from Zlin and found an 11:28 train with two connections that got us to Budapest at 4:25.  We intended to leave the hotel at 11:00 to walk down to the train station but of course we got delayed with trying to pack everything so we didn't leave until about 11:15.  The train station was about a 10 minute walk so we rushed, with all of our luggage, to get there to try to make this train.  I don't think it would be possible to come any closer to missing this train.  I was finishing paying for the tickets as Kyle and Dina were shuttling the bags out on to the platform.  We were all sweating by the time we got on the train from rushing around so much.  The first train ride was short, only about 20 minutes.  We got to the next station and luckily the nice conductor who had held the train for us in Zlin helped us find the track where our next train would be leaving.  I don't know that we would have found it without her help as the signs were not clear and everything was in Czech.   We got on the next train for about 45 minutes, then we switched to the 3rd and final train for 3 hours.  The train was empty so it was nice to be able to spread out with our stuff.  

We arrived in Budapest at 4:30 and were able to change our Czech money to Hungarian money.  That is the one thing that is a little annoying, all of the countries we are visiting use different currencies.  After exchanging currency, we set off to find the hotel.  We had emailed walking directions to ourselves and had a map up on the iphone but because there was no wifi we were unable to have the GPS on the iphone navigate us.  We walked the wrong direction at first but eventually we figured it out and made it to our hotel.  We are staying at a Marriott right in the center of Budapest.  It is practically brand new, but I think the thing we are most excited about is the fact that they have American style beds and pillows.  While the hotel in Zlin was nice, it was your typical European hotel, very small, twin beds and one terrible pillow.  We are all going to sleep so well tonight!  After we checked in we decided to try to find a place to eat.  Before I had left, I had printed off Budapest in a day guides from both Frommers and Hostel World.  The Hostel World guide is awesome, it gives restaurant suggestions around popular tourist areas.  We decided to try Cafe Vian because it was on the way to the Hungarian Bath houses.  It was a cute little place where they had an English menu but traditional Hungarian food.  Dina and I both had a mushroom soup to start and Kyle tried the goulash.  For dinner I had a chicken paprika dish.  Everything was awesome and it was so cheap - our whole dinner, including drinks about $48 USD.  After dinner we decided to use the metro to try to find the Szechenyi

Last Day of the Tournament

Yesterday was the end of the tournament.  I can't believe it is already over!  We had our morning meeting to review the games from the previous day.  At this meeting some of our clothing finally arrived.  We got really nice track suits with the IIHF logo on them as well as a polo shirt.  And the best part is they actually fit so I can wear them!  It is a shame they were stuck in customs all week, they would have been great for our ice practices and just to wear around the hotel. After the meeting a few of us went to the hockey shop at the rink to get gifts for our supervisors.  In the past we have always gotten them something from the tournament but since this tournament had no merchandise for sale we went with some t-shirts and scarves from the local Zlin hockey team.  After shopping it was back to the hotel for lunch and a little pre-game nap.

Dina, Stephanie, our standbys (Maria and Malin) and I all headed to Prerov around 1:00.  We had the 3rd and deciding game between Russia and Switzerland, the winner stayed up in A pool and the loser moved down to division 1.  It turned out to be a great game, Russia scored an early goal to go up 1-0. They scored again not long after but Switzerland was able to score with about 10 seconds left in the first period to make it a 2-1 game.  Switzerland scored again in the second period to tie the game at 2.  Despite numerous opportunities for both teams, nobody scored in the third period so we went to overtime.  Somehow I'm not surprised, everyone who refs with me knows that I am the overtime queen.  If there is going to be an overtime game in a tournament, there is a good chance I'm working it.   In the relegation round they play a 5 minute 4 on 4 overtime.  If nobody scores it goes to game winning shots.  Russia scored a really nice, clean goal with about 2 minutes left in the OT to win the game and stay in the top division.  I almost got killed by all the stick and gloves that were thrown as all the Russian players came flying off the bench to celebrate.  You would have thought they had won the gold medal if you had seen their celebration.  It is always fun to be on the ice for something like that, you can really feel the passion of the players and the pride they feel for winning for their country.  I was just happy that someone won it in overtime and we didn't have to go to a shootout.  I can't think of a worse way to get sent down a division - to lose in the 3rd game of a 3 game series in a shootout.  We did find out after the fact that if the Russians had lost they would have lost a lot of their funding, so I'm happy they were able to stay up in the top division, it is good for women's hockey.   It was a fun game to work, both teams played really hard.  Stephanie has a very similar style to me on the lines so we had a good time working together and it is always nice to work with Dina.  

After the game we got undressed as quickly as possible and raced to the rink in Zlin to catch as much of the US/Canada final as we could.  We got there with about 12 minutes left in the 2nd period and Canada was up 2-0.  The arena was absolutely packed which was great to see given that the Czech team wasn't playing.  The game was fast, end to end hockey that was fun to watch.  The second period ended and the score was still 2-0.  During the 3rd the US had several powerplays and a few great opportunities to score but the Canadian goalie played a great game.  Canada scored on the powerplay with about 4 minutes left to go to shut the door.  The final score was 3-0 Canada.  Despite the fact that the US team lost, it was fun to be there to see the Canadians celebrate their gold medal.  When their national anthem finally played the players held each other arm in arm and sang so loudly the entire arena could hear them.  Keyoko, Cheiko and Anna worked the game and did a great job so I was really happy for them.  Even though us Americans and Canadians were disappointed we couldn't work the game, we were talking about how lucky we are to see this high level hockey on a regular basis; the girls from other parts of the world rarely see high level girls hockey.  This was also a historical day in that it is the first time a Japanese official was on the final for an A pool tournament so naturally Kyoko and Chieko were really excited. 

After we all got back from the game we had a typical Czech meal of soup, roast beef and dumplings (not the Chinese style, these were more like bread in a thick sauce.)  We then had a little presentation from the Fins - they had put together a little competition for us to "earn" the Finland items they were giving out as gifts.  They split us into different teams (mixed nationalities and mixed refs/lines) and we did their version of the GPS test.  Each team got a map of the meeting room and two of the team members were blindfolded while the 3rd team member had to give them directions to follow a specific route to get to certain locations within the meeting room.  We had all been drinking as well so that added to the fun.  Mary Anne had to direct Chieko, who speaks very little English, so she got Kyoko to write down the Japanese words for each directions.  It was absolutely hysterical watching Mary Ann try to direct Chieko in Japanese, we were all cracking up.  It was a fun way to end a really great week.  

I'm so thankful to have been given the opportunity to work another IIHF event and am especially proud that I worked an A pool tournament.  Overall I think I had a decent tournament and am excited that I was selected to work on the last day.  It was another fantastic experience that I will never forget.  Hopefully there is another opportunity in my future, but as I have said after every tournament I've worked, even if there isn't I'm proud of the fact that I even got here and I left everything on the ice, I have no regrets.  Now it is on to the vacation portion of the trip!

Random observations

Here are some random observations from my trip:

-Why is the US the only country not on the metric system? It makes things so confusing here. They refer to everything in meters and I have to quick try to convert it into yards and feet. I was talking to one of the supervisors about running and triathlons and I had to guess my average time per kilometer because I only know my average mile time! And when we are driving I look and see the driver going 140 I think in my head "holy crap" but in reality that isn't that fast.

-Same thing goes for temperature. Everyone here uses Celsius but we use Fahrenheit. I'm not as good with those conversions, all I know is 0 is freezing!

-I absolutely love that you can't smoke most places in the USA. The lobby here is constantly smokey. There is a Chinese restaurant down the hall from our rooms and some night we have smelled smoke in our room. So gross!

-The food here is pretty good and I have a new appreciation for soups. I never eat them much at home but I think that I will now try to eat them more often.

-Diet Coke is Coca Cola Light here and in general, diet soda isn't very popular.

-I think I mentioned this one before but I am so jealous of everyone here who can speak multiple languages.

-Nobody here is overweight. Just goes to show how American's portions are too big and in general we eat like crap.

-I don't think the sun exists in this country. It has been overcast or rainy or snowy every day.

That's all for now. Going to take my pregame nap!

A day in Prerov

This morning we had an early start and finished up our testing.  In previous years, we have done what is known as the "Big 8" test - basically you skate 5 full figure 8's from one end zone face off circle to the other.  This year however, they did not have us do the Big 8 test.  Instead, we had to do what is affectionately called the GPS test.  Why is it called the GPS test?  Because you need a GPS to get through the thing - it involves skating forwards and backwards around a ton of cones following a very specific path.  For most of us, it was the first time we ever had to do the GPS test so as you can imagine, we had a number of people get very lost, skating forwards when they were supposed be backwards, pivoting the wrong way, stopping short of the goal line cones, etc.  We eventually all got though it but it was pretty funny watching us all try to navigate this thing, especially that early in the morning.  

After testing and breakfast, we had our daily meeting and reviewed the games from the previous day.  Following the meeting, I took a little nap to get ready for my long day in Prerov.  I was the standby lineman for the first game and the goal judge for the second game.  Around 1:00 the crew for Russia vs Switzerland, along with Dina and I, headed to the rink.  Dina, Kyle (Dina's husband) and I walked around and took a bunch of pictures to keep ourselves entertained while waiting for warm-ups to start.  Once warm ups started, we were told to inspect the Russian goaltender's leg pads, apparently the Swiss had been complaining that she had an illegal piece up by her thigh.  This brought back memories of my game during last year's worlds where we had the goaltender issue so I was happy they were legal and it didn't have to be dealt with once the game started.  This was game 2 of the 3 game series between these two teams for the right to stay in the A pool tournament next year.  Switzerland won the first game so Russia needed to win today to force a 3rd game on Saturday.  The game was very back and forth but the Russians were playing with a little more desperation than the Swiss and ended up winning, 5-3.  Thankfully, the crew on this game finished in one piece so I didn't have to enter the game like I did the last time I was in Prerov!  Following the first game, Dina and I grabbed a quick dinner at the rink.  After dinner, we sat down with Kyle and started to make our travel plans for after the tournament.  We successfully booked a hotel in Budapest so we are set for at least one night!  We were all laughing, who would have ever thought we would be researching and booking hotels from an ice rink in the Czech Republic!  

The rink started to fill up very quickly for the second game of the night, the 5th/6th place game between Czech Republic and Finland.  The arena in Prerov holds about 3000 people and it was definitely completely packed!  The crowd was loud and rowdy - they were chanting, blowing horns and beating drums the entire game.  It was an awesome atmosphere - and very cool that this many people showed up for a women's hockey game!  It was another very competitive, back and forth game.  The score was 4-3 Finland with about 2 minutes left to go when Mary Anne called a tripping penalty on the Czechs.  The crowd wasn't a fan of her call and people started to throw bottles and other items on the ice!  Luckily nobody got hit with anything but it was still kind of crazy, I never expected anything like that to happen in a women's game.  Finland ended up scoring on the power play and won the game, 5-3.  Over in Zlin, the US beat Germany 7-1 and Canada beat Sweden 7-0 in the semifinal games.

We headed back to the hotel after the games where we all anxiously waited for the assignments to be posted for tomorrow.  Dina, Stephanie (the Canadian linesman), and myself will be working the final game of the relegation series between Switzerland and Russia.  Because both the USA and Canada are in the gold medal game none of us were eligible to work it because this tournament has a rule that you cannot work your own country.  The relegation game is really the next best game because it means more than the bronze medal game - it decides who stays in the top division for next year.  I'd be lying if I said we all weren't a little disappointed we wouldn't be working the USA/Canada game,  however we are all pretty happy that we are working the best game available for us.  Our game is in Prerov tomorrow at 5:00.  The gold medal game starts at 7:00 so hopefully we will be able to catch the second half of the game.  

Off to bed, I've got a big game to prepare for tomorrow - my last one of the tournament.  I can't believe it is almost over already, I feel like it just started.  Goodnight!

Prague in a Day!

What an awesome day!  It was an off day for the tournament so Ludmila organized a trip to Prague for us.  We woke up early and caught an 8:30 bus to a train station about an hour away.  From there, we boarded a train to Prague.  The trip was about 3 hours but the train was very comfortable.  We had little cabins that held 6 people each.  The cabins had wi-fi and they served free coffee and tea during the trip.  I was in need of some caffeine so I asked if they had coca cola light.  Our server spoke great english and told me that they did not but they did have the Czech version, Kofola.  She said it sort of tasted like coke so I said why not, I'd give it a try.  Well it definitely didn't taste like coke, that is for sure! I let everyone try it and the consensus was it tasted like iced tea with ginger.  Needless to say, it did not satisfy my urge for a soda!  

We finally arrived in the main railway station of Prague at about 12:30 and immediately hopped on the Subway to head towards the Prague Castle.   The Prague Castle is one of the oldest buildings in Prague, built in the 9th century.  It was huge and absolutely gorgeous.  The detail of the architecture was unbelievable, especially when you think about the fact that there were no power tools when it was built!  In front of the castle, two guards stood at attention, similar to Buckingham Palace in Britain.  Naturally, we all had to stand and take pictures with them.  What an awful job - to have to stand at attention and not move despite all of the annoying tourists taking your picture.  After the castle, we walked to the St. Vitus Cathedral.   It is one of the largest churches in Europe and took over 50 years to build.  Again, the architecture was absolutely beautiful.  Dina and I both said it reminded us a lot of Notre Dame.  Dina, Mary Anne and I were all saying that we just don't have sites like this on our side of the Atlantic.  While we have our own beautiful sites and buildings, they just can't compare to something built over 1000 years ago.  After the cathedral, we continued on to see the Royal Palace.  It was another beautiful building but I think the best part of this one was the view of the city.  Prague is built up on a hill and the palace sits at the top so you were able to look down and see almost the entire city.  Despite the rainy, cloudy weather the view was still great - I can only imagine what it would be like on a bright sunny day.  We then started down the hill towards the Charles Bridge and Old Prague.  The Charles Bridge is on every "must see" list for Prague.  It is a huge pedestrian walkway with beautiful sculptures and a great view of both Old Prague and New Prague.  Despite the weather, there were lots of artists out selling their work and tons of tourists.  We crossed the bridge and then visited the Old Town Square.  It is a huge square in the center of Prague with lots of coffee shops and restaurants.  Also in Old Town Square was the Town Hall and Astronomical Clock.  At this point we all split up for a bit to explore, shop and eat.  Mary Anne, Stephanie and I decided to go to the Church of St. Nicholas but when we got there we found out it was closed for the afternoon. We moved on to Plan B, which was go to the top of the Town Hall to check out the view of the square.  One thing I've learned from my other travels in Europe is if you have the opportunity to go up to the top of a building you should do so, the view is usually worth it.  This was exactly the case here - the view from the top was gorgeous.  After taking a ton of pictures, we went over to take the elevator down.  This was a little bit of an adventure as Stephanie and I discovered that Czech elevators do not have safety sensors that don't allow the door to close if a body part is in the way.  Stephanie and I both almost lost an arm because of it!  We made it out unscathed and caught up with the rest of the group.  

The next stop on our tour of Prague was going to be Jaromir Jagr's bar.  I was pretty excited about this, especially now that he is a Flyer!  On the way we stopped in to a little hockey shop.  We were hoping to find some Czech hockey merchandise - unfortunately the tournament is not selling anything other than programs or pucks.  A few people picked up hats but other than that there wasn't much to pick from.  After our little detour, we walked through this huge pedestrian area where Ludmila thought the bar was but it turns out it has been closed for a year!  We were a little disappointed but everything worked out, there were a ton of restaurants and street vendors around so we had plenty to choose from.  We eventually found a little Italian restaurant and sat down for a bite to eat.  After all of the walking we had done it felt great to sit for a bit.  We ate (and I finally had my diet soda) then headed back to the train station to catch the train back to Zlin.  We were able to see so much in one day, mostly because we were with someone that knew the city.  There was no time wasted trying to figure out what we wanted to see then how to get there; Ludmila

We have to get up early tomorrow morning and finish up our testing as well as have our group photo taken.  Then Dina and I are off to Prerov for the entire day.  We are both standbys for the first game (game 2 of the relegation round between Switzerland and Russia) and she is standby for the 5th/6th place game (Czech vs Finland) and I am goal judging.  In Zlin the semifinals are taking place - the US is playing Germany and Canada is playing Sweden.  I don't expect either game to be very close but you never know, maybe the Germans or Swedes will surprise us.  We will find out the assignments for the medal games tomorrow night.  Dina and I are both hoping we get to work but we shall see.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!  Goodnight all!

Quarterfinals and Relegation

Today was the start of the quarterfinals and relegation rounds.  We had our meeting in the morning, then it was off to work.  The first game in Zlin was a quarterfinal game - Sweden vs Finland.  Dina, Maria from Denmark and myself were on the game.  It was a sloppy game but very competitive, both teams were evenly matched.  It was a huge game for both teams not only because they were playing for a spot in the medal round but also because Sweden and Finland are just as big of rivals as US and Canada are.  Sweden was up 1-0 going in to the 3rd period when Finland scored to tie the game at 1 at the end of regulation.  In the quarterfinals we have a 3 minute break followed by a 10 minute sudden death OT.  If nobody scores in OT we go to a shootout.  I thought for sure the game was going to go to a shootout but Sweden was able to score with about 2 minutes left in OT.  I was happy there was a winner decided before the shootout, it would be so tough for a team to lose out on the a chance at a medal because of a loss in a shootout.

While our game was going on in Zlin the first game of relegation was being played in Prerov.  Russia and Switzerland are playing a 3 game series, with the loser moving down to Division 1 next year and the winner staying in A pool.  Switzerland won the game 4-2 and we were told it was a very competitive game.  They will play the second game Saturday and the third game, if necessary on Sunday.  The other quarterfinal game was played in Zlin after my game, Czech Republic vs Germany.  I was the goal judge for this one.  The tournament has local officials act as goal judges for every game that Czech is not involved in - if Czech is playing then linesmen have act as goal judges.  When goal judging you have to sit on a small box behind the net and flip a light on if the puck crosses the line.  It was absolutely freezing - I wore two pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a hoodie and a jacket under my jersey as well as a hat and scarf. Everyone was laughing because I looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame with my hoodie on under my jersey.  The arena was packed for the game and it was another competitive one.  Germany ended up winning 2-1, so they will move on to face the US in the semis.  When they were lined up after the game announcing the players of the game, one of the Czech girls passed out on the ice.  The medics ran out with a stretcher that you carry by hand.   They then handed the stretcher, with the girl on top of it, over the boards.  We were all holding our breath because she wasn't even really strapped on to the stretcher!  Again, they do things here a little differently than I am used to.

Tomorrow is our second day off.  We are leaving early and making the 3 hour trek to Prague via bus and train.  Ludmila is from an area very close to Prague so she is going to act as our tour guide.  We are all looking forward to it!  Speaking of everyone, it is probably about time I mention the other officials that are here and where they are all from:

Dina Allen - referee from Buffalo, NY
Malin Axelsson - referee from Sweden
Mary Anne Gage - referee from Canada (Toronto area)
Anu Hirvonen - referee from Finland
Ludmila Nelibova - referee from Czech Republic
Kyoko Ugajin - referee from Japan
Barbora Bednarova - linesman from Czech Republic
Magda Cerhitova - linesman from Slovakia
Maria Fuschel - linesman from Denmark
Stephanie Gargon - linesman from Canada (Quebec)
Cheiko Inque - linesman from Japan
Anne Majapuro - linesman from Finland
Bianca Schipper-Poeteray - linesman from the Netherlands
Michaela Stefkova - linesman from Czech Republic

Our supervisors are from Czech Republic, Germany, Finland and the USA.  Everyone is so nice and it is great to think about all the different places I could visit and would have a place to stay or a person to show me around.  The other thing that amazes me is the other officials ability to speak another language.  The official language of the IIHF is english so all meetings, supervisions and schedules are in english.  Amongst the girls here, some speak very little english but others speak better english than I do!  It really does amaze me though that they are able to communicate in a second (or 3rd or 4th for some) language for an entire week without really missing a beat.  I feel so lame that I only know one language - it is times like these that make me really wish I had learned a second language when I was younger.

Alright off to bed, looking forward to a great day of sightseeing tomorrow!  Goodnight!

Game Day #3

When you go abroad to an international tournament, I've always been told to expect the unexpected.  Well that certainly rang true today!  The day started off as planned early this morning with the first portion of our tests.  I felt pretty good overall, we'll see how my scores are when they are posted.  After our tests, we came back to the hotel for breakfast and a meeting.  We then had some time off before lunch so Dina and I came back to the room for a little nap.  I must have been tired because I literally passed out until the alarm went off!

We met for a quick lunch before leaving for Prerov.  I had to go to the rink with the first crew because I was the standby linesman.  Anu, Chieko, Michaela, Mary Ann and I all met in the lobby to head over when we realized there were only 4 seats in the van for 5 people.  Because I was the standby, I was told to wait and head over a little later with the supervisors.  Well then when the supervisors arrived I found out they had offered the directorate a ride so there were 5 of us, plus my gear, for a pretty small car.  It was definitely a tight squeeze but we made it work.  I got to the rink right as warm ups were ending, dropped my stuff off in the room and headed up to the warm VIP area with Mary Ann, who was the standby referee.  Germany was playing Switzerland and they needed to win by 3 goals to advance.  The game started and everything was going fine, but then about 12 minutes in Michaela was on her line and got taken out by several players.  She got up and was holding her wrist but play continued.  Mary Ann and I kept watching her and she continued to hold her wrist.  We decided we'd walk down to check on her and try to find some ice for in between periods when a whistle finally occurred and we saw her skate right to the door where we enter the ice.  We then ran down to the locker room and saw she was cut pretty bad on her hand and needed stitches.  Apparently when she went down a player had stepped on her hand.  The locker room then turned into a Nascar pit stop as Mary Ann helped me get dressed as quickly as possible so they could resume the game.  I was dressed and on the ice within about 5 minutes of Michaela leaving the ice so all in all I'd say we did pretty well!  It was an intense game so it was really tough both mentally and physically to just skate out and go.   It took me a few minutes to get my bearings down and I certainly made my presence felt when I called a too many men penalty within 5 minutes of being on the ice!  We made it in to the locker room after the first period and I was at least able to stretch out a bit and chat with Chieko about certain situations.  When you have linesmen from all over the world, we inevitably all have our own styles so it is always important to have a quick pre-game chat about your tendencies.  Chieko and I didn't get that opportunity but we made it work. We had a penalty filled 2nd period including a penalty shot for the Swiss because the German goalie threw her stick.  The 3rd period calmed down a bit penalty wise but we had a ton of goals as both teams were pressing.  Germany ended up winning 6-1 with an empty netter to advance to the quarterfinals.

That game ended around 5:30, so that gave me approximately an hour and a half to rest up and refocus for my original game, Finland vs Canada.  I went up to the restaurant at the rink with Mary Ann and was able to have a little soup and chicken.  It was a fine line to walk, I was starving having just worked but didn't want to eat too much and not be able to skate.  While we were eating, Mary Ann told me she watched as the doctors stitched Michaela up right there in the rink.  She was bleeding a ton and the cut was pretty deep but once they cleaned it out but she only ended up with 2 stitches on the inside and 2 on the outside.  And apparently the doctors were not wearing gloves - another sign we are not in America right now!

My game was another blowout, Canada beat Finland 7-0.  I felt pretty good in the beginning but I could definitely feel my legs getting a little heavy in the 3rd.  I can't remember the last time I skated two games, both with 20 minute periods in an intense tournament with such a short break in between.  That said, all of the running, skating and conditioning I've done definitely paid off.  After the game was over, I took a nice long, hot shower. The exhaustion hit me on the way back to the hotel as I was falling asleep in the van.  We had some food after we got back to the hotel and we received assignments for tomorrow.  Coincidence would have it, I'm working the early quarterfinal game tomorrow between Sweden and Finland.  I'm also goal judging the second quarterfinal between Czech and Germany.  No rest for the weary!

Off to bed, I need to recover from today to get ready for another busy day tomorrow.  Goodnight!

Off Day

Today we had the entire day off - no meetings or skating.  We all had breakfast around 9:00, then we took a bus to the shopping center in Zlin.  The bus ride was kind of interesting.  Zlin is a very industrial town with lots of cement buildings and factories.  It really fits the stereotype of the old communist Soviet Union. The bus was pretty crowded so we all split up and grabbed seats where we could.  I had an older gentleman sit next to me and he started to try to have a conversation with me.  After he stopped talking I tried to politely tell him I only speak English.  I don't know that he heard me because he continued to try to speak to me here in Czech!  Speaking of Czech, my knowledge of this language is slowly improving.  I now know exactly 4 words of Czech.  Those words include please, thank you, hello and ketchup.  The only reason I know the word ketchup is we asked one of the Czech girls to ask the waiter at dinner the one night for ketchup and she gave us a funny look and said the word for ketchup is ketchup.  I guess it is a universal word!

After we walked around the mall for a bit we grabbed lunch at a little restaurant.  Think Panera style only with Chinese food.  As you can imagine, the ordering process for 17 people when only 4 know Czech was a little crazy.  Somehow, we all ended up with food similar to what we thought we were getting.  We then took the bus back and walked to the "downtown square" of Zlin.  While it was pretty, I must admit it didn't compare to any of the squares I've seen in other European cities.  The Czech girls told us that Zlin is a newer town without much history and given what we saw I believe them.  After our little walking tour we went to this small cafe on the edge of the square and had coffee and gelato.  The chocolate gelato was fantastic!  We also had a lot of laughs at one of the desserts one of the girls got - let's just say that it looked a lot like a male body part.  We are a very mature group, haha!

We ended up skipping the bowling and just came back here for dinner.  We all hung out for a bit then retreated to our rooms pretty early.  I wanted to try to watch a bit of the winter classic so after a little help from a friend I was able to stream it from NHL.com.  That said, the internet connection is pretty bad here - it cuts out all of the time so it has been a bit frustrating but at least I'm able to see some of it.  Some of the other girls are watching it with me, it is fun to show them my hometown when they do aeriel shots.

Alright time for me to crash, I've got another long day tomorrow.  Skating tests in the morning, then I am standby for the first game in Prerov, Switzerland vs Germany.  I am working the second game, Canada vs Finland with Ludmila and Barbora, both from Czech.  Goodnight all!

Day 2 of Games

Happy New Year!  Dina and I did end up making it until midnight, however I think we were asleep the moment the fireworks stopped outside!  We had our meeting in the morning to review the games from Saturday then we were free until the games started this afternoon.  I had the first game in Zlin - Czech Republic vs Russia.   I had a ton of fun working with the two Finns, Anu and Anna.  It was a great game, both teams were very evenly matched and played a tough, physical game.  The arena was packed and extremely loud - the Czech fans were beating drums and had horns going the entire game.   The game was 0-0 going into the 3rd period but the Czech scored a beautiful goal early in the period.  As you can imagine, the crowd went absolutely nuts.  It was so loud at one point none of the players heard our whistle when the puck hit the bench.  With a little less than 5 minutes left we had a major penalty for kneeing on the Czech team.  This meant they had to play the rest of the game shorthanded.  However, they were able to put in a shorthanded goal with about 2:30 left to make the game 2-0.  Russia never pulled their goalie and really never had any quality scoring opportunities on the power play.  After the game, as per IIHF tradition, they played the winning team's national anthem.  It was cool to hear the Czech girls sing in front of their home crowd.  After my game I quick walked back to the hotel to put on warm clothes since I was the standby official for the next game, USA vs Sweden.  Luckily nobody went down so I was able to just watch the entire game.  The US controlled the game and won 7-0.

After the game we came back to the hotel and had dinner as a group.  The food here has been pretty good overall.  We get a "menu" each day for the following day where we have several choices for both lunch and dinner.  It is nice to have a choice - when I was in France we didn't have any choices.  Every meal starts off with soup or a salad.  The soups have been awesome, but the salads are served without dressing which is kind of strange.  I've had various types of chicken and pork and everything has been decent.

Tomorrow is our first day off.  We have breakfast in the morning then we are going on a tour of the city of Zlin.  I'm not exactly sure what there is to see here but we'll soon find out!  They are also taking us bowling tomorrow night, which I'm sure will be entertaining.   I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Winter Classic is on tv here tomorrow night (it starts at 9:00).  Since all the Czech are huge Flyers fans because of Jagr, I think there is a chance it might be, and even though I won't understand the commentators!

Off to bed, goodnight all!