Today Kathleen and I were determined to see as much of Stockholm as possible. We woke up early, had breakfast and went for a walk. Kathleen had bought a Scandinavia book by Rick Steves and it had a walking tour of Gamla Stan (the old city) so we decided to follow it. We started at the Royal Palace, which we later found out is not where the current King and Queen live. After the palace we saw the Obelisk and Iron Boy statues. We then saw Sortorget, which is Stockholm's oldest square and home to the Stockholm Bloodbath that occurred in the 1500's. Next was the Sorkyrhan Cathedral. We walked inside and there as a sign with a box under it that said the entrance fee was 40 krona unless you were going to pray. Kathleen and I looked at each other and paid - we felt like it would be bad karma to lie at the church! The inside was really cool, the floor was made up of tombstones of all those buried under the church. We both left saying that if churches were this cool looking in America we would probably go more often! We continued down some of the small narrow streets and just looked around before heading back to the hotel. One interesting thing that we found in the book - some of the homes had a phoenix design above the doors. This was a sign to the fire department that the owners had paid their insurance and it should be saved in the event of a fire. How crazy is that?
After we got back to the hotel we grabbed our stuff to store at the front desk and caught up with Malin. Malin is a referee who I met in China and worked with again in Czech who live in Stockholm. She came down to Malmo to see some of the games and when I told her I would be visiting Stockholm she offered to show me around. The first thing she suggested we do is visit the Vasa Museum. All of the tour books and websites we looked at had this as a must see item so we were excited to see it! Malin successfully navigated us via the subway and bus. That is one major perk of site-seeing with a local, it makes getting around so much more efficient and less stressful. The Vasa Museum is the home to a giant war ship that sunk in the 1600s in the Stockholm Harbor. It took two years to build but sank 40 minutes into its maiden voyage after a "light breeze" caused the ship to tip and take on water. In the 1950's a diver found that it as still in one piece and the Swedish government decided to try to raise it from the harbor floor. It is absolutely unbelievable how well it is preserved, the entire ship is displayed and they said it was 98% original. The level of detail on the carvings around the entire ship was phenomenal. I could have spent hours just looking at the ship. The museum is really well done in that it tells the history of how it was built, exactly why it sank, what they found when they pulled it up and how they are preserving it today. They had many artifacts on display from when they pulled it up, including human remains, in tact items such as shoes, silverware and canons. Honestly this was one of the coolest things I have ever seen, I just couldn't believe how a ship this massive stayed in one piece on the floor of the harbor for so long and how they were able to preserve it.
After the Vasa Museum we walked along what is known as the Royal Island and stopped at a little cafe where we had a fantastic lunch. The funniest part was it was pretty windy and we all kept joking how the Vasa wouldn't have been able to stand these conditions. After lunch we decided to go to the Globe and do the Skyview. The Globe is one of the big arenas in Stockholm where their hockey team plays and many concerts are housed - basically the Wells Fargo Center of Stockholm. The arena itself is basically a giant white globe that they light up at night dependent on the event. Along the outside of the globe is a giant clear ball that travels up the side to the top. It offers incredible views of the entire city. It was funny because Malin had never actually done this (and she hadn't been to Vasa in 10+ years) so she was just as excited as us!
After the Globe she just walked us around different parts of the city and was able to give some history lessons. During the tour we took a little break and stopped at this really cool underground cafe that was a dungeon in the 1300s. We finally ended up back at the hotel to pick up our stuff and head to the train station. We got on a 6:15 train to Copenhagen where we are spending the night before flying home tomorrow.
Again, I can't thank Malin enough for spending the day with us and acting as our tour guide. Stockholm is a wonderful city and I'd love to come back and spend more time. Kathleen made a comment about how lucky I am to know all of these wonderful people around the world willing to take time out of their busy lives to show us around. She is absolutely right, the people really are the best part about working IIHF hockey and the bond we have over hockey is second to none.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
From Oslo to Stockholm
After an awesome day yesterday we were absolutely exhausted and crashed early. We had booked a 7:30am train to take us from Oslo to Stockholm. It is about a 5 hour train ride so we figured that would give us half the day to explore Stockholm. Everything was perfect until we got to a station about an hour outside of Stockholm. The train stopped randomly and they came on and announced that there as a delay. About 20 minutes later they came on and made another announcement, however this time they did not bother to translate to English. We watched a few people get off the train to smoke so I figured the delay might be longer than we were anticipating. I eventually decided to go ask a conductor who told me that the power lines were knocked down and they were calling for buses. However, the problem was that there were 15 trains ahead of us! Eventually, after sitting on the tracks for about 2.5 hours they had us switch to a commuter train. Since everything was in Swedish Kathleen and I just followed the crowd and hoped we'd end up in the right spot! After a transfer we made it to Stockholm Central about 3.5 hours after we were supposed to. We were bummed because that pretty much killed our day but we decided to try to make the best of it.
After checking in to the hotel, we decided to walk around and explore. Our initial observation is Stockholm is the busiest, most metropolitan city of the 3 we have visited. Stockholm is made up of 14 different islands and we definitely hit 3 or 4 of them. In between two of the islands we crossed the Slussen, which is the lock between the Baltic Sea and Lake Malaren. Of particular interest was the island of Gamla Stan, also known as Old City. This is a hilly section with lots of cafes along cobblestone streets. We picked a random one to have dinner at and it was delicious. I had been warned that Stockholm was very expensive but honestly our dinner was not much more than what we would have paid in the US. After dinner we tried to find the Absolut Ice Bar, a pretty famous spot in Stockholm. We finally found it but were disappointed to find out it was closed for renovations until April 15th.
Tomorrow will be a full day of touring Stockholm. Another IIHF friend, Malin, has graciously offered to be our tour guides and show us the ropes. I'm excited to see her and more of Stockholm!
After checking in to the hotel, we decided to walk around and explore. Our initial observation is Stockholm is the busiest, most metropolitan city of the 3 we have visited. Stockholm is made up of 14 different islands and we definitely hit 3 or 4 of them. In between two of the islands we crossed the Slussen, which is the lock between the Baltic Sea and Lake Malaren. Of particular interest was the island of Gamla Stan, also known as Old City. This is a hilly section with lots of cafes along cobblestone streets. We picked a random one to have dinner at and it was delicious. I had been warned that Stockholm was very expensive but honestly our dinner was not much more than what we would have paid in the US. After dinner we tried to find the Absolut Ice Bar, a pretty famous spot in Stockholm. We finally found it but were disappointed to find out it was closed for renovations until April 15th.
Tomorrow will be a full day of touring Stockholm. Another IIHF friend, Malin, has graciously offered to be our tour guides and show us the ropes. I'm excited to see her and more of Stockholm!
Monday, April 6, 2015
Oslo in a Day!
Wow, what a day in Oslo! Our ship pulled in this morning around 9:45 and we made our way to our hotel which is right next to the main train station. Fortunately the guy at the reception desk was really nice and was able to get us into our room early instead of storing our luggage! We are staying at a Radison so while I expected it to be nice this was way nicer than I was expecting! Our room is really big (more like a normal American hotel room vs most of the rooms in Europe) and our bathroom floor is heated!
One of my fellow officials from the tournament, Anna, lives in Oslo. Since she was off from work today she offered to show us around and hang out for the day. That is one of the coolest things about working international hockey, I have friends all over the world willing to take time out of their busy schedules to show me their homes. I hope to be able to return the favor for some of them if/when they come to the United States! She met us at our hotel at 10:45 and we headed out. After grabbing a quick pastry we hoped on the subway and headed to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. This is a very famous park in Oslo that has tons of statues all about "the human condition." Basically this means lots of naked people and babies. Some of the statues were seriously creepy, there was one where a man was kicking a baby, another one that looked like two people in some crazy sex position. The most famous statue was the angry boy, who is modeled after Grumpy from Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. At the top of the park was the main gates and the Monolith - a huge, 14 meter high statue made up entirely of hundreds of naked figures. According to Wikipedia it is supposed to symbolize mans desire to come closer to the spiritual and divine. I'm not going to say the first thing that came to my mind when I saw it but if you google a picture of it you'd probably think the same thing after seeing all of the naked statues!
After the park we took the metro up to the Holmenkollen Ski Center, which is home to the ski jump used in the Olympics when they were here in Oslo. We went through the museum there which shows a history of the different types of skis used in both cross country skiing and ski jumping, two very popular sports here in Norway. It was crazy that people didn't die doing this stuff on some of those old ski and binding set ups! We then took the elevator to the top of the ski jump which offered amazing views of the city of Oslo. As we were about to head down we saw them bringing something up to the top on a cable that ran just above the jump. We stayed to see what it was because it honestly looked like a body bag! Low and behold it was the final safety check for the zip line that they had running where you could basically experience what ski jumping was like! We watched someone go and immediately decided we had to try it! After we signed the waiver (which was not like an American waiver, all it said was we understood the rules) we were harnessed up and led out to the edge of the ski jump. They hook you in to the safety line then make you walk out and sit on the edge of the jump just like the ski jumpers do while they finish getting you ready to go. That was probably the scariest part because you are looking straight down this super steep ramp - I seriously can't imagine skiing down that thing! We made Kathleen go first so she wouldn't chicken out, haha! Anna went second and I went last. I was able to hold my camera in one hand and video the ride down. It was so cool! We were all really glad we did it. Anna was laughing that she didn't know they did that there and was going to have to bring some of her friends to try it.
After the ski jump adventure, we headed toward the harbor area to explore the Akershus Fortress and Castle. On the way we passed by the Nobel Peace Center, where they awarded the Nobel Peace Prize every year. Anna was telling us that when Obama came to accept the prize they shut down the entire area. The Akershus Fortress overlooks the Harbor (which kind of reminded us of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore with lots of ships, boats, restaurants and shops) and was built to protect the capital and also used as a prison. There were lots of old canons at the top which were really cool to see. The other funny thing we found as we were walking around was a statue that looked like the Lincoln Memorial. We were joking about it until we actually walked up to it and saw it was statue of Franklin D Roosevelt! Anna had no idea why there was a statue of an American president in Norway but after some research we found out it was because he gave a speech highlighting Norway's strength against the Nazis.
We then walked to the Royal Palace and saw the changing of the guards. After we saw the City Hall and Parliament buildings along with the Oslo Cathedral, all of which were beautiful. We grabbed some dinner at a local restaurant then headed back to our hotel and Anna headed home. It was an absolutely awesome day and we really felt like we were able to get a feel for the city. I seriously cannot thank Anna enough for spending the day with us and showing us her city. I hope to return the favor when she comes to the United States this summer! That is one of the best parts about IIHF officiating, you make friends all over the world! Tomorrow we are getting up early and taking the train to our next city, Stockholm. Should be a blast!
One of my fellow officials from the tournament, Anna, lives in Oslo. Since she was off from work today she offered to show us around and hang out for the day. That is one of the coolest things about working international hockey, I have friends all over the world willing to take time out of their busy schedules to show me their homes. I hope to be able to return the favor for some of them if/when they come to the United States! She met us at our hotel at 10:45 and we headed out. After grabbing a quick pastry we hoped on the subway and headed to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. This is a very famous park in Oslo that has tons of statues all about "the human condition." Basically this means lots of naked people and babies. Some of the statues were seriously creepy, there was one where a man was kicking a baby, another one that looked like two people in some crazy sex position. The most famous statue was the angry boy, who is modeled after Grumpy from Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. At the top of the park was the main gates and the Monolith - a huge, 14 meter high statue made up entirely of hundreds of naked figures. According to Wikipedia it is supposed to symbolize mans desire to come closer to the spiritual and divine. I'm not going to say the first thing that came to my mind when I saw it but if you google a picture of it you'd probably think the same thing after seeing all of the naked statues!
After the park we took the metro up to the Holmenkollen Ski Center, which is home to the ski jump used in the Olympics when they were here in Oslo. We went through the museum there which shows a history of the different types of skis used in both cross country skiing and ski jumping, two very popular sports here in Norway. It was crazy that people didn't die doing this stuff on some of those old ski and binding set ups! We then took the elevator to the top of the ski jump which offered amazing views of the city of Oslo. As we were about to head down we saw them bringing something up to the top on a cable that ran just above the jump. We stayed to see what it was because it honestly looked like a body bag! Low and behold it was the final safety check for the zip line that they had running where you could basically experience what ski jumping was like! We watched someone go and immediately decided we had to try it! After we signed the waiver (which was not like an American waiver, all it said was we understood the rules) we were harnessed up and led out to the edge of the ski jump. They hook you in to the safety line then make you walk out and sit on the edge of the jump just like the ski jumpers do while they finish getting you ready to go. That was probably the scariest part because you are looking straight down this super steep ramp - I seriously can't imagine skiing down that thing! We made Kathleen go first so she wouldn't chicken out, haha! Anna went second and I went last. I was able to hold my camera in one hand and video the ride down. It was so cool! We were all really glad we did it. Anna was laughing that she didn't know they did that there and was going to have to bring some of her friends to try it.
After the ski jump adventure, we headed toward the harbor area to explore the Akershus Fortress and Castle. On the way we passed by the Nobel Peace Center, where they awarded the Nobel Peace Prize every year. Anna was telling us that when Obama came to accept the prize they shut down the entire area. The Akershus Fortress overlooks the Harbor (which kind of reminded us of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore with lots of ships, boats, restaurants and shops) and was built to protect the capital and also used as a prison. There were lots of old canons at the top which were really cool to see. The other funny thing we found as we were walking around was a statue that looked like the Lincoln Memorial. We were joking about it until we actually walked up to it and saw it was statue of Franklin D Roosevelt! Anna had no idea why there was a statue of an American president in Norway but after some research we found out it was because he gave a speech highlighting Norway's strength against the Nazis.
We then walked to the Royal Palace and saw the changing of the guards. After we saw the City Hall and Parliament buildings along with the Oslo Cathedral, all of which were beautiful. We grabbed some dinner at a local restaurant then headed back to our hotel and Anna headed home. It was an absolutely awesome day and we really felt like we were able to get a feel for the city. I seriously cannot thank Anna enough for spending the day with us and showing us her city. I hope to return the favor when she comes to the United States this summer! That is one of the best parts about IIHF officiating, you make friends all over the world! Tomorrow we are getting up early and taking the train to our next city, Stockholm. Should be a blast!
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Copenhagen again and the trip to Norway!
After getting up this morning and meeting the girls for a goodbye breakfast I went back to my room to finish packing. I tried to be very strategic and put only the stuff I need for the second portion of this trip on top so I'm not tearing apart my suitcase in every city! Lisa and I were both headed to hotels close to Copenhagen Central Station so we caught a ride to the airport with the Canadians and took the train from there. It turns out her friend's hotel was literally across the street from Kathleen's hotel! Not sure how much I mentioned before but one of my good friends from college, Kathleen, came over to Copenhagen on Friday and planned to meet me after the tournament to explore Scandanavia. I'm super excited to have a travel buddy for this portion of the trip.
Kathleen was waiting for me in the lobby of her hotel. She had arranged with the staff to store our bags there for the day which was awesome. She saw a lot of Copenhagen yesterday but had left a few things that I hadn't done for us to do together. First we went to Rundetaarn, also known as the Round Tower. It was built in the 1600's as an astronomical observatory. Today you can walk up a huge spiral ramp to the top. The ramp reminded me of something you'd see in the airport parking garage! The top offered really great views of the city and we saw where at night you can look at the stars. After Rundetaarn we decided to go see the famous Little Mermaid statue. I had seen it from the back when I took the boat cruise earlier in the week but we wanted to see it from the front. We walked there and wound our way through this beautiful park with an awesome old church. We took the typical tourist photos then headed to the Church of Our Savior. This church is famous because it has this huge spiral stair case that takes you to the top of the steeple and provides awesome views of the city. If you are claustrophobic this was definitely not the activity for you because that staircase was narrow! The view from the top was absolutely worth the climb, it was even better than the view from Rundertaarn. Afterwards we went into the church portion. It was your typical European church - gorgeous with tons of ornate details. Kathleen and I were laughing that we could now appease our Catholic family members and say we went to church on Easter Sunday! We then rewarded ourselves with a Danish pastry for lunch then headed back to the hotel to get our luggage to head to our ship.
In an effort to see as much as possible, we decided to take an overnight ferry to Oslo, Norway. We were both expecting a small ferry (I'm thinking something like the Cape May/Lewes Ferry and Kathleen was thinking the Martha's Vineyard ferry) but instead we literally boarded a cruise ship. We paid extra for a room with a view and while our room is small it is very cosy and much to my delight has a normal shower! I'm not sure I mentioned it but the showers in our hotel in Sweden were unique - you either had a room with a giant bathtub 3 feet off the ground or a shower where the shower head was chest hight with no door and lots of mirrors. We explored the ship and all of its various activities; a casino, a nightclub, restaurants, a duty free shop and pools! We made dinner reservations at one of the restaurants and promptly returned to our room to take a nap and relax. We did so much walking around Copenhagen we were both beat. My fitbit said I took over 25,000 steps and traveled 10 miles!
After dinner we watched the sunset over the ocean and now I'm sitting here typing this blog! Kathleen and I are going to watch a movie on an ipad then try to get to sleep early. However, at 10:30 I'm planning on trying to facetime with my family while they are at Easter dinner but we will see if it works since the internet is spotty at best. We arrive in Oslo tomorrow morning at 9:30. Anna from the tournament is off from work so she is going to meet us at our hotel and show us around the city. Looking forward to having a guide and seeing another part of Scandanavia!
Kathleen was waiting for me in the lobby of her hotel. She had arranged with the staff to store our bags there for the day which was awesome. She saw a lot of Copenhagen yesterday but had left a few things that I hadn't done for us to do together. First we went to Rundetaarn, also known as the Round Tower. It was built in the 1600's as an astronomical observatory. Today you can walk up a huge spiral ramp to the top. The ramp reminded me of something you'd see in the airport parking garage! The top offered really great views of the city and we saw where at night you can look at the stars. After Rundetaarn we decided to go see the famous Little Mermaid statue. I had seen it from the back when I took the boat cruise earlier in the week but we wanted to see it from the front. We walked there and wound our way through this beautiful park with an awesome old church. We took the typical tourist photos then headed to the Church of Our Savior. This church is famous because it has this huge spiral stair case that takes you to the top of the steeple and provides awesome views of the city. If you are claustrophobic this was definitely not the activity for you because that staircase was narrow! The view from the top was absolutely worth the climb, it was even better than the view from Rundertaarn. Afterwards we went into the church portion. It was your typical European church - gorgeous with tons of ornate details. Kathleen and I were laughing that we could now appease our Catholic family members and say we went to church on Easter Sunday! We then rewarded ourselves with a Danish pastry for lunch then headed back to the hotel to get our luggage to head to our ship.
In an effort to see as much as possible, we decided to take an overnight ferry to Oslo, Norway. We were both expecting a small ferry (I'm thinking something like the Cape May/Lewes Ferry and Kathleen was thinking the Martha's Vineyard ferry) but instead we literally boarded a cruise ship. We paid extra for a room with a view and while our room is small it is very cosy and much to my delight has a normal shower! I'm not sure I mentioned it but the showers in our hotel in Sweden were unique - you either had a room with a giant bathtub 3 feet off the ground or a shower where the shower head was chest hight with no door and lots of mirrors. We explored the ship and all of its various activities; a casino, a nightclub, restaurants, a duty free shop and pools! We made dinner reservations at one of the restaurants and promptly returned to our room to take a nap and relax. We did so much walking around Copenhagen we were both beat. My fitbit said I took over 25,000 steps and traveled 10 miles!
After dinner we watched the sunset over the ocean and now I'm sitting here typing this blog! Kathleen and I are going to watch a movie on an ipad then try to get to sleep early. However, at 10:30 I'm planning on trying to facetime with my family while they are at Easter dinner but we will see if it works since the internet is spotty at best. We arrive in Oslo tomorrow morning at 9:30. Anna from the tournament is off from work so she is going to meet us at our hotel and show us around the city. Looking forward to having a guide and seeing another part of Scandanavia!
Hockey Season is Over
This tournament and hockey season has officially come to an end. The final was a very exciting, face paced game between USA and Canada. The final was 7-5 USA - a true defensive battle haha. One of the coolest traditions of these tournaments is they always play the winning teams national anthem at the end of the game. It was certainly nice to hear the USA anthem and it was really cool to listen to the girls sing their hearts out after the win. Japan won the relegation series in 2 games so they will be staying in the top division and Germany moves down to Division 1 next year. All in all it was a good competitive tournament with only a few blow outs along the way. After the final we all came back to the hotel and had a closing meeting. We received medals for participating as well as a few gifts from the IIHF. One of which was a tie pin - oops I guess they forgot we were women, haha! However I must say they treated us very well this year and we are truly appreciative that all our clothing was in womens sizes.
After the meeting we all headed out to a pizza restaurant for dinner to eat and celebrate a great tournament. The celebrations continued in the hotel bar until well after midnight at which point everyone started to crash. We all have various departure time today and I'm leaving at 9:30. I'm getting a ride to the Copenhagen main train station where I will be meeting up with Kathleen. More to come tonight when I have some time to write!
Friday, April 3, 2015
Copenhagen
Today was another day off. We all slept in a little bit and ate a late breakfast where we had a very interesting conversation with Kim's wife. They have an adorable 16 month old so we somehow got on the topic of maternity benefits. Now I've heard that the US is the one of only two countries in the world not to offer some sort of paid maternity leave but I had no idea other countries had it so good! In Denmark they get 6 months at full pay and 6 months at partial pay - and by partial pay they mean 70-80%. In Estonia they get 1.5 years! When I told her them if I were to have a baby I'd be paid for 6 weeks and have to go back to work in 12 weeks their jaws hit the floor. The conversation then spurned to the cost of living, health care and other "benefits" of living in different countries. That is one of the really cool things about these tournaments, you learn so much about other peoples cultures.
For our activity for the day, a number of the girls wanted to go shopping at a large mall that is close by. It is always funny at these tournaments, the European girls just love to shop! None of the North Americans really were interested in going shopping for two reasons. 1) Things are definitely more expensive here than at home and 2) I don't have much (if any) extra space in my suitcase! Katie and I decided we wanted to venture into Copenhagen again and Kaire decided to come along. We asked Kim and his wife to give us some ideas on what to do and they suggested we see the Rosenborg Palace if it was open. Apparently in Denmark they get 3 days off for Easter so many things are closed. We couldn't really tell online if it was open or not so we just decided to go for it and walked over to the train station to catch a train to Copenhagen. It was about a 40 minute train ride then we walked to the palace from there. Thank goodness for google maps! While I have my phone in airplane mode if you put in your destination when on wifi, the blue dot indicating where you are at that exact moment will still move once you are off wifi. It is really kind of creepy but very helpful.
We found the palace and fortunately it was open. It was really cool, it had pieces of history from all the various kings and queens dating back to the early 1300's. That is what is so crazy to me, they had pieces of art and gold that were 400+ years older than the United States! In the basement of the palace they have many of the crown jewels on display, including 3 of the actual crowns that the kings have worn. Apparently they weighed 3 kilos, or about 6.5 lbs. Can you imagine wearing something that was 6.5 lbs on your head?
After spending a few hours at Rosenborg we decided to check out the Carlesberg Brewery. Our initial plan was to take the bus, then we realized we had no Danish Krones so we took a cab instead so we could use a credit card. That is one thing that is a bit of a pain in Scandinavia, every country uses its own currency. The brewery tour was very different than the Heineken brewery tour I took in Amsterdam. This one focused a lot on the history of the brewery and the employees and less on the actual process of making the beer. It was intersting - the workers lived on the property and were given a 4 liter allowence of beer each day. Yes, that's right 4 liters! However I'd say the coolest part was seeing a collection of different beer bottles from around the world. They had over 200,000, organized by country. It was really neat.
After the brewery tour we made our way back to the train station. We didn't buy tickets on the way over because we were told our accredation was good on public transportation in Malmo but when we were on the train we saw all of these signs talking about fines of $100 euros/$1000 Krona if you didn't have a ticket so we decided to play it safe and buy one. Good thing we did because a conductor checked our tickets 5 minutes after we boarded! We had to switch trains at Central Station to get back to Malmo which was also a bit of an adventure. We must have ran up and down the stairs 5 times trying to catch the right train going the right direction!
We finally made it back to Malmo with about 30 minutes to spare before the entire group was going out to dinner. We went to this great little restaurant in an old wine cellar. The food was amazing, I had a filet with an awesome sauce that was cooked perfectly. It was a great night out with the group. We were all stuffed when we got back to the hotel and headed right to bed. Games start up again tomorrow and we are in the home stretch!
For our activity for the day, a number of the girls wanted to go shopping at a large mall that is close by. It is always funny at these tournaments, the European girls just love to shop! None of the North Americans really were interested in going shopping for two reasons. 1) Things are definitely more expensive here than at home and 2) I don't have much (if any) extra space in my suitcase! Katie and I decided we wanted to venture into Copenhagen again and Kaire decided to come along. We asked Kim and his wife to give us some ideas on what to do and they suggested we see the Rosenborg Palace if it was open. Apparently in Denmark they get 3 days off for Easter so many things are closed. We couldn't really tell online if it was open or not so we just decided to go for it and walked over to the train station to catch a train to Copenhagen. It was about a 40 minute train ride then we walked to the palace from there. Thank goodness for google maps! While I have my phone in airplane mode if you put in your destination when on wifi, the blue dot indicating where you are at that exact moment will still move once you are off wifi. It is really kind of creepy but very helpful.
We found the palace and fortunately it was open. It was really cool, it had pieces of history from all the various kings and queens dating back to the early 1300's. That is what is so crazy to me, they had pieces of art and gold that were 400+ years older than the United States! In the basement of the palace they have many of the crown jewels on display, including 3 of the actual crowns that the kings have worn. Apparently they weighed 3 kilos, or about 6.5 lbs. Can you imagine wearing something that was 6.5 lbs on your head?
After spending a few hours at Rosenborg we decided to check out the Carlesberg Brewery. Our initial plan was to take the bus, then we realized we had no Danish Krones so we took a cab instead so we could use a credit card. That is one thing that is a bit of a pain in Scandinavia, every country uses its own currency. The brewery tour was very different than the Heineken brewery tour I took in Amsterdam. This one focused a lot on the history of the brewery and the employees and less on the actual process of making the beer. It was intersting - the workers lived on the property and were given a 4 liter allowence of beer each day. Yes, that's right 4 liters! However I'd say the coolest part was seeing a collection of different beer bottles from around the world. They had over 200,000, organized by country. It was really neat.
After the brewery tour we made our way back to the train station. We didn't buy tickets on the way over because we were told our accredation was good on public transportation in Malmo but when we were on the train we saw all of these signs talking about fines of $100 euros/$1000 Krona if you didn't have a ticket so we decided to play it safe and buy one. Good thing we did because a conductor checked our tickets 5 minutes after we boarded! We had to switch trains at Central Station to get back to Malmo which was also a bit of an adventure. We must have ran up and down the stairs 5 times trying to catch the right train going the right direction!
We finally made it back to Malmo with about 30 minutes to spare before the entire group was going out to dinner. We went to this great little restaurant in an old wine cellar. The food was amazing, I had a filet with an awesome sauce that was cooked perfectly. It was a great night out with the group. We were all stuffed when we got back to the hotel and headed right to bed. Games start up again tomorrow and we are in the home stretch!
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Gameday
Today was gameday #4. This morning we had our typical meeting. Here we were told that the organizing committee as taking us to a special dinner tomorrow night and we had to select our meal. While the menu did have some English it was a bit of a challenge to write out what I wanted. I swear just about every thing on menu contained at least 15 letters! Speaking of languages, I say this every year and this year will be no different. I am so impressed with how everyone here except the 3 Americans speaks multiple languages fluently. I asked many of them how they learned English and the answers have all varied but the common theme was they started at a young age. However, one thing that definitely helped the Swede's is many of their television shows are in English. I rarely turn on the tv on these trips but here I have to watch the Sweden games that are being televised. As I flipped through the channels I was shocked to see how many were in English with Swedish subtitles. They even had some typical American channels like Discovery Channel!
Following lunch a bunch of us decided to go take a walk and run to the market to pick up a few things. While it was cool and windy when we left the hotel the sun was shining. When we exited the grocery store it was hailing and made for a very unpleasant walk back to the hotel! We walked in as the first crew was getting ready to leave and they were all laughing at us because we were drenched! I then got ready for my all important standby duties today. Every game at IIHF championships has a referee and linesman standby just in case somebody gets hurt. We all rotate being standbys for games when you aren't working and today was my turn. If you remember a few years ago in Czech I had to go in as a standby so ever since then I make sure I'm really ready to go. After the game we came back to the hotel to eat and watched the end of the Sweden game on tv. Tomorrow is another day off and we are planning to explore Copenhagen a little more!
Following lunch a bunch of us decided to go take a walk and run to the market to pick up a few things. While it was cool and windy when we left the hotel the sun was shining. When we exited the grocery store it was hailing and made for a very unpleasant walk back to the hotel! We walked in as the first crew was getting ready to leave and they were all laughing at us because we were drenched! I then got ready for my all important standby duties today. Every game at IIHF championships has a referee and linesman standby just in case somebody gets hurt. We all rotate being standbys for games when you aren't working and today was my turn. If you remember a few years ago in Czech I had to go in as a standby so ever since then I make sure I'm really ready to go. After the game we came back to the hotel to eat and watched the end of the Sweden game on tv. Tomorrow is another day off and we are planning to explore Copenhagen a little more!
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Back to Work
This morning I woke up to an awful rain/sleet/snow mix. Isn't it almost April? I'm so done with winter! We did our typical breakfast and had a meeting to review a few items from the first two days of games. A few of us wanted to take a walk to loosen up the legs but the weather didn't allow for it so I used the time to catch up on a little tv. For those at home, the X1 app from Xfinity is awesome, it allows you to download things from your DVR to your ipad.
I had lunch with the crew I was working with that afternoon then we headed to our game. While I can't mention too many detail about the game itself, I can say it was a very important game with the winner automatically moving on to the quarterfinals and the loser most likely ending up in relegation. I also felt like I worked my best game of the tournament so far which is always a good thing as you want to get stronger as you move forward.
After our game we came back to the hotel and had dinner. I was able to facetime with my mom at home and get some updates along with exchange a bunch of texts with one of my co-workers to help a project move forward. Having good wifi at the hotel is huge, it makes keeping in touch so much easier. Nicole (from Germany) had her car here so since it was pouring rain she offered to drive us to the rink to go watch the last game so we didn't have to take the bus. I found it ironic that a German drove a Ford while the American drives a German car! It was funny, I joked with Nicole about driving an American car and she said she thought it was a European brand! At the rink we watched Sweden play Germany. In between periods, Katie and I went to the shop to buy a tournament t-shirt. On our way back to our seats we saw a contest where we could win these sweet Sweden bucket hats. Clearly we had to participate so we got in line with a bunch of kids and teenagers (and a few other adults haha). You had to shoot 3 pucks on a net with a shooter tutor type thing on it - if you scored you won! Fortunately my hockey skills aren't too terrible and I was able to win a hat. When we returned to our seats all of the other girls were jealous! After the game we went back to the hotel to go to sleep. Another day of games tomorrow!
I had lunch with the crew I was working with that afternoon then we headed to our game. While I can't mention too many detail about the game itself, I can say it was a very important game with the winner automatically moving on to the quarterfinals and the loser most likely ending up in relegation. I also felt like I worked my best game of the tournament so far which is always a good thing as you want to get stronger as you move forward.
After our game we came back to the hotel and had dinner. I was able to facetime with my mom at home and get some updates along with exchange a bunch of texts with one of my co-workers to help a project move forward. Having good wifi at the hotel is huge, it makes keeping in touch so much easier. Nicole (from Germany) had her car here so since it was pouring rain she offered to drive us to the rink to go watch the last game so we didn't have to take the bus. I found it ironic that a German drove a Ford while the American drives a German car! It was funny, I joked with Nicole about driving an American car and she said she thought it was a European brand! At the rink we watched Sweden play Germany. In between periods, Katie and I went to the shop to buy a tournament t-shirt. On our way back to our seats we saw a contest where we could win these sweet Sweden bucket hats. Clearly we had to participate so we got in line with a bunch of kids and teenagers (and a few other adults haha). You had to shoot 3 pucks on a net with a shooter tutor type thing on it - if you scored you won! Fortunately my hockey skills aren't too terrible and I was able to win a hat. When we returned to our seats all of the other girls were jealous! After the game we went back to the hotel to go to sleep. Another day of games tomorrow!
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Day off
At these tournaments the typical schedule is 2 days on, 1 day off. We have had 2 days of games so here we are with a day off - no meetings or anything scheduled. I planned on getting a really good nights sleep but unfortunately I tossed and turned the whole night, there was a terrible storm going on and the wind and rain hitting my window kept me up. I met the girls for breakfast at 9 then came upstairs to shower and get ready for the days activities. The showers in our hotel room are interesting - you either have a giant tub that is about 3.5ft off the ground (no exaggeration there) or a shower where the shower head is chest level and the entire thing is surrounded by mirrors. My room has the latter option.
As I mentioned yesterday, Kim, one of our supervisors, is from Copenhagen. Since Copenhagen is only a 35 minute drive from Malmo he planned a full day of touring for us. It started off with a typical Dutch meal at a cafe near his home. We had a mix of items on our plates - a fish with a really good sauce on top (loved), some roast beef over rye bread with another interesting sauce (ok), a chicken salad type thing with bacon (ok), some potatoes with a mustard type sauce (not a fan), an egg with another unique sauce (loved) and some crackers and brie (excellent). Then they brought us out this decadent apple pie type dessert which was awesome. One of the unique things we observed at the restaurant was multiple people left their baby strollers, with baby in them, outside while they sat inside and ate. Every once in awhile they would go outside and check on the baby. In talking with Kim and Anna (from Norway), apparently that is standard operating procedure over here. File that one in the category of different customs that would NEVER work in America. After lunch we walked to the metro station to take the train downtown. It was freezing and super windy, we were all huddled up at the station trying to keep warm (yet another reason we found the baby thing so strange). It took about 20 minutes to get downtown where we had a canal cruise scheduled. Prior to boarding the boat we walked around the Royal Palace grounds and took the typical tourist pictures with the guards. Katie even got one of them to crack a small smile! The canal cruise went all around the city and pointed out some of the main attractions. A bunch of us decided we want to try to go back on our next off day and see these things from land. After the cruise we walked around a very pedestrian friendly area of town with lots of shops and cafe's. It kind of reminded me a little bit of old town Zurich. As we were walking we found one of our supervisors in a Fish Feet Spa. What is that you ask? It is where you sit with your feet in what is basically a fish tank for 25 minutes. The fish apparently suck the dead skin off your feet and the water helps reinvigorate your skin. You do this while sipping a glass of champagne. Bianca said it felt strange but very good...not sure I want to try it though! We all met in front of city hall to head back to Malmo. Copenhagen is a really cool city and I definitely want to try to spend a little more time there before heading home.
On the way back to Malmo the Swedish girls let us know that they were able to secure tickets to the Malmo Redhawks hockey game that evening. From what I understand there are many divisions of the Swedish pro leagues but the Swedish Elite League is their equivalent to the NHL and the Swedish Hockey League is equivalent to the AHL. The way they work it is the last place team from the Elite League plays the top team from the other league in a 7 game series with the winner playing in the Elite League next season. This was game 6 of that series with Malmo trying to move up to the Elite League. If I had to guess, the stadium holds around 15,000 people - it was a little smaller than the Wells Fargo Center at home but not much. If you didn't know you were at a hockey game you would have thought you were at a soccer game. They were beating drums and constantly clapping and chanting. It was a lot of fun, they fans were really into it! Some other interesting observations from the game were as follows:
-Advertisements everywhere. On the ice, players jerseys, refs jerseys - you name it they had an ad on it.
-To start the game they drive the puck out to center ice on a remote control mini zamboni!
-They play full scale commercials on the jumbotron in between whistles. One of which was a guy wearing a cup and getting hit with a puck there! We were cracking up every time they played it because we had no idea what it was for!
-The Redhawks goal song was the same as the Chicago Blackhawks and they were also the same colors.
-There was significantly less hitting than you see in the NHL/AHL.
It was a really cool experience and I'm glad we had the opportunity to go. After the game we took the train back to the hotel and am now getting ready to crash. It was a long and fun day off but it is back to work tomorrow!
As I mentioned yesterday, Kim, one of our supervisors, is from Copenhagen. Since Copenhagen is only a 35 minute drive from Malmo he planned a full day of touring for us. It started off with a typical Dutch meal at a cafe near his home. We had a mix of items on our plates - a fish with a really good sauce on top (loved), some roast beef over rye bread with another interesting sauce (ok), a chicken salad type thing with bacon (ok), some potatoes with a mustard type sauce (not a fan), an egg with another unique sauce (loved) and some crackers and brie (excellent). Then they brought us out this decadent apple pie type dessert which was awesome. One of the unique things we observed at the restaurant was multiple people left their baby strollers, with baby in them, outside while they sat inside and ate. Every once in awhile they would go outside and check on the baby. In talking with Kim and Anna (from Norway), apparently that is standard operating procedure over here. File that one in the category of different customs that would NEVER work in America. After lunch we walked to the metro station to take the train downtown. It was freezing and super windy, we were all huddled up at the station trying to keep warm (yet another reason we found the baby thing so strange). It took about 20 minutes to get downtown where we had a canal cruise scheduled. Prior to boarding the boat we walked around the Royal Palace grounds and took the typical tourist pictures with the guards. Katie even got one of them to crack a small smile! The canal cruise went all around the city and pointed out some of the main attractions. A bunch of us decided we want to try to go back on our next off day and see these things from land. After the cruise we walked around a very pedestrian friendly area of town with lots of shops and cafe's. It kind of reminded me a little bit of old town Zurich. As we were walking we found one of our supervisors in a Fish Feet Spa. What is that you ask? It is where you sit with your feet in what is basically a fish tank for 25 minutes. The fish apparently suck the dead skin off your feet and the water helps reinvigorate your skin. You do this while sipping a glass of champagne. Bianca said it felt strange but very good...not sure I want to try it though! We all met in front of city hall to head back to Malmo. Copenhagen is a really cool city and I definitely want to try to spend a little more time there before heading home.
On the way back to Malmo the Swedish girls let us know that they were able to secure tickets to the Malmo Redhawks hockey game that evening. From what I understand there are many divisions of the Swedish pro leagues but the Swedish Elite League is their equivalent to the NHL and the Swedish Hockey League is equivalent to the AHL. The way they work it is the last place team from the Elite League plays the top team from the other league in a 7 game series with the winner playing in the Elite League next season. This was game 6 of that series with Malmo trying to move up to the Elite League. If I had to guess, the stadium holds around 15,000 people - it was a little smaller than the Wells Fargo Center at home but not much. If you didn't know you were at a hockey game you would have thought you were at a soccer game. They were beating drums and constantly clapping and chanting. It was a lot of fun, they fans were really into it! Some other interesting observations from the game were as follows:
-Advertisements everywhere. On the ice, players jerseys, refs jerseys - you name it they had an ad on it.
-To start the game they drive the puck out to center ice on a remote control mini zamboni!
-They play full scale commercials on the jumbotron in between whistles. One of which was a guy wearing a cup and getting hit with a puck there! We were cracking up every time they played it because we had no idea what it was for!
-The Redhawks goal song was the same as the Chicago Blackhawks and they were also the same colors.
-There was significantly less hitting than you see in the NHL/AHL.
It was a really cool experience and I'm glad we had the opportunity to go. After the game we took the train back to the hotel and am now getting ready to crash. It was a long and fun day off but it is back to work tomorrow!
Monday, March 30, 2015
Game Day #2
Today was the 2nd day of game. After losing an hour of sleep (again, not happy about that) we got up and had a meeting to review the previous days games. After our meeting I immediately went back to my room to take a nap! I swear, I do more sleeping and eating at these tournaments than I do the entire rest of the year. After my nap it was time for a quick bite to eat prior to getting ready to head to the rink. Sweden again had the early game so I was able to catch a bit of it on tv before leaving. Although I understand zero Swedish, I did see they were talking about girl on the team named Lisa Hendergen. The reason I mention this is she is actually the cousin of one of my co-workers in New York. I took a picture of the TV and sent it to him!
My crew then headed to the rink for our game. Again, due to IIHF regulations I can't talk specifics but it was a very good, competitive game. After the game we headed back to the hotel to eat. One new thing this year, the IIHF set us up with a sports massage therapist so I decided to take advantage. She was awesome, really helped work out some of stiffness in my neck and shoulders from all of the travel. After my massage a group of us decided to go back to the rink to watch the USA vs Finland game. We were adventuresome and took the bus since our credentials allow us to use it for free. Part of the thing that made it a little intersting is nobody in the group speaks a lick of Swedish! After almost getting on going the wrong direction we figured it out and made it in time.
Now is probably a good time to talk about some of the people I'm here with. There are 19 officials and 4 "official" supervisors (we have some observers here too). The referees and linesman are:
Gabby - ref from Canada
Anna - ref from Switzerland. She was the one I visited last year in Zurich!
Draha - ref from Switzerland
Gabby - ref from Sweden
Katie - ref from USA
Nicole - ref from Germany
Jamie - ref from USA
Kaisa - ref from Finland
Marie - ref from France
Katarina - ref from Sweden
Bettina - lines from Austria
Stephanie - lines from Canada. She was my roommate in Ottawa and sent me a little care package last year!
Jenni - lines from Finland
Veronica - lines from Sweden
Kaire lines from Estonia
Lisa - lines from Germany
Ilona - lines from Czech
Anna - lines from Noray
As you can see, we have people from all over the world. I've worked with many of these girls in the past and everyone has seemed to click and gets along great. Tomorrow we are off and Kim planned a trip for us to his hometown of Copenhagen. As his email said, we are off to the land of the little mermaid, Tivoli Gardens and Legoland! Looking forward to it!
My crew then headed to the rink for our game. Again, due to IIHF regulations I can't talk specifics but it was a very good, competitive game. After the game we headed back to the hotel to eat. One new thing this year, the IIHF set us up with a sports massage therapist so I decided to take advantage. She was awesome, really helped work out some of stiffness in my neck and shoulders from all of the travel. After my massage a group of us decided to go back to the rink to watch the USA vs Finland game. We were adventuresome and took the bus since our credentials allow us to use it for free. Part of the thing that made it a little intersting is nobody in the group speaks a lick of Swedish! After almost getting on going the wrong direction we figured it out and made it in time.
Now is probably a good time to talk about some of the people I'm here with. There are 19 officials and 4 "official" supervisors (we have some observers here too). The referees and linesman are:
Gabby - ref from Canada
Anna - ref from Switzerland. She was the one I visited last year in Zurich!
Draha - ref from Switzerland
Gabby - ref from Sweden
Katie - ref from USA
Nicole - ref from Germany
Jamie - ref from USA
Kaisa - ref from Finland
Marie - ref from France
Katarina - ref from Sweden
Bettina - lines from Austria
Stephanie - lines from Canada. She was my roommate in Ottawa and sent me a little care package last year!
Jenni - lines from Finland
Veronica - lines from Sweden
Kaire lines from Estonia
Lisa - lines from Germany
Ilona - lines from Czech
Anna - lines from Noray
As you can see, we have people from all over the world. I've worked with many of these girls in the past and everyone has seemed to click and gets along great. Tomorrow we are off and Kim planned a trip for us to his hometown of Copenhagen. As his email said, we are off to the land of the little mermaid, Tivoli Gardens and Legoland! Looking forward to it!
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Game day #1
Today was the first day of games! We had a nice leisurely morning with breakfast at 9:30. I love that in Europe breakfast consists of lunch meat and fresh bread. I should just take continue this trend at home, even though it isn't necessarily socially acceptable! After eating we received our jerseys, complete with a huge advertisement sewn on the front and back. I've always seen the European referees and players have ads all over them but never have I had to wear one myself! Unfortunately the jerseys are the one thing we received that are mens sizes so mine is huge! I told the girls, if I skate slowly it is because my jersey is like a parachute slowing me down.
Following breakfast a bunch of us decided to take a walk around town to get outside and loosen up the legs. After the walk I relaxed in my room and re-familiarized myself with the IIHF rules and procedures to prep for my game. That is always the challenge in coming to these tournaments - the rules and procedures are different than NCAA and USA Hockey and I don't use this rulebook very often. While in the US I know the rulebook inside and out and can handle most of those strange situations that occur here I need to refresh and learn. Fortunately most of the Europeans use the IIHF rulebook all year so I can somewhat lean on them, however you don't want to be completely dependent.
Sweden was playing the first game and it was being televised which was pretty cool. When the first period ended I met my crew downstairs for lunch. We were able to hook a laptop up to the projector in our meeting room and streamed the rest of the game on the big screen, it was almost as good as being there live! Once the game was over I headed back to my room to get ready to head to the rink. USA and Canada were playing at 4:00 so I definitely wanted to catch that game. After the game my crew went over to a sports bar that is a 5 minute walk from the rink to grab some dinner. We haven't had many choices for food at the hotel so it was nice to have a big menu to choose from. After eating we headed back to the rink to warm up and get ready for our game. While I can't share a ton of details, just know it was an awesome, evenly matched game and a first for me at an IIHF championship - game winning shots! We then headed back to the hotel, had a snack and went to bed. If you read my blog last year you may remember that Europe does their daylight savings at a different time than us and unfortunately today was the day they lose an hour. So lucky me has gotten to lose an hour twice! The world really needs to coordinate on this and get on the same page, it is so silly that North America does it on a different weekend than Europe! So we are now 6 hours ahead of home instead of the 5 were were when I arrived. Off to bed, we have a meeting in the morning to review todays games. Goodnight!
Following breakfast a bunch of us decided to take a walk around town to get outside and loosen up the legs. After the walk I relaxed in my room and re-familiarized myself with the IIHF rules and procedures to prep for my game. That is always the challenge in coming to these tournaments - the rules and procedures are different than NCAA and USA Hockey and I don't use this rulebook very often. While in the US I know the rulebook inside and out and can handle most of those strange situations that occur here I need to refresh and learn. Fortunately most of the Europeans use the IIHF rulebook all year so I can somewhat lean on them, however you don't want to be completely dependent.
Sweden was playing the first game and it was being televised which was pretty cool. When the first period ended I met my crew downstairs for lunch. We were able to hook a laptop up to the projector in our meeting room and streamed the rest of the game on the big screen, it was almost as good as being there live! Once the game was over I headed back to my room to get ready to head to the rink. USA and Canada were playing at 4:00 so I definitely wanted to catch that game. After the game my crew went over to a sports bar that is a 5 minute walk from the rink to grab some dinner. We haven't had many choices for food at the hotel so it was nice to have a big menu to choose from. After eating we headed back to the rink to warm up and get ready for our game. While I can't share a ton of details, just know it was an awesome, evenly matched game and a first for me at an IIHF championship - game winning shots! We then headed back to the hotel, had a snack and went to bed. If you read my blog last year you may remember that Europe does their daylight savings at a different time than us and unfortunately today was the day they lose an hour. So lucky me has gotten to lose an hour twice! The world really needs to coordinate on this and get on the same page, it is so silly that North America does it on a different weekend than Europe! So we are now 6 hours ahead of home instead of the 5 were were when I arrived. Off to bed, we have a meeting in the morning to review todays games. Goodnight!
Friday, March 27, 2015
Day 1 in Malmo
I made it through my first full day here in Malmo and the jet lag is finally starting to go away. I suppose getting 10 hours of sleep last night helped! The tournament is being played at 2 rinks - the main arena is where the World Juniors took place a few years ago and the secondary arena will host one game a day. Our main locker room where we can store our equipment is at the secondary arena so we headed there early in the morning with gear in tow. After doing all of our head shots and several group photos we warmed up and did the GPS test. This is the first time I've ever done the GPS test and let me tell you, there is a reason they call it that. Backwards around these cones, forwards around these, drop a puck here, pick up a puck there, it was very confusing. You could clearly tell who had done it before and those of us that were rookies and struggling to figure out where to go next! Following the GPS test we had some fun and played iceball. Iceball is a version of handball on skates that we play at all of the referee development camps. Since we are in Sweden we did the blonds vs the brunettes and it ended in a 1-1 tie. It was a lot of fun and great to skate without having to think about where you were going next!
Following our skate we came back to the hotel for our big meeting. At this meeting we reviewed some rule changes as well as some procedural items for this tournament. One cool thing that I don't think I mentioned is we are making history here as this is the first IIHF Women's World Championship to use the 4 official system as opposed to the 3 official system you saw at the Olympics. It makes so much sense as the players are so fast there is no way one person can keep up and have great sight lines. We have had the 4 official system in college hockey for a number of years now and there are just so many advantages. The only challenge is making sure you and your partner are on the same page in terms of a standard, which is something we talked a lot about today. Another big change this year is the IIHF will be using the hybrid icing that you see in NCAA hockey and now the NHL. This adds a new challenge for us linesmen but it makes the game significantly more exciting.
After our meeting we had the rest of the day free. Although the weather wasn't great (drizzling and in the mid 40's) a bunch of us went for a little walk around town. Malmo is very cute, lots of cobblestone streets with big squares where there was a ton of activity going on. The city has flags up everywhere for the tournament so I'm hoping we get a good turnout at the games. During our walk we were able to find a grocery store where I was able to get some much needed diet coke, or coca cola light as they call it here in Europe! Follwing our walk I took a quick nap then had dinner with the group. Dinner was some sort of mystery meat that none of us (including the Swede's) were really sure what it was but it did the trick. After dinner we all hung out for a bit before heading up to our rooms to get ready for bed. Games start tomorrow so everyone is both anxious and excited at the same time. There are 4 great games on the schedule tomorrow, Sweden vs Japan, Germany vs Switzerland, USA vs Canada and Russia vs Finland. IIHF rules prevent me from saying which game I will be working but they post the assignments here so feel free to take a look! I'm excited for games to begin, this is what I've been working towards all season! More to come tomorrow!
Following our skate we came back to the hotel for our big meeting. At this meeting we reviewed some rule changes as well as some procedural items for this tournament. One cool thing that I don't think I mentioned is we are making history here as this is the first IIHF Women's World Championship to use the 4 official system as opposed to the 3 official system you saw at the Olympics. It makes so much sense as the players are so fast there is no way one person can keep up and have great sight lines. We have had the 4 official system in college hockey for a number of years now and there are just so many advantages. The only challenge is making sure you and your partner are on the same page in terms of a standard, which is something we talked a lot about today. Another big change this year is the IIHF will be using the hybrid icing that you see in NCAA hockey and now the NHL. This adds a new challenge for us linesmen but it makes the game significantly more exciting.
After our meeting we had the rest of the day free. Although the weather wasn't great (drizzling and in the mid 40's) a bunch of us went for a little walk around town. Malmo is very cute, lots of cobblestone streets with big squares where there was a ton of activity going on. The city has flags up everywhere for the tournament so I'm hoping we get a good turnout at the games. During our walk we were able to find a grocery store where I was able to get some much needed diet coke, or coca cola light as they call it here in Europe! Follwing our walk I took a quick nap then had dinner with the group. Dinner was some sort of mystery meat that none of us (including the Swede's) were really sure what it was but it did the trick. After dinner we all hung out for a bit before heading up to our rooms to get ready for bed. Games start tomorrow so everyone is both anxious and excited at the same time. There are 4 great games on the schedule tomorrow, Sweden vs Japan, Germany vs Switzerland, USA vs Canada and Russia vs Finland. IIHF rules prevent me from saying which game I will be working but they post the assignments here so feel free to take a look! I'm excited for games to begin, this is what I've been working towards all season! More to come tomorrow!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Hello From Malmo!
Hello from Malmo! After a long travel day I finally made it here and am getting settled. My flight from Philly to Frankfurt was about 8 hours during which I watched Foxcatcher (good movie), ate and unsuccessfully attempted to sleep. The guy sitting next to me was clearly not a believer in personal space because his elbow must have hit me in the arm or side at least 15 times during the flight. What is so hard to understand about the armrest being the dividing line?!? I arrived in Frankfurt a little before 8am local time and had to go through customs. The customs officer asked me where I was going and what I was doing. I told him I was headed to Malmo for the Women's World Championships and he was very excited - he said he knew a player on the German team.
After making it through customs I went to find my gate for my next flight to Copenhagen. While looking for that gate I ran into the 3 Canadians who are working the tournament. For some reason they were on a different flight to Copenhagen than I was so after hanging out for a bit we went our separate ways. The flight to Copenhagen was pretty short, only about 1:20. I headed down to baggage where they had monitors telling you the approximate wait time for your bags, all of which were well under 15 minutes. Philly International, you should come here and take notes! After collecting my bags I found someone waiting to drive me to Malmo. It is only about a 30 minute drive and to get there you have to take the Oresund Bridge. This is the longest road bridge in Europe and goes for 2.5 miles underwater and 5 miles above water.
Once in Malmo we went straight to the hotel where I was able to check in and get into my room. For the first time in my IIHF career we all have our own rooms. While I have enjoyed getting to know my various roommates over the years I have to admit it is nice to have my own space. I had 30 minutes before lunch so I decided took a quick shower to try to wake myself up a little bit. Lunch was a small buffet that had pasta and Swedish meatballs. They were delicious. If you've ever had the Swedish meatballs at Ikea these were very similar. Speaking of Ikea, I keep laughing because every time I looked at a random sign on the way here I kept thinking "I wonder if this is a line of furniture at Ikea because it sure looks like it!" I was so excited to take a nap following lunch but then I was told I had to go to the main arena to get my accreditation. By the time I got back I only had about an 1:30 minutes until our first meeting. I layed down and slept like a rock. Thank goodness I set an alarm, otherwise I'd still be sleeping. At our meeting we did introductions and got all of our new gear - track suits, helmet, jacket, hoodie, etc. We then ate dinner and here I am, sitting in bed at 8:00 fighting to stay awake just a little longer so I adjust to the time change better.
Tomorrow morning we have a skate followed by our big meeting where we are reviewing some more of the procedurial items along with the rule changes. As far as I know we then have the rest of the day free to explore the area a little more. Should be fun!
After making it through customs I went to find my gate for my next flight to Copenhagen. While looking for that gate I ran into the 3 Canadians who are working the tournament. For some reason they were on a different flight to Copenhagen than I was so after hanging out for a bit we went our separate ways. The flight to Copenhagen was pretty short, only about 1:20. I headed down to baggage where they had monitors telling you the approximate wait time for your bags, all of which were well under 15 minutes. Philly International, you should come here and take notes! After collecting my bags I found someone waiting to drive me to Malmo. It is only about a 30 minute drive and to get there you have to take the Oresund Bridge. This is the longest road bridge in Europe and goes for 2.5 miles underwater and 5 miles above water.
Once in Malmo we went straight to the hotel where I was able to check in and get into my room. For the first time in my IIHF career we all have our own rooms. While I have enjoyed getting to know my various roommates over the years I have to admit it is nice to have my own space. I had 30 minutes before lunch so I decided took a quick shower to try to wake myself up a little bit. Lunch was a small buffet that had pasta and Swedish meatballs. They were delicious. If you've ever had the Swedish meatballs at Ikea these were very similar. Speaking of Ikea, I keep laughing because every time I looked at a random sign on the way here I kept thinking "I wonder if this is a line of furniture at Ikea because it sure looks like it!" I was so excited to take a nap following lunch but then I was told I had to go to the main arena to get my accreditation. By the time I got back I only had about an 1:30 minutes until our first meeting. I layed down and slept like a rock. Thank goodness I set an alarm, otherwise I'd still be sleeping. At our meeting we did introductions and got all of our new gear - track suits, helmet, jacket, hoodie, etc. We then ate dinner and here I am, sitting in bed at 8:00 fighting to stay awake just a little longer so I adjust to the time change better.
Tomorrow morning we have a skate followed by our big meeting where we are reviewing some more of the procedurial items along with the rule changes. As far as I know we then have the rest of the day free to explore the area a little more. Should be fun!
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
It's Finally Time!
Phew!!! I'm sitting at my gate at the airport and am ready to go! It has been a whirlwind 3 days trying to get everything both work and personally situated. At least this year I wasn't in Connecticut the day before I left and am not settling on a house the day I get back! It always is a little crazy preparing to leave the office for 2 weeks, every time it seems like those weird situations that I need to handhold occur the day or two before.
You would think having done this a number of times I'd have the packing routine down but not so much, I was still up until 2:30am. However, I will say I was definitely more organized this year than in years past. The hardest thing is figuring out what all to bring - I have to pack all my hockey equipment and corresponding under armour, dress clothes, normal clothes and workout clothes. To try to fit that into two bags continues to be a challenge, especially when you are a notorious overpacker like I am. The victory this year though was I was able to not have to expand my one large suitcase and was able to take the smaller motherload ebags ref bag (all my referee friends will know what I'm referencing). However we'll see what I forgot, I already realized forgot my neck pillow and had to buy a new one at the airport
My dad picked me up from my house at 4:00 and we had an uneventful ride to the airport. After dumping my luggage I went to go through security. Unfortunately the international terminal at PHL does not have a pre-tsa line so I was definitely a little annoyed that I had to take off my shoes, coat, etc. It is amazing how quickly I forgot what a pain that was! For anyone that travels more than once or twice a year, pre-tsa is the best $100 you could ever spend. After going through security I actually walked over to the B terminal and caught up with my mom whose flight had just arrived from Colorado. When we were in Colorado together last month she turned me on to the mega m&m's, which I quickly became addicted to. Wouldn't you know she put her half open bag in my purse for me to finish! The goal is to not eat the entire thing before arriving in Malmo, we'll see how much self control I have.
After my mom left I went back to my gate where I am now waiting to board. I'm flying Lufthansa. Similar to Southwest, you can't pick a seat until 24 hours before unless you have a certain fair class. Last night I logged in exactly 24 hours before to make sure I got a window seat. There were a ton of empty seats so I was thinking the flight might be relatively empty but when I got to the airport they offered me a free ticket to wait a day since the flight was oversold. Unfortunately I don't have that option because I certainly would have loved another free flight to Europe! And so much for my hope that I'd get an empty row that I could stretch out in, now I just have to hope I get a nice small skinny person next to me! Alright we are getting ready to board and I'm going to pass out immediately after only getting a few hours of sleep. Next post will be from Europe!
You would think having done this a number of times I'd have the packing routine down but not so much, I was still up until 2:30am. However, I will say I was definitely more organized this year than in years past. The hardest thing is figuring out what all to bring - I have to pack all my hockey equipment and corresponding under armour, dress clothes, normal clothes and workout clothes. To try to fit that into two bags continues to be a challenge, especially when you are a notorious overpacker like I am. The victory this year though was I was able to not have to expand my one large suitcase and was able to take the smaller motherload ebags ref bag (all my referee friends will know what I'm referencing). However we'll see what I forgot, I already realized forgot my neck pillow and had to buy a new one at the airport
My dad picked me up from my house at 4:00 and we had an uneventful ride to the airport. After dumping my luggage I went to go through security. Unfortunately the international terminal at PHL does not have a pre-tsa line so I was definitely a little annoyed that I had to take off my shoes, coat, etc. It is amazing how quickly I forgot what a pain that was! For anyone that travels more than once or twice a year, pre-tsa is the best $100 you could ever spend. After going through security I actually walked over to the B terminal and caught up with my mom whose flight had just arrived from Colorado. When we were in Colorado together last month she turned me on to the mega m&m's, which I quickly became addicted to. Wouldn't you know she put her half open bag in my purse for me to finish! The goal is to not eat the entire thing before arriving in Malmo, we'll see how much self control I have.
After my mom left I went back to my gate where I am now waiting to board. I'm flying Lufthansa. Similar to Southwest, you can't pick a seat until 24 hours before unless you have a certain fair class. Last night I logged in exactly 24 hours before to make sure I got a window seat. There were a ton of empty seats so I was thinking the flight might be relatively empty but when I got to the airport they offered me a free ticket to wait a day since the flight was oversold. Unfortunately I don't have that option because I certainly would have loved another free flight to Europe! And so much for my hope that I'd get an empty row that I could stretch out in, now I just have to hope I get a nice small skinny person next to me! Alright we are getting ready to board and I'm going to pass out immediately after only getting a few hours of sleep. Next post will be from Europe!
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Travel Plans
I've blogged about some of my past officiating experiences and how I got to this point but I really haven't written much about the tournament I'm going to! First a little background - The IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) is the governing body for all 37 nations that have a national women's ice hockey team. Each year, the IIHF sponsors world championship tournaments at both the senior level and the u18 level. Now because it would be next to impossible logistically to have a 37 team tournament as well as the vast differences in level of play, they split all of those countries into 6 divisions. Each division has their own World Championship tournament, with the team that wins moving up a division and the team that is in last moves down a division. It is the goal of all nations to reach the top level, as those are the teams that play at the Olympic Games. The goal is the same for us on ice officials, we all strive to work the highest level tournament possible.
This year I'm fortunate enough to be headed to Malmo, Sweden for the Senior Women's top division tournament. Competing at the tournament will be Canada, USA, Russia, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan. The tournament splits the teams into two brackets - the top 4 teams (A pool) and the bottom 4 teams (B pool) each play a round robin. At the end of the round robin, the top two teams from the A pool get bye's into the semifinals. The bottom two teams from the A pool as well as the top two teams from the B pool play in the quarterfinals and the bottom two teams from B pool play a 3 game relegation series, with the loser moving out of the top level World Championship tournament next year. This format is somewhat new and has made for some very competitive games over the past few tournaments. USA and Canada play on the first night of the tournament (a rematch of the gold medal game in Sochi) so it is sure to start off with a bang.
Now on to my travel plans. First, where is Malmo, Sweden? That is a good question, I had to look it up on the map. Malmo is the 3rd largest city in Sweden and is in the very southern tip of the country. It is actually a short ferry/train ride from Copenhagen, Denmark which is actually where I will be flying in and out of. This year my flights are pretty good, if you remember last year I had 2 layovers, one of which was 5 hours! I leave Philly at 6:50 on Wednesday evening and fly direct to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt I have about a 2 hour layover before the short 1:20 flight to Copenhagen. Once I arrive in Copenhagen there will be someone waiting for me to help me get to our hotel in Malmo. The tournaments officially kicks off on Saturday, March 28th and the final games take place on Saturday, April 4th. Here is a link that contains the schedules and more tournament details: http://www.worldwomen2015.com
As I've mentioned previously, one of the wonderful things about working these tournaments is the opportunity to travel after. This year, my good friend from college Kathleen is coming over to travel with me. I am going to meet her in Copenhagen after the tournament ends. From there, we are taking an overnight cruise to Oslo, Norway. We will spend a day/night in Oslo then take a train to Stockholm, Sweden. After another day/night in Stockholm we will take another train back to Copenhagen before heading home on Thursday, April 9th. I'm super excited to be able to travel with a friend and am looking forward to exploring Scandinavia. I'll be leaning on some of my fellow officials who are from those countries to point us in the right direction in terms of what to see and do - just another benefit of having friends from all over the world.
Alright I'm off to bed, there is lots to get done both at work and personally in the next 72 hours. I'll leave you with a funny story. Today I worked my last game prior to leaving, just a local women's league game. I got my haircut this past week for the first time since the early part of the season. I had to adjust my helmet fit because my hair wasn't fitting right! #femalerefproblems
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Soapbox Post
I had a couple of things happen in recent weeks that have really annoyed me. I typically don't use this as a forum to complain but I think I'm going to get up on my soapbox for an entry. Last year at Worlds, one of the officials from Switzerland gave out riot pads (little note pads we carry in our pockets on the ice) that on the cover said "No refs no game." There is no truer statement, without refs you can't have a game. And if people continue to abuse officials, nobody will be willing to put on the stripes. The number of registered officials is declining and while I think there are a number of reasons for that the biggest one is people are sick of taking the abuse.
Now as a referee you have to have a thick skin, it comes with the territory. And believe me when I tell you I've put up with some brutal stuff over the years. But I also think the abuse has gotten a lot worse in the last few years. I know I'm not dreaming because I have seen more articles about fan/coach altercations with youth sports officials in 2015 than I have in the last few years combined. Over the last month I've worked a number of games for various leagues and every other official I spoken with has said the same thing "I can't wait until hockey season is over, I'm sick of the bs." I don't remember it being like that in years past. Listen, I will be the first to admit that I make mistakes out there. And trust me when I tell you nobody beats themselves up over it more than I do. I made a mistake earlier this season that I saw on video after the fact and I swear I didn't sleep for 3 days, I kept replaying it over and over in my head, thinking about how I could have done better. There was a fantastic article that I read (click here to read it) earlier this year about hockey referees and game control, blown calls and other misconceptions. I said it should be required reading for all parents and coaches before the enter the ice rink, both at the beginning of the season and again come playoff time. That way, when I have a coach of a u14 team tell me that because I called a penalty in OT on his team I "stole the game from his girls and broke their hearts" I can say, have you read that Sports Illustrated article? (True story, by the way).
Another example, a few of us officials were sitting up in the snack bar area at the district tournament. I'm fairly certain the mother at the table next to us knew we were the refs because she certainly had a lot to say about the officials, both those who were working the current game her daughter was playing but also those that had worked the game those same two teams played earlier in the day. Heaven forbid little (insert name here) ever does ANYTHING wrong - it was always the ref's horrible call. It took everything in me to walk down to the locker room, grab a whistle out of my bag and slam it on the table in front of her and say "if you think you can do better, there is a certification seminar on April 12th, I'd love to see you there." Because to me, if all you can do is complain and talk about how horrible the refs are why don't you do something about it.
Those are just a few recent examples, it has really been going on all season. And not to pull the girl card but I think it is even worse as a female. I was fortunate enough to be the first female to work a boys Flyers Cup Final this year. After that game, the one guy in the penalty box came over and was chatting with scorekeeper (a sophomore on the West Chester University women's hockey team) and I. The guy asked the girl if she would ever try to be a referee - he reasoned she would make a lot more money on the ice vs sitting in the score box (a very true statement, I made 5x what she made that game). Her response "I couldn't handle being yelled at by parents and coaches." It is sad that this young girl won't try officiating because she knows she is going to be abused.
Speaking of females, part two of my rant is about to occur. Back in 1997 the IIHF made the decision to go with all female referees for their World Championship Tournaments (read about it here). While I'm certain there were some growing pains, in the end it was a fantastic move as there are so many great officials around the world who now have something to work for. USA Hockey and the IIHF have done a fantastic job of promoting female officials. They work hard to put us in situations where we can learn, grow and succeed. NCAA hockey, on the other hand, still isn't where we need it to be in terms of supporting the female officials. The Frozen Four for both D1 and D3 are taking place this weekend. They bring in 3 4-person crews for each level. Of those 24 people selected, guess how many were women? If you guessed 2, you are correct. How sad is that? Are you really trying to tell me that there aren't more than 2 qualified women working NCAA hockey? I struggle with this greatly. NCAA hockey is, for all intents and purposes, the best women's hockey in the world outside of the national teams and the small pro league that exists in Canada. How can we only have 2 women working the WOMEN'S championships? It doesn't have to be me personally out there, I just want to see more of us females out there.
Something needs to change but I'm not sure what the answer is. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. This post has turned into way too long of a rant. I promise I'll get off my soapbox now. If you ever read my blog again, my next post will be way more fun. It will include all of my travel plans and some details about my specific tournament. I can't believe I leave on Wednesday!
Now as a referee you have to have a thick skin, it comes with the territory. And believe me when I tell you I've put up with some brutal stuff over the years. But I also think the abuse has gotten a lot worse in the last few years. I know I'm not dreaming because I have seen more articles about fan/coach altercations with youth sports officials in 2015 than I have in the last few years combined. Over the last month I've worked a number of games for various leagues and every other official I spoken with has said the same thing "I can't wait until hockey season is over, I'm sick of the bs." I don't remember it being like that in years past. Listen, I will be the first to admit that I make mistakes out there. And trust me when I tell you nobody beats themselves up over it more than I do. I made a mistake earlier this season that I saw on video after the fact and I swear I didn't sleep for 3 days, I kept replaying it over and over in my head, thinking about how I could have done better. There was a fantastic article that I read (click here to read it) earlier this year about hockey referees and game control, blown calls and other misconceptions. I said it should be required reading for all parents and coaches before the enter the ice rink, both at the beginning of the season and again come playoff time. That way, when I have a coach of a u14 team tell me that because I called a penalty in OT on his team I "stole the game from his girls and broke their hearts" I can say, have you read that Sports Illustrated article? (True story, by the way).
Another example, a few of us officials were sitting up in the snack bar area at the district tournament. I'm fairly certain the mother at the table next to us knew we were the refs because she certainly had a lot to say about the officials, both those who were working the current game her daughter was playing but also those that had worked the game those same two teams played earlier in the day. Heaven forbid little (insert name here) ever does ANYTHING wrong - it was always the ref's horrible call. It took everything in me to walk down to the locker room, grab a whistle out of my bag and slam it on the table in front of her and say "if you think you can do better, there is a certification seminar on April 12th, I'd love to see you there." Because to me, if all you can do is complain and talk about how horrible the refs are why don't you do something about it.
Those are just a few recent examples, it has really been going on all season. And not to pull the girl card but I think it is even worse as a female. I was fortunate enough to be the first female to work a boys Flyers Cup Final this year. After that game, the one guy in the penalty box came over and was chatting with scorekeeper (a sophomore on the West Chester University women's hockey team) and I. The guy asked the girl if she would ever try to be a referee - he reasoned she would make a lot more money on the ice vs sitting in the score box (a very true statement, I made 5x what she made that game). Her response "I couldn't handle being yelled at by parents and coaches." It is sad that this young girl won't try officiating because she knows she is going to be abused.
Speaking of females, part two of my rant is about to occur. Back in 1997 the IIHF made the decision to go with all female referees for their World Championship Tournaments (read about it here). While I'm certain there were some growing pains, in the end it was a fantastic move as there are so many great officials around the world who now have something to work for. USA Hockey and the IIHF have done a fantastic job of promoting female officials. They work hard to put us in situations where we can learn, grow and succeed. NCAA hockey, on the other hand, still isn't where we need it to be in terms of supporting the female officials. The Frozen Four for both D1 and D3 are taking place this weekend. They bring in 3 4-person crews for each level. Of those 24 people selected, guess how many were women? If you guessed 2, you are correct. How sad is that? Are you really trying to tell me that there aren't more than 2 qualified women working NCAA hockey? I struggle with this greatly. NCAA hockey is, for all intents and purposes, the best women's hockey in the world outside of the national teams and the small pro league that exists in Canada. How can we only have 2 women working the WOMEN'S championships? It doesn't have to be me personally out there, I just want to see more of us females out there.
Something needs to change but I'm not sure what the answer is. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. This post has turned into way too long of a rant. I promise I'll get off my soapbox now. If you ever read my blog again, my next post will be way more fun. It will include all of my travel plans and some details about my specific tournament. I can't believe I leave on Wednesday!
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Reflections
As I sit here with a jug of Gatorade and box of saltines (thanks stomach bug) I'm slightly panicked that this time next week I'll be on a plane on my way to Sweden! So how did this all happen? I've done some detailed posts on this in the past so here (click here to read my very first post) so here is the readers digest version:
I started officiating my senior year of college for extra cash. When I graduated and got a "real" job, I wasn't going to continue until I fully understood how expensive it was to play hockey in the Philly area. I figured I could ref on the side and basically make enough money to pay for my hockey dues. Opportunities started to present themselves and I became more entrenched in the officiating community. Several development camps later I earned my IIHF license in 2008 and was selected for my first IIHF assignment that fall, the 4 Nations Cup in Lake Placid. It was there that I worked my first USA vs Canada game - that will always be a very special memory. I started my current job at the Hartford right after I got home from 4 Nations. The following week, Matt Leaf at USA Hockey emailed me and asked if I'd be able to go to China for 2 weeks in February for the World University Games. I was a little nervous going in to ask my boss for two weeks off in a job that I had literally just started but fortunately the Hartford has a generous PTO policy and my boss at the time understood this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and allowed me to go. That tournament allowed me to get on the IIHF's radar and now I'm fortunate enough to be headed to my 6th tournament.
I was working this past week with another female official who has a ton of potential. She was asking a little bit about my upcoming trip but then she asked me a really tough question - what has been my favorite tournament? That is such a tough question because every experience has been amazing in its own unique way. China will always be special just because it was my first IIHF tournament abroad, I got to travel with one of my closest friends in the officiating community and it was such a unique place that I would have never gone to on my own. The next tournament was in France, this was my first official World Championship tournament. It was a lower level tournament so while the hockey wasn't great it was in such a cool city. After that tournament one of my best friends came over and we traveled to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam together. I think this was definitely my favorite "post tournament" travel experience. In 2012 I was selected for my first A level tournament, u18's in Czech Republic. That was special in and of itself as it was the first time I got to see the top countries in a world championship. Ottawa 2013 was just amazing - my first senior A pool, in a country where hockey is religion and again I got to travel with one of my best friends. Budapest was another A level u18 championship in another phenomenal location. It was after this tournament that I got to visit an IIHF friend in Zurich, which really shows how fortunate I am to have friends all over the world. Finally here we are, getting ready to head to Sweden for my 2nd senior A level championship. While I am stressing about being ready to leave in a week, I can also reflect on how lucky I am to have had all of these experiences and can only be left to wonder what will make this tournament unique!
Next post will include my travel details, which were just emailed out yesterday!
I started officiating my senior year of college for extra cash. When I graduated and got a "real" job, I wasn't going to continue until I fully understood how expensive it was to play hockey in the Philly area. I figured I could ref on the side and basically make enough money to pay for my hockey dues. Opportunities started to present themselves and I became more entrenched in the officiating community. Several development camps later I earned my IIHF license in 2008 and was selected for my first IIHF assignment that fall, the 4 Nations Cup in Lake Placid. It was there that I worked my first USA vs Canada game - that will always be a very special memory. I started my current job at the Hartford right after I got home from 4 Nations. The following week, Matt Leaf at USA Hockey emailed me and asked if I'd be able to go to China for 2 weeks in February for the World University Games. I was a little nervous going in to ask my boss for two weeks off in a job that I had literally just started but fortunately the Hartford has a generous PTO policy and my boss at the time understood this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and allowed me to go. That tournament allowed me to get on the IIHF's radar and now I'm fortunate enough to be headed to my 6th tournament.
I was working this past week with another female official who has a ton of potential. She was asking a little bit about my upcoming trip but then she asked me a really tough question - what has been my favorite tournament? That is such a tough question because every experience has been amazing in its own unique way. China will always be special just because it was my first IIHF tournament abroad, I got to travel with one of my closest friends in the officiating community and it was such a unique place that I would have never gone to on my own. The next tournament was in France, this was my first official World Championship tournament. It was a lower level tournament so while the hockey wasn't great it was in such a cool city. After that tournament one of my best friends came over and we traveled to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam together. I think this was definitely my favorite "post tournament" travel experience. In 2012 I was selected for my first A level tournament, u18's in Czech Republic. That was special in and of itself as it was the first time I got to see the top countries in a world championship. Ottawa 2013 was just amazing - my first senior A pool, in a country where hockey is religion and again I got to travel with one of my best friends. Budapest was another A level u18 championship in another phenomenal location. It was after this tournament that I got to visit an IIHF friend in Zurich, which really shows how fortunate I am to have friends all over the world. Finally here we are, getting ready to head to Sweden for my 2nd senior A level championship. While I am stressing about being ready to leave in a week, I can also reflect on how lucky I am to have had all of these experiences and can only be left to wonder what will make this tournament unique!
Next post will include my travel details, which were just emailed out yesterday!
Monday, March 9, 2015
Time Flies
Wow, time flies! I can't believe it is the middle of March already. I feel like it was just a few weeks ago that I was sitting in Connecticut at a leadership council meeting for work obsessively checking my email because I knew IIHF assignments were due out any day. That email came shortly after I finished a presentation to senior leaders and it took everything in me not to jump up and start dancing around the room in excitement - I found out I was headed to the Women's World Championships in Malmo, Sweden.
Fast forward 6 months and tons of hockey games later and here I am, starting this blog again. It is funny, every time I get selected to work an IIHF event I think I am even more excited and thankful than I was the last time. I still can't believe I'm leaving for my 6th World Championship tournament in 2 1/2 weeks. There are over 26,000 registered officials in the United States and 22 were selected for international assignments this year. How crazy is it that not only am I one of those 22, but I'm now doing this for the 6th time? Wow. I've worked really hard over the years (and had some luck on my side) but I am truly amazed, humbled and proud to be given this opportunity. I've had so many people help me along the way and I just can't thank them enough for their support.
For those that are new to my blog, I started this in 2009 when I got my first IIHF assignment, the World University Games in Harbin, China. Remember, way back in 2009 I don't think I owned an iPhone and iMessage didn't exist so this blog was my way of keeping everyone at home informed of what I was up on the other side of the world. I had a lot of people tell me they really enjoyed following my journey, but the person that enjoyed it the most was my Grandma Casanave. When she passed away in 2012 (read that entry here) I decided to continue this blog whenever I traveled to a tournament in her memory.
Over the next few weeks before I leave I'll try to do a few entries that cover how I got to this point, some details about the tournament itself and my travel plans after. Once I'm in Sweden (I leave March 25th) I'll try to blog daily about my experiences. Looking forward to a fantastic tournament and more great memories!
Fast forward 6 months and tons of hockey games later and here I am, starting this blog again. It is funny, every time I get selected to work an IIHF event I think I am even more excited and thankful than I was the last time. I still can't believe I'm leaving for my 6th World Championship tournament in 2 1/2 weeks. There are over 26,000 registered officials in the United States and 22 were selected for international assignments this year. How crazy is it that not only am I one of those 22, but I'm now doing this for the 6th time? Wow. I've worked really hard over the years (and had some luck on my side) but I am truly amazed, humbled and proud to be given this opportunity. I've had so many people help me along the way and I just can't thank them enough for their support.
For those that are new to my blog, I started this in 2009 when I got my first IIHF assignment, the World University Games in Harbin, China. Remember, way back in 2009 I don't think I owned an iPhone and iMessage didn't exist so this blog was my way of keeping everyone at home informed of what I was up on the other side of the world. I had a lot of people tell me they really enjoyed following my journey, but the person that enjoyed it the most was my Grandma Casanave. When she passed away in 2012 (read that entry here) I decided to continue this blog whenever I traveled to a tournament in her memory.
Over the next few weeks before I leave I'll try to do a few entries that cover how I got to this point, some details about the tournament itself and my travel plans after. Once I'm in Sweden (I leave March 25th) I'll try to blog daily about my experiences. Looking forward to a fantastic tournament and more great memories!
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