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!
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