First Day in Budapest

I arrived in Budapest yesterday around 6:00.  After gathering my bags (both of which made it!), I found my ride to head out to the hotel.  The hotel was about 30 minutes from the airport.  It was really funny, the guy driving me had the GPS set.  Once we got on this one road, the GPS said, in english, "stay on this road for a very long time."  I started cracking up, my GPS definitely doesn't talk to me like that! 

Once I checked in  I found out that my roommate was Jana.  She and I roomed together in France so it was awesome to see a familiar face.  I had about an hour until our first meeting so I took a much needed shower and got unpacked.  Our meeting was pretty short, we did basic introductions and received our Hungarian money.  At IIHF tournaments, you typically receive half your money in Swiss Francs and the other half in the local currency.  We had $20000 bills in our envelopes which is a little strange to think about until you do the currency calculator and realize that about 226 forints is $1.  

After the meeting I went back up to the room and was asleep within 10 minutes.  All the travel and time change had finally caught up to me.  I slept a solid 11 hours and woke up this morning around 8:30.  We had our big meeting at 10 where we reviewed all of the procedures and logistics.  When the meeting was over, a group of us decided to walk around and check out the hotel.  The weather here is awesome, it was in the high 60s and sunny today.  Our hotel is beautiful.  It is attached to a waterpark so there are a ton of pools, both indoor and outdoor and boy were they busy. Observation #1 - European men definitely don't wear the same swimsuit style that North Americans wear!  Can we say speedos everywhere?!? After our little walk, we had lunch then walked to the rink (it is about 15 minutes away) to get our accreditations and check out the locker room situation.  

Following that a group of us decided to walk to the store to pick up a few things.  I found a case of Coca Cola Light so I am now a much happier person!  I found out that Malene from Denmark also shares my addiction, so we are going to be coke buddies all week!  Once we got back, a group of us decided to check out the waterpark.  It has probably been at least 15 years since I have been to a waterpark.  They have all different types of slides - ones  with tubes, ones with flat rafts and ones that you went down without anything.  Even though I couldn't read the signs, we figured out that they rate the slides like ski slopes - easy, medium and  difficult.   They also had a few that had a toilet bowl type things where you would get dropped in, spin around for a bit then shoot out the bottom on to  another slide.   It was so much fun, I need to try to get to one of the waterparks down the shore this summer! 

After all of our hands were wrinkled from the water we went up, showered and ate dinner.  Following dinner everyone headed back up to their rooms to crash.  We have an early morning skate tomorrow then games start in the afternoon.  We should find out our assignments soon, they have to be approved at the directorate meeting that is going on right now.  Looking forward  to  getting on the ice tomorrow!   

A pit stop in Frankfurt

I'm sitting at a little restaurant in the Frankfort airport now (where I had a traditional German meal) waiting for my next flight to Budapest.  So far the travel has been pretty uneventful which is good.  We left DC a little late but ended up making up the time in the air and landed right on time.  It was a 7 and a 1/2 hour flight here and I slept for about 6 hours.  While it wasn't great sleep at least it was something.  I can guarantee I'll sleep pretty well tonight!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a 4 and a 1/2 hour layover here.  I didn't really want to just sit in the airport the entire time so I decided to try to figure out something to do.  Many of you know that Crossfit is a pretty big part of my life back at home.  There is a 5 week worldwide competition called the Open that is the way you could eventually qualify for the Crossfit Games.  Over 200,000 people are competing and even though 99% of us (myself included) have zero shot at making the games it is still a lot of fun and a good way to see how you measure up against your peers. Crossfit headquarters announces the workout for the week on Thursday night and you have until Monday night to complete it and submit your score online.  When I registered for the Open I knew weeks 4 and 5 would happen while I was at worlds and I was totally ok with not being able to finish it as hockey is my #1 focus and what I train for.  But then I had an idea - why not try go do the workout during my long layover?  What better thing to do after sitting on a plane for 7 1/2 hours than to get up and get moving?  I did a little googling and found that Crossfit Am Main was only a 15 minute cab ride from the airport.  I emailed the owner yesterday and he said he would be there and happy to count for me if I could make it.  As soon as I landed in Frankfurt, I went through customs and caught a really nice Mercedes cab there. After a quick warm up, I went after it.  A few interesting notes:

-All the weights were in kilos vs pounds.  Based on what they had, I actually had to do a little more than the "prescribed" weight.
-The owner Steve spoke pretty good English.  However, he would start counting in German then correct himself!

I didn't necessarily do as well as I would have liked but I'm going to chalk that up to the long flight, the kilos and not eating.  But it was a fun experience and I think it helped me to get up and get moving!  The Crossfit community kind of reminds me of the hockey community in that you can go just about anywhere in the world and be welcomed.  It was definitely a good use of my layover.  Now off to Budapest!

Phew!

To say the last 48 hours have been a little crazy would be putting it nicely.  But here I am sitting at the airport waiting for the first of my 3 flights!  I am always pretty busy prior to leaving for one of these trips but this time around takes the cake for sure.  Between work (I had to travel to Connecticut for the day yesterday) and getting ready for settlement on the house I haven't had a whole lot of time for anything else, including packing and sleep. You would think that this being my 5th tournament I'd have the packing thing down to a science.  Not so much.  I always bring way too much stuff and this time is no exception.   And a word of advice for any of my readers - don't try to travel 2 weeks before you settle on a new house.  The mortgage company wants everything but my left arm so I've been going crazy trying to get all of their required documentation.  But I think just about everything got done so as long as I didn't forget anything while packing I should be good to go!

I haven't really posted much about the tournament itself so I figured I'd use this time to do so.  As I mentioned before, I'm going to the u18 Women's World Championship A Pool in Budapest, Hungry.  This is the top level IIHF tournament this year aside from the Olympics.  The teams participating include the USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Japan, Russia and Hungry.  The teams are split into two pools that will play a round robin.  The top team from each pool will receive a bye directly to the semi's.  Teams in 2nd and 3rd place will battle it out in the quarterfinals.  The 4th place team in each pool will play a 3 game series to try to earn the right to stay in the top division and the loser will be dropped to Division 1 next year.   While the USA and Canada are expected to dominate the competition, the rest of the teams should be pretty tightly matched so I expect a lot of close games.  Here is a link to the official tournament site: http://www.iihf.com/competition/365/statistics.html

Well it is almost time to board flight #1 to head to Washington Dulles.  Big thank you goes out to my Aunt Denise and Uncle Bob for driving me to the airport earlier today.  Also, for my friends that travel frequently, you have to get pre-tsa.  It easily saved me 30 minutes through security.  It was well worth every penny.  I have a short layover in Washington then comes the long flight over to Frankfurt.  Once in Frankfurt I have a 4 1/2 hour layover then it is on to Budapest!  Looking forward to getting some sleep on the plane and getting this journey started!

Surprise Package!

I didn't intend to do a blog post tonight but I wanted to share something really cool.  When I got home from work and the gym tonight, I had two packages at my front door.  The one package I was expecting - it was from USA Hockey and it had a bunch of USA pins and USA Hockey trinkets for me to take to Budapest to share with the other officials.  But the other package was a total surprise.  It was a little care package from my favorite French Canadian linesman Stephanie.  Stephanie and I had worked tournaments together the past two seasons and were roommates last year in Ottawa.  Inside the package were a few Canadian treats, a pair of mittens and some pins.  She wrote me a really sweet letter that just said she missed me as her roommate this year and she hoped to see me at a tournament in the future.  Funny story about Stephanie.  In Ottawa we were at two separate rinks.  She had a game at Scotia Bank one day and a game at Napean the next day.  She asked me if I would mind if she brought her equipment back to our room to air out.  I told her no problem, I figured I might need to do the same thing later in the tournament.  Now my equipment certainly doesn't smell like roses but holy crap, I walked into our room and almost passed out!  I now send her Facebook messages every once in awhile reminding her to wash her equipment!  I think she missed me as a roommate just because I'm the only one who would put up with that smell, haha!

I always talk about how fortunate I am to get these IIHF opportunities.  While the travel opportunities are awesome, the best part really is the people you meet and the friendships you make.  Thanks Stephanie, your little package totally made my day!

A Season in Review

Today I worked my last game prior to leaving for Budapest.  It was a pretty low key women's league game at the rink closest to my house but it was nice to get a little skate in this weekend.  Looking back on the season I'm pretty happy with how it went.  One of the challenges I face each season is I'm a referee for NCAA hockey and a linesman for international hockey.  There is a different mindset and different type of skating for each of those positions so I have to work hard to make sure that I get enough experience lining during the season to stay sharp.  I feel like I was pretty successful finding the right balance this season.  In years past, I'd work as much NCAA hockey as I could and fill in with line spots wherever I had room.  Hockey is a LONG season and I'd end up working so much that I'd feel a little burnt out by the end of the season.  Last season I cut back a little bit and tried to balance my schedule with more line spots and a little less travel, even if it meant blocking some weekends from the NCAA.  As a result I felt better prepared when I went to worlds so I tried to follow the same model this season and for the most part I feel ready.

One of the highlights of my season was the opportunity to work the 4 Nations Cup in November.  Anytime you get to work the national teams of any country it is exciting, but when you get to work the top 3 ranked teams in the world (USA, Canada and Finland) 2 1/2 months before the Olympics it is even more special.  The tournament took place in beautiful Lake Placid and all of the games took place on the same sheet of ice where the 1980 Miracle on ice occurred.  I've been fortunate enough to skate on that ice a number of times over the course of my career but it really never gets old - you can just feel the magic in that building.  At that tournament we had a miracle of our own when Finland beat the US to earn a spot in the finals.  For those that aren't familiar with the women's hockey world, the US and Canada are pretty far ahead of all of the other countries in terms of talent and funding.  While the other countries are closing the gap, it is still pretty rare that any other country beats the US or Canada so when it happens it is big news.  Finland's goalie absolutely stood on her head and the US just couldn't score on her.  It was exciting to watch.  I had the opportunity to work 4 great games that week, including the gold medal game between Finland and Canada.  And while working the gold game was an honor and a lot of fun, the highlight of the week for me was having the opportunity to work USA vs Canada.  In those games, you basically have 40 of the top 50 women's hockey players in the world on the ice at one time.  It's funny, one would think that even though they are rivals they would have a mutual respect for each other, especially when you consider that most of the Canadian girls spent time in the states playing NCAA hockey.  Wrong.  They HATE each other.  It really is unbelievable, words cannot do it justice.  I can't remember a game where I had to work that hard to keep it from exploding.  My partner and I actually discussed what we would do if there was a fight because it felt like one could happen at any minute.   There was a situation where a US girl was hit behind the play and started to chase after the Canadian girl who hit her.  I started yelling "17 don't do it, don't do it."  She turned around, looked at me, shook her head and went to the bench.  That's the type of thing we dealt with all game.  It was so much fun to work, definitely something I'll never forget.  And it was pretty cool to watch that same game 2 1/2 months later in Sochi and think about how I was on the ice with those teams earlier this season.

I'm so excited to be leaving in a few days!  I've put in the work all season both on and off the ice so I'm feeling ready and prepared to go to work.  Off the ice it is a different story, I'm going slightly insane trying to get everything that needs to happen done before I leave.  It is going to be a long few days but I'll be sitting on that plane before I know it!

Travel Plans

My trip to Budapest is fast approaching!  I can't believe I leave a week from tomorrow!  This afternoon I got an email from the IIHF that had all of my final travel documents along with some more information about the tournament.  I leave from Philadelphia at 7:40 on Thursday night and fly to Washington Dulles.  I have a two hour layover there then fly to Frankfurt, Germany.  Once in Frankfurt, I have a 4 1/2 hour layover and then fly to Budapest.  I arrive in Budapest at 5:55pm on Friday.  Needless to say, it is going to be a long travel day.  

We were also sent the list of officials who will be participating along with information about where we will be staying.  After reading that information I added a bathing suit to the packing list because apparently our hotel is attached to a water park!  The hotel looks really nice from the website and I'm sure we will take advantage of the many hot tubs they have!  

One of the great things about going to these tournaments is getting to meet new people from all over the world.  Looking over the list, there are only two familiar names at this tournament!  I obviously know the other American (Katie) but I am really excited to be reunited with my roommate from when I was in France!  I haven't seen Jana (from Slovakia) in a few years but have been able to keep up with her on Facebook.  

Another great thing about going to Worlds is you have the opportunity to travel after the tournament if you so choose.  I've been able to take advantage of this the past few years and will be doing so again this year.  As I mentioned in my last post, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work the 4 Nations Cup in Lake Placid this year.  The IIHF sent two officials to that tournament, Anna from Switzerland and Marie from France.  Anna and I became very good friends so she suggested I come visit her after my tournament.  I took her up on the offer so once the tournament ends, I have a 48 hour layover in Zurich!  

I wish I could stay more than a few days in Switzerland, but another big event in my life has made the timing a bit difficult this year.  For those that don't know, back in September I signed the paperwork to build a new townhouse.  My closing is set for April 3rd at 9:00am.  I leave Zurich at 5:20pm on April 2nd and land in Newark at 8:10pm.  Newark is about an hour and a half from my house so you figure if all goes well I should arrive at my current home approximately 10 hours prior to settlement.  Nothing like cutting it close!  

To say I'm a little stressed right now would be putting it mildly.  I have a list of a million things that I have to get done between now and the time I have to leave for the airport next Thursday.  But I'm sure I'll find a way to get it all done, and the moment I set foot on that plane the focus becomes working hard and enjoying the experience!

Here we go again!

Looks like it is about time I started up this blog again!  Two weeks from tonight I will be on a plane on my way to Budapest (don't feel bad if you had to look at a map to see where Budapest is!) for the u18 Women's World Championships! For my new readers, I started this blog back in 2009 when I got my first IIHF assignment in China as a way to stay in touch with my family and friends back at home.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy reading about my experiences, but the one person who got the most out of it was my Grandma Casanave.  Sadly, she passed away two years ago (read about our relationship here) but I have decided to continue this blog whenever I travel to a tournament in her memory.

I can't believe that this season is almost over and I'm getting ready for my 5th World Championship tournament.  This season has been a little different for me than those in the past.  Other years my season has started with exciting news when I found out I was assigned a championship.  This year it started out with a disappointment when I found out I wasn't selected to go to the Olympic Games in Sochi.  That is the pinnacle for all female officials and it is my ultimate goal to get there.  Big congratulations goes out to all of the girls that were selected.  The 3 Americans selected did a fantastic job representing us and had the experience of a lifetime.  That said, as an American female, once you work the Olympics you are "retired" from IIHF events so in a way it might have been a blessing in disguise that I wasn't selected, because now I have the opportunity to try to stay on this roller coaster for a few more years!  

Not long after I heard about Sochi, I found out I was selected to work both the 4 Nations Cup in Lake Placid and the u18 World Championships in Budapest.  That disappointment turned to excitement - I was psyched to be selected to work both of these tournaments.  4 Nations is a tournament held every year between USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland.  I worked this tournament the last time it was in the United States in 2008 so I was thrilled to get to experience it again.  To have the opportunity to work 4 teams that were headed to the Olympics in 2 months was absolutely awesome.  I can talk more about that tournament experience in a separate blog post in the coming weeks.  U18's is the top level World Championship tournament this year so I'm really looking forward to experiencing some great hockey and seeing the future of our sport.

The next few weeks are going to be a bit crazy for me but I'll do my best to write a few posts about my preparations and share the information I know about the tournament.  Goodnight!