First Games at the Tournament

We got up in the morning and went down for breakfast (after figuring our the shower).  Another nice buffet with fruits, meats, eggs, breads, pancakes (more like crepes but called pancakers), and juices.  Of course, coffee was the first thing to be picked up.

Then, we went back to our room to get ourselves ready.  We needed to visit the bank machine that was just around the corner from our hotel, at a mall.  We went through, looking for another bag to replace Dawn's backpack - it is very small and starting to tear, so we thought if we could find something, we would get rid of the backpack.  We did find a store with some bags, and sort of fixated on a nice, leather bag we could use as a carry-on in the plane.  We looked at the price - about 1000 Swedish Krone, which as it translates, is about $180 Canadian.  We thought better at that point, but, it is still early, and we do have a trip to Stockholm coming up.  My money says we get it, or another that was also interesting to us, but about SEK 600.

Part of our crowd at the arena

Once back outside, we spoke with some other Canadians who were just walking around.  They said the bus left the hotel at 12:00, while I was sure I had read the itinerary as 11:00.  On closer inspection, I realized I was looking at the schedule for yesterday, when we left Copenhagen, so we had an extra hour to kill.

Warm up

Once safely on the bus, we left for the Istadium - it is the smaller of the two arenas, and where Canada plays all our pool games.  We got there early, before the doors into the arena opened, but we did get some time to go through the small souvenir shop.  There wasn't a lot there, but what was there, was very expensive.  We hoped to find a shirt or hoodie, but this store didn't get them.  The guy said they have 5 shops, and the others got most of their stock, so they didn't have much.  Unfortunate for them because the Canadians would have spent all of their money there.  The place was full to bursting with red and white shirts, looking to purchase whatever they could.  We ended up with a couple decks of cards, and some fridge magnets.  I'm sure they will get more stock in, but they may have missed their opportunity at that shop.

Canadian player of the game

Post game celebration

We found our seats, among the sea of Canadians.  The arena is small, looks like it holds about 5000 fans.  It has a low ceiling, and time clocks at both ends.  There are also a couple big screens in opposite corners of each other.  When the Canadian team came out for their warmup the crowd went crazy, cheering and clapping.  Then, they went back in for the ice cleaning, and all got ready for the game.

I noticed there was internet available in the arena, but a password was needed.  I asked one of the ushers if he knew what it was, so he went and found someone who did know.  I was trying to access the public hotspot, which didn't work, but once he showed me which wireless to attach to, I was on.  That is why I was able to send some emails and photos, during the game.  It was sort of hit and miss, but it did work part of the time.

Raising the Canadian Flag

The game was Canada and Germany, with Germany scoring within the first couple minutes.  The crowd got somewhat quiet at that point, but after a while, Canada scored and they/we were excited.  Then we scored again, and everyone thought we were on our way, but Germany responded with another.  Then, Canada sort of went to town, scoring 5 more and finishing the game in pretty good fashion.

After that, it was walking around, and then finding the hospitality room for our tour.  Lots of folks in there, and they ran out of hamburgers.  I was hungry, but if there wasn't any, there wasn't any.  So back out of the room and walking around.  We found one of the hotdog stands that are in the arena, and got a couple dogs and drinks.  Very spicy hot dogs - the wieners were about twice as long as the buns, so that was interesting.

We decided to sit in another spot for the next game (USA vs Czech Republic), so went to the ends, near where the ice cleaning machine comes out.

Crowd in the Hospitality Room

We had a much better view of the ice surface, but it was really cold.  The US team is very fast and attack the puck all the time.  It looked like it would be a blowout, but teh Czechs stuck with them, for the most part.  Again, the crowd was mostly Canadians, and they were cheering for the Czechs.  I overheard one lady say, "anyone but the Americans", so I guess that is where the loyalites lie.  The Americans won that game, 5-1, and then we left to get on our bus and go back to the hotel.

The hotel had a post-game buffet, but it was SEK 225 each, which is about $37, so we passed and went up to our room.  We did have a couple buns left from Copenhagen, so we each had one (they were getting dry) and that was it.  The TV in our sitting area had been fixed while we were out, so we watched the Sweden/Swiss game that was on at the other arena.  Strangely, it went off in the 3rd period, so we don't know how it ended up.  We did find another game taking place at the Spengler cup, and watched the rest of that one.  Canada did come back to win that game.

Then it was off to bed, getting ready for a short tour of Malmo tomorrow.