Game 3 - Slovakia Dec. 30, 2013

We left for the arena just after 12:00 pm, arriving before 12:30.  That gave us enough time to go to where we like to sit and watch the games, in the end zone where the flags are raised for the winning team.

The first game was the Germans taking on the Czech Republic.  When the German team came on the ice, it was obvious the Canadians were cheering for them, as the crowd erupted in noise.  What a good game.

The Czechs were favoured, in my mind, and played with confidence and skill.  However, the Germans were just as quick, and just as tenacious.  They basically bottled the Czechs up, similar to how the Czechs stymied the Canadian team in their game.  With both teams being so quick, it was an exciting game, and when the German team scored their first goal, it was pretty exciting.

Suffice to say that the Germans won the game 3-0, which was clearly disheartening for the Czechs, but tremendously uplifting for the Germans.  They gave the Canadian fans acknowledgement for their support, and we left the rink quite happy.

Then it was the hour and a half wait for the Canada-Slovakia game.  We went to an area called the Fan Zone where there were a couple big screens set up, showing the broadcast of the Russia-Finland game from the other arena.  That was fun to watch for what was left of their second period.  There sure weren't many fans in attendance in that big arena.  We were happy to see the Finns score 3 goals in the 2nd period, after trailing 1-0 coming into the period.

Then, off to our game.  It was exciting, but there were lots of nervous people.  Once again, the reception for Team Canada was awesome.  The crowd was big, loud, and boisterous.  I took a short video of the crowd, which I've included here.

Slovakia played a hard checking trap game, and really bottled our team up.  They were quite opportunistic, and have some skilled players.  All of them are quite aggressive when attacking the puck, but the Canadian plan seemed to be to hit them every chance they had.  They did, but received a penalty right away for a bad hit - the guy ducked and got it in the head - which allowed the Slovaks to score the first goal.  Very quiet for a few minutes in the arena, but the crowd quickly got back at it.

We took some penalties that were deserved, but also some that we thought were not deserved.  We had a couple 5 on 3s against us, and both the Slovaks scored both times.  However, Canada was able to come back and eventually tie the game in the 3rd period.  Canada was very strong in the 3rd, out playing and out hitting the Slovaks.  Eventually, with about 3 minutes left in the game, Canada scored to go ahead.  Shortly after that, the Slovaks pulled their goalie (about 1:40 left to play) and hit the post. Off that post, Team Canada came down the ice on a 2 on 1, and managed to put the puck in the net to ice the game.  How exciting was that?

Oh Canada

Of course we stayed for the presentations and the flag raising, and to sing Oh Canada, and then out to get on our bus before it left.  That part is a bit of a gong show as we are never sure where our bus will be in the long line of buses parked outside the stadium, so it is a walk back and forth until we can spot our bus number.  It was a much happier crowd on the ride back to the hotel, with lots of folks starting to make their predictions for the US game tomorrow.

Saluting the Crowd