We were both asleep really early last night. Dawn went to sleep about 6:00 (just saw the beginning of the news on Global), and I went to bed about a half hour later. We just could not stay awake. Consequently, we woke up pretty early in the morning. Both of us were awake about 3:00 am, but we stuck it out until about 5:00, when I just couldn't stay in bed any longer. So I got up and thought about checking my emails. Dawn, realizing I was up, decided to watch some TV.
After getting ourselves organized, we left the hotel at about 9:00 am. We had to make a stop in Vancouver, at a shop that made something that Dawn wanted to purchase, so we set out looking for it. Old GPS Jill took us right there, and we then had to look for a place to park. We ended up just stopping in a driveway of one of the businesses nearby, and Dawn went in while I stayed in the car. Of course, the place couldn't sell it to us because the were a wholesaler, not retail. We have to order it and get it shipped to us. Crazy.
Then, we headed off to find the freeway to come home. We hadn't eaten since the plane the day before, so we decided to fine a White Spot. As we got on the freeway, I knew I had to gas up for the trip, and the price was quite high in Vancouver ($129.9/litre), so we decided to fill up in Abbotsford ($118.9/litre). We stopped at the White Spot at the Whatcom Road exit, ate, then filled up, and headed home by about 12:30 pm.
The trip was good, most of the way. It didn't seem to take us long to get on the Coquihalla, and although the road was wet, it was pretty good until we started going up the Great Bear Snowshed hill. Then the slush started building on the less travelled lanes. Each time we passed one of the trucks, and hit some of that slush, the car was jerked back and forth. We had to stop for a pit stop near the toll booth area, and then we continued. After leaving that area, the roads got better for a while.
About 10km south of Merritt, we came across a sign saying "accident ahead" with a couple flares burning. Just around the corner, a pickup had been in an accident, but it didn't look too serious. The RCMP were there taking photos, but we didn't see any ambulances. We went by the scene fairly slowly, and as I sped up again, our car started to slip and slide. It was then we realized that this was black ice. I stepped on the brakes (after I got it down to a much slower speed, and all 4 wheels locked up, so now we were nervous.
It was like that all the way from the accident until almost to the Lac Le Jeune turnoff, so that part of the trip was relatively slow. I let all those who wanted pass me by, without being concerned about keeping up with them. As we came down the last bit of the hills into Kamloops and the weigh scales, it began snowing, and by the time we got to Costco, it was snowing quite a lot, and visibility was getting worse, so I decided to some down the Summit bypass and go through town, rather than my normal way on the highway. We were glad I did, and we don't feel it took us any longer to get home.
It was sure nice to roll into our driveway. We quickly emptied the car, unpacked our suitcases, threw in the first load of laundry, and just sat in our rockers. Nice to be home.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Jan 6, 2014 - Heading Home
We got back to
the hotel at about 11:00 pm, and our bus was supposed to leave at 2:50
am., so there wasn't going to be much opportunity for sleep. Dawn did
sleep a bit, but I just lay on the bed for about half an hour and then
got up and had a shower.
On the bus at 2:30, on the way to Copenhagen airport at 2:50, and arrive at the airport at about 3:30. Then, we had to figure out what to do because the place, although open, had very few people there. We printed off our boarding passes, but they didn't indicate what gate our plane was leaving from. Then, we had to stand in line for an hour and a half until the check-in counter opened. Initially, only 1 counter opened, and people were quite disgruntled. The line up was very large.
Then they opened some more counters, and things started to move. We still had lots of time before our plane boarded, so once we checked our bags, we had to go and find our gate for boarding. The waiting room was overfull, with no seats available (well not a problem for those who got there early, but for the rest of us...). We found a small restaurant area that was not open yet, and sat there until they started boarding our plane.
This flight was just over an hour to Frankfurt, and then it was walk and walk, go through security, walk some more, go through some more security, then walk and walk some more, and go through some more security. After that, it was wait for boarding (about an hour), and then load the plane. Once again, we had pretty good seats. The only problem is that they were right over the wing, so it was pretty difficult to see much when we were in the air.
I can say that we would definitely fly again with Lufthansa, if we had the opportunity. They certainly fed and watered us well. A couple meals on the flight, a couple snacks, a number of opportunities for drinks during meals, snacks, as well as other times. For those who drink, there was quite a selection of wines, liquors, and beer. All of this included in the price of the flight. We had never been on flights where people didn't have to pay for this sort of thing.
Well, we arrived in Vancouver just after noon, Pacific time. Vancouver airport was a slow, frustrating experience. Another plane arrived right behind ours, and the line up to declare our items was huge. It moved fairly quickly, but it was back and forth walking through the queue until we made it to the machine to make our declaration. Then, more queuing up to go through customs. Then waiting for our bags (this took quite a while), and once they came, going through another customs check point, although this one was quick). Then find where our shuttle was to pick us up, and wait until it came.
We got to the hotel about 2:00 pm, and checked in. After settling in, we had to go find the travel company for the trip to China, in February. We had to make our application for the Chinese Visa, and it took us a bit of time to find the travel company. By this time, we were really dragging our rear ends. The office was up a flight of stairs, which by this time, was quite a chore.
After that, it was back to the hotel. We weren't hungry, so we sat around, watched TV, got caught up on emails, and generally unwound (as much as we could in a small room with only 1 uncomfortable chair). It was difficult to keep our eyes open, so we thought we would stay in and watch the news. Well, we got the beginning (Dawn remembers seeing Chris Galus), but that was it. We were asleep. By my calculation, we had basically been awake for about 45 hours (from get up on Jan 5 in Sweden to sleep Jan 6 in Vancouver)
We had a great trip. We very much enjoyed the tournament, we met some people who we really liked, and we were thoroughly impressed with Destiny Tours, the travel group who organized everything. We are now considering putting our name on the list for their tour to Finland for the 2016 World Junior Tournament.
On the bus at 2:30, on the way to Copenhagen airport at 2:50, and arrive at the airport at about 3:30. Then, we had to figure out what to do because the place, although open, had very few people there. We printed off our boarding passes, but they didn't indicate what gate our plane was leaving from. Then, we had to stand in line for an hour and a half until the check-in counter opened. Initially, only 1 counter opened, and people were quite disgruntled. The line up was very large.
Then they opened some more counters, and things started to move. We still had lots of time before our plane boarded, so once we checked our bags, we had to go and find our gate for boarding. The waiting room was overfull, with no seats available (well not a problem for those who got there early, but for the rest of us...). We found a small restaurant area that was not open yet, and sat there until they started boarding our plane.
This flight was just over an hour to Frankfurt, and then it was walk and walk, go through security, walk some more, go through some more security, then walk and walk some more, and go through some more security. After that, it was wait for boarding (about an hour), and then load the plane. Once again, we had pretty good seats. The only problem is that they were right over the wing, so it was pretty difficult to see much when we were in the air.
I can say that we would definitely fly again with Lufthansa, if we had the opportunity. They certainly fed and watered us well. A couple meals on the flight, a couple snacks, a number of opportunities for drinks during meals, snacks, as well as other times. For those who drink, there was quite a selection of wines, liquors, and beer. All of this included in the price of the flight. We had never been on flights where people didn't have to pay for this sort of thing.
Well, we arrived in Vancouver just after noon, Pacific time. Vancouver airport was a slow, frustrating experience. Another plane arrived right behind ours, and the line up to declare our items was huge. It moved fairly quickly, but it was back and forth walking through the queue until we made it to the machine to make our declaration. Then, more queuing up to go through customs. Then waiting for our bags (this took quite a while), and once they came, going through another customs check point, although this one was quick). Then find where our shuttle was to pick us up, and wait until it came.
We got to the hotel about 2:00 pm, and checked in. After settling in, we had to go find the travel company for the trip to China, in February. We had to make our application for the Chinese Visa, and it took us a bit of time to find the travel company. By this time, we were really dragging our rear ends. The office was up a flight of stairs, which by this time, was quite a chore.
After that, it was back to the hotel. We weren't hungry, so we sat around, watched TV, got caught up on emails, and generally unwound (as much as we could in a small room with only 1 uncomfortable chair). It was difficult to keep our eyes open, so we thought we would stay in and watch the news. Well, we got the beginning (Dawn remembers seeing Chris Galus), but that was it. We were asleep. By my calculation, we had basically been awake for about 45 hours (from get up on Jan 5 in Sweden to sleep Jan 6 in Vancouver)
We had a great trip. We very much enjoyed the tournament, we met some people who we really liked, and we were thoroughly impressed with Destiny Tours, the travel group who organized everything. We are now considering putting our name on the list for their tour to Finland for the 2016 World Junior Tournament.
Jan. 5, 2014 - Bronze and Gold Medal Games
The day started at 11:30 in the arena with our whole group (520 people) arriving at the arena early for a group photo. We completely filled a section of the arena, and even with the photo being taken from across the ice in the stands where the TV cameras were located, John had trouble getting everyone in. Finally it was done, then we went downstairs to the reception hall.
Here, we were treated to a luncheon of roast beef, chicken, pork tenderloin, salads, scalloped potatoes, and vegetables. They certainly fed us well. Then there were some farewell speeches and thank yous, before we got ready for the game.
This was it. The final chance for medals. Canada played Russia in the first game for the Bronze medal. What a great game. Canada played very well (as did the Russians), but the first goal was an own goal, going in off the defenceman's skate. The Russians were very excited, as they should have been.
The other goal the Russians scored was a bit of a weak one for our goalie, although there was a bit of a screen. The Russian shot from just inside the blue line and it when in high on the left side. Another downer.
Canada scored on another of their "hard work in close" efforts. This caused the pro-Canadian crowd to go nuts, and the arena was hopping. The effort and level of compete was very high, and there were many times when they completely dominated the Russians, beating the trap and forcing the play. However, it was not to be, even when pulling the goalie for the last minute and a half. We lost that game, 2-1.
Then it was back to waiting for the much anticipated Gold medal game. - Sweden vs Finland. The crowd was excited, there was certainly a hum in the air, and the arena was loud. When the Swedish team arrived on the ice, the noise was deafening.
This was another great game. They were back and forth, lots of skillful plays, great defensive and offensive plays, and just exciting hockey. We were really impressed. Someone brought up the thing about fighting in hockey, and although there was a bit of pushing and shoving, the games were tremendously exciting without the "after the whistle" pushing and shoving, and testosterone pumping pushing talking.
Finland scored first, quietening the crowd. Then they went into their trap, defensive mode. The Swedes kept pushing, and it was back and forth. Then Sweden scored and the place erupted. From there, the Fins went back to offensive play, and basically seemed to be outplaying the Swedes. The Fins scored again, and then went back into their defensive mode.
Each time the Swedes came back, Finland started playing their offensive game and were able to go back up by one. What fast, exciting hockey. It was a real pleasure to watch.
As time wound down, the crowd got more and more anxious. When Sweden scored to tie it up, the place went nuts. After another full break to clean the ice, the teams came back on the ice and the house was rocking. Strangely, the Fins outplayed the Swedes, 4 on 4. It was like Sweden didn't practice 4 on 4, and the Fins did. Finland outplayed them badly, finally scoring the overtime goal on a breakdown in the corner with nobody backing up the defenceman who was trying to tie up the scorer who skated out, waited until the goalie opened up, and slid the puck in 5-hole.
What excitement for Team Finland. What a crushing defeat for Team Sweden. This team had been built to win this tournament, and the country (along with many others including me) felt they had this one "in the bag". Finland pulled it off, and the Swedes were devastated.
After the medals and closing ceremony, it was back to the hotel to get things ready for leaving, very early in the morning.
Here, we were treated to a luncheon of roast beef, chicken, pork tenderloin, salads, scalloped potatoes, and vegetables. They certainly fed us well. Then there were some farewell speeches and thank yous, before we got ready for the game.
 |
| Warm Up |
 |
| 2 Minutes to Start |
The other goal the Russians scored was a bit of a weak one for our goalie, although there was a bit of a screen. The Russian shot from just inside the blue line and it when in high on the left side. Another downer.
 |
| Now We're Done |
Then it was back to waiting for the much anticipated Gold medal game. - Sweden vs Finland. The crowd was excited, there was certainly a hum in the air, and the arena was loud. When the Swedish team arrived on the ice, the noise was deafening.
This was another great game. They were back and forth, lots of skillful plays, great defensive and offensive plays, and just exciting hockey. We were really impressed. Someone brought up the thing about fighting in hockey, and although there was a bit of pushing and shoving, the games were tremendously exciting without the "after the whistle" pushing and shoving, and testosterone pumping pushing talking.
Finland scored first, quietening the crowd. Then they went into their trap, defensive mode. The Swedes kept pushing, and it was back and forth. Then Sweden scored and the place erupted. From there, the Fins went back to offensive play, and basically seemed to be outplaying the Swedes. The Fins scored again, and then went back into their defensive mode.
 |
| Sweden Watching Finland Celebrate |
 |
| Finland Wins |
As time wound down, the crowd got more and more anxious. When Sweden scored to tie it up, the place went nuts. After another full break to clean the ice, the teams came back on the ice and the house was rocking. Strangely, the Fins outplayed the Swedes, 4 on 4. It was like Sweden didn't practice 4 on 4, and the Fins did. Finland outplayed them badly, finally scoring the overtime goal on a breakdown in the corner with nobody backing up the defenceman who was trying to tie up the scorer who skated out, waited until the goalie opened up, and slid the puck in 5-hole.
 |
| Heartbreak |
What excitement for Team Finland. What a crushing defeat for Team Sweden. This team had been built to win this tournament, and the country (along with many others including me) felt they had this one "in the bag". Finland pulled it off, and the Swedes were devastated.
 |
| The Medal Winning Countries |
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Jan 4, 2014 - Semi Final Games
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.
Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer ©
 |
| Canadian Fan |
Oh woe is me. A tough game for Canada. They didn't play very well, and Finland had a great game plan. They stifled most offensive chances, played the trap to perfection, and scored on their early opportunities. The Canadian team did not get untracked for the whole game, and got few good chances. It looked pretty good at the end of the 1st period, with not score.
In the 2nd period, Finland finally broke the ice, scoring a good goal. Then they got another, and it didn't look so good. Canada finally was able to get in close to the net with the puck and manage to put one by their goalie (who played really well, by the way), and the crowd was back in it. Unfortunately, Finland scored shortly afterward.
 |
| Face-off Against Finland |
In the third, as time wound down, Canada had to start taking chances, and that is when the the Finns were able to ice the game. The final score was 5-1.
 |
| They Felt Pretty Bad About the Loss |
There was some pretty dismal refereeing. Imagine calling a goalie for tripping when he stops a breakaway, and the player he stops runs into his pad and falls down. Imagine calling a hit to the head, when the guy ducks, the Canadian player goes low and hits him shoulder to shoulder, into the boards. Many other instances of shoddy refereeing as well, especially as they let them play hockey throughout much of the games. Oh well, no sense crying now, they still have a game left against the Russians for the bronze medal. Hopefully they can come back up, but the Russians had a tough defeat against the Swedes in their semi final, losing 2-1, so maybe they will also have to get back up.
 |
| Russian Team Warming Up |
The Sweden-Russia game was very exciting. It was back and forth, hard skating and checking, and very good hockey. The Swedes were lucky to come out of the 1st period without any goals against them. The Russians outplayed them, quite a lot. After that, they were pretty even, and a few good chances led to the goals that each team scored.
With time running down, Russia pulled their goalie, and then Sweden took a penalty, so the Russians had 6 skaters against 4. They had some good chances, but were unable to put the puck in the net. As time expired, there was quite a row in the corner, and what looked like a couple fights. The Swedish coach was quite upset, I'm sure because he could see some of his players suspended for the Gold Medal game. As it turns out, 1 player has a hearing this morning to determine if he will play or be suspended.
The big arena is pretty nice. The crowd was very loud during the Sweden game. What an atmosphere. During the Canada game, it was also very loud. Our Canadian fans did everything we could to help out the team, but it was not to be.
After the game, it was back to the hotel and get ready for bed. Tomorrow, we are going to leave a little early because they are going to take a group photo. We also have to get our suitcases packed as when we return, there will be little time. We board our bus for the airport at 2:50 am, so won't be getting much sleep tonight.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Day off in Stockholm - Jan. 3, 2014
Up early this morning to fly off to Stockholm. The kitchen had bag lunches for us, ready when we came down for the bus. They were huge - a bunwich, juice, muffins, coffee, orange, apple, and yogurt. Needless to say, far too much to eat, so we ate a bit, and left the rest. It was very good, and a nice gesture.
When we arrived in Stockholm, it was a matter of getting our group organized, finding our guides and boarding the buses. We had about 80 people in all.
First we drove from the airport for about 40 minutes until we reached Stockholm. Then we drove around a bit in Stockholm, ending up in Old Town. From there, we went on a walking tour of Old Town, looking at the castle, the main house of government, some of the magnificent architecture that was built 3 and 400 years ago. Wow. It is just spectacular, especially when thinking of the huge amount of work that had to be done, without our modern equipment and machinery. It must have taken years to put one of these huge buildings together.
Then, we had to walk to our buses and head off to our next spot. This was the VASA Museum. Vasa is a ship that had been built for the King of Stockholm, about 500 years ago. It was the biggest warship at the time. On its maiden voyage, after travelling less than a kilometre, the problems with its construction became apparent as it did not have a deep enough keel, and it sank in the harbour. 400 years later, it was found, raised, and has now been restored and is kept in the Vasa Museum. It is a spectacular story. We were there for about 2 hours, viewing the historical artifacts, and watching a video about it.
Then we were off to another museum. This one, the ABBA Museum. We were there for about 2 hours also. It was spectacular. There were stations where you can tap on a button, and a recording about that part of the exhibit plays on this small phone that you were given on entry into the museum. We had a great time, and it brought back many memories of when we were much younger.
We bused to Copenhagen to check in. Our flight was on a Norwegian Air 737-800, a nice little jet. The flight took an hour to get to Stockholm. Interesting about the flight, they had WiFi which was free, but if you wanted a water or coffee, you had to pay. I worked on my iPad for the trip, and Dawn tried to get some sleep.
 | |
| Steeple - Old Town |
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| Narrow Walkway |
We did get some free time to walk around in this area, after our tour guide had shown us the spots they were planning to show. Some very narrow streets, yet some vehicles still drive on them. There were also some very narrow sidewalks between buildings, and some that were a little wider, although we had to walk single file, sometimes, when meeting other groups of people. All the walkways and roads in this section are cobblestone. Again, it is hard to imagine the work of laying all those cobblestones.
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| Eva-Victoria in front of Palace |
Eva-Victoria, our guide, said that Stockholm usually has snow at this time of year. However, there wasn't any visible here, the same as Malmo. I wondered what it must be like to walk down those cobblestone streets and walkways if there was snow. It seemed to me like they must be very slippery. They were wet because there was a bit of rain and mist, but not slippery to walk on.
After this, they took us to lunch at a small restaurant in a small museum. They had things ready for us, and we only had an hour before we had to leave to our next venue. The lunch was light (salad, baked chicken and potatoes), and quite tasty.
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| Carved Figures from the Ship |
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| TheVasa - 98% restored |
Then we were off to another museum. This one, the ABBA Museum. We were there for about 2 hours also. It was spectacular. There were stations where you can tap on a button, and a recording about that part of the exhibit plays on this small phone that you were given on entry into the museum. We had a great time, and it brought back many memories of when we were much younger.
After that, off to find our hotel, another Radisson Blu in downtown Stockholm. Our room was on the 6th floor, and it was the smallest of the 3 hotels we stayed at in
Sweden. It was a nice room, but we were happy that we didn't have to spend the whole tournament with this room as our base.
 |
| Mixer |
 |
| At the end of the tour |
We didn't go to the ice bar with many of the others, and decided to get supper at a nearby restaurant. There was one across the street from the hotel, so we decided to give it a try. It was similar to Moxies or Milestones back home. We got seated after a 10 minute wait, at a small table, near the front door. Not the best seats, but we didn't want to wait any longer. I had ribs, and Dawn had a chicken breast. Unfortunately, I didn't understand the portions, and when he asked me if I wanted XXL, I said yes. Well, when it came, it meant 2 racks of ribs, which was a lot. I toughened up, though, and ate all of it. ;-)
Then it was back to our room, read a bit, watch a bit of TV (Dawn found the Edmonton-San Jose game on TV (in English), so we watched a bit of that. Then to sleep because it was going to be another early morning to head back to Malmo.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Quarter Finals - Russia-USA, Canada-Switzerland -Jan 2, 2014
This morning we slept in until 7:30, got showered, and basically took our time in the room. I looked at my watch and it indicated about 9:45 am, so we decided to go for breakfast. Then I looked at our itinerary and saw that our bus was to leave at 10:30, rather than the usual noon.. Panic set in as we needed to get breakfast before leaving for the arena. We hustled down, dished up a small portion and ate. Then I looked at my watch and and it showed about 9:15, so clearly I had read it wrong the first time. Now we had lots of time to get ourselves ready.
The USA-Russia game was the first one, so we got to the arena about an hour before the game started. After sitting in the lobby, we went in to find the seats we like to sit in - lots more people were coming in, so we weren't sure if we would be able to sit there, or not. It turned out that we only had to move over one seat because a couple ladies had the seat numbers we had chosen.
The game started, and Russia scored first. Then the Americans scored a couple goals to lead 2-1. The Russians tied it up. Then the Americans went ahead 3-2. In the 2nd period, they were back and forth. The Russians picked up their play and were really pressing. With about 6 minutes left in the period, the Americans took a penalty, and then shortly after that, another. Down 5 skaters to 3, the Russians scored to let one penalty expire. Then they took another penalty for shooting the puck over the boards, and the Russians scored again, to lead 4-3.
They went through the third period holding onto that lead. With 1:40 left in the period, the US pulled their goalie to try to get the equalizer. The American defenceman had the puck with a Russian attacking him. He fell down, and the Russian scored into an empty net to win the game 5-3. A real downer for the US, but very exciting for the Russians. They saluted the crowd for their support in the game, before leaving the ice.
Then we went to the Fan Zone to watch the Finland-Czech game on the big screen. We stayed until the end of the second period with the Czechs leading 3-2. With the Canadian game coming up, we wanted to watch the warm-up, so went back into the arena. Later, we found out that Finland had come back to beat the Czech team, 4-3.
Warm-up with Canada and Switzerland was good. For the 4th game in a row, Canada was wearing their red uniforms and shooting twice at the end we were sitting. This game had more people at it, and the seats we had chosen remained empty, so we thought we were in luck. Another group of young guys with no shirts and CANADA spelled on their chests, chose the seats in front of us, but they were pretty much harmless. It was a good start with Canada scoring first.
In the 2nd period, a young couple who had been in Copenhagen and experienced trouble with the train arrived. Of course, we were in their seats. We moved, and the ladies who had come in earlier, offered to move down a couple seats so we could stay there. A Canadian player, after getting taken down on a breakaway, was awarded a penalty shot. He scored on that to lead 2-0. With 1 second left in the second, the Swiss team scored a goal that had to be looked at for quite a while to ensure it wasn't tipped with a high stick. It was allowed, so that was the way the period ended.
Then in the 3rd, we scored another to take the game handily. The Swiss were tenacious and hard checking. They were very quick, and gave the bigger Canadian team some hard checks. It was a good game, but the outcome was the important part.
After that, it was back to our hotel to get ready for the early trip to Stockholm in the morning. We had to make sure we had things figured out for packing, because we were leaving early for the airport.
The game started, and Russia scored first. Then the Americans scored a couple goals to lead 2-1. The Russians tied it up. Then the Americans went ahead 3-2. In the 2nd period, they were back and forth. The Russians picked up their play and were really pressing. With about 6 minutes left in the period, the Americans took a penalty, and then shortly after that, another. Down 5 skaters to 3, the Russians scored to let one penalty expire. Then they took another penalty for shooting the puck over the boards, and the Russians scored again, to lead 4-3.
They went through the third period holding onto that lead. With 1:40 left in the period, the US pulled their goalie to try to get the equalizer. The American defenceman had the puck with a Russian attacking him. He fell down, and the Russian scored into an empty net to win the game 5-3. A real downer for the US, but very exciting for the Russians. They saluted the crowd for their support in the game, before leaving the ice.
Then we went to the Fan Zone to watch the Finland-Czech game on the big screen. We stayed until the end of the second period with the Czechs leading 3-2. With the Canadian game coming up, we wanted to watch the warm-up, so went back into the arena. Later, we found out that Finland had come back to beat the Czech team, 4-3.
Warm-up with Canada and Switzerland was good. For the 4th game in a row, Canada was wearing their red uniforms and shooting twice at the end we were sitting. This game had more people at it, and the seats we had chosen remained empty, so we thought we were in luck. Another group of young guys with no shirts and CANADA spelled on their chests, chose the seats in front of us, but they were pretty much harmless. It was a good start with Canada scoring first.
In the 2nd period, a young couple who had been in Copenhagen and experienced trouble with the train arrived. Of course, we were in their seats. We moved, and the ladies who had come in earlier, offered to move down a couple seats so we could stay there. A Canadian player, after getting taken down on a breakaway, was awarded a penalty shot. He scored on that to lead 2-0. With 1 second left in the second, the Swiss team scored a goal that had to be looked at for quite a while to ensure it wasn't tipped with a high stick. It was allowed, so that was the way the period ended.
Then in the 3rd, we scored another to take the game handily. The Swiss were tenacious and hard checking. They were very quick, and gave the bigger Canadian team some hard checks. It was a good game, but the outcome was the important part.
After that, it was back to our hotel to get ready for the early trip to Stockholm in the morning. We had to make sure we had things figured out for packing, because we were leaving early for the airport.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Jan. 1st - Day off From Tournament
Today was a pretty laid back day. We slept in until 7:30 am, when my phone started up and we got an email from Christie. Mississippi Queen is the music I have linked to her emails on my phone, and it just plays until I hit a button. Well, we were awake, so it was time to get up.
After showering and getting ourselves ready, we went down
for breakfast at about 9:00. This was certainly the latest we had been there, but it was sort of a special day - lots of people not up, yet. Some got back to the hotel late, although we spoke with Rita a little later in the day, and they shut things down by just after 1:30 am. It was a great party.
With not much to do, we spent time reading and relaxing, and when the maid service came around, we decided to go for a walk around the area. We looked in shop windows, admiring the various things that were there, as well as trying to interpret what the written words were. I don't know if we interpreted correctly, but we thought we were getting pretty good at figuring out what the Swedish words meant in English.
Took a couple photos of signs that were interesting. One sign, a slogan that Neil the Entertainer spoke of in his address at the reception, indicated a parking lot entrance/exit. It was only good because the word means other things in English.
The other sign was for a "Rent-a-Chef" business, and I thought immediately of my parents. That sort of service would be great for them so they could eat the kinds of food they wanted, rather than the food from their residence.
On our walk, we found a nice looking restaurant, so thought we might go there for dinner sometime. It turns out we decided to go there that evening. It was quite interesting, and very different from what we have been in before. When we walked in, the girl handed us two plastic cards, like credit cards, that we used when ordering our meal. The place was a pasta, pizza, and salad restaurant. You had to decide what you wanted to order, go to a line-up for one or the other item, order what you wanted (thank goodness they had English menus, too), and they made it up right there while you waited. Before starting to make it, you held your card up to a machine, and they attached your order and prices to the card, electronically.
We both had Caesar salads - one with shrimp, one with chicken - for dinner. They were quite tasty, and provided enough so that we didn't feel over-stuffed when we were finished. On leaving, we had to give the person at the till our cards, and that showed how much we owed. Then we were able to pay and leave. I'm not sure if this is a more efficient way of doing things, or if it would catch on in Kamloops.
After our walk, we ran into Rita, so asked about our information for Stockholm. She ran up to her room and brought down our itinerary for Friday, Jan 3. Our bus will pick us up at 6:45 am, and take us to Copenhagen Airport where we fly off to Stockholm at 8:45 am, arriving at 10:00. It looks like our day is busy with a few tours on the agenda:
Apart from this, we watched a couple episodes of House of Cards on Netflix, and then because we were tired, went off to bed.
After showering and getting ourselves ready, we went down
for breakfast at about 9:00. This was certainly the latest we had been there, but it was sort of a special day - lots of people not up, yet. Some got back to the hotel late, although we spoke with Rita a little later in the day, and they shut things down by just after 1:30 am. It was a great party.
With not much to do, we spent time reading and relaxing, and when the maid service came around, we decided to go for a walk around the area. We looked in shop windows, admiring the various things that were there, as well as trying to interpret what the written words were. I don't know if we interpreted correctly, but we thought we were getting pretty good at figuring out what the Swedish words meant in English.
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| Utfart - parking exit |
Took a couple photos of signs that were interesting. One sign, a slogan that Neil the Entertainer spoke of in his address at the reception, indicated a parking lot entrance/exit. It was only good because the word means other things in English.
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| Rent a Chef |
On our walk, we found a nice looking restaurant, so thought we might go there for dinner sometime. It turns out we decided to go there that evening. It was quite interesting, and very different from what we have been in before. When we walked in, the girl handed us two plastic cards, like credit cards, that we used when ordering our meal. The place was a pasta, pizza, and salad restaurant. You had to decide what you wanted to order, go to a line-up for one or the other item, order what you wanted (thank goodness they had English menus, too), and they made it up right there while you waited. Before starting to make it, you held your card up to a machine, and they attached your order and prices to the card, electronically.
We both had Caesar salads - one with shrimp, one with chicken - for dinner. They were quite tasty, and provided enough so that we didn't feel over-stuffed when we were finished. On leaving, we had to give the person at the till our cards, and that showed how much we owed. Then we were able to pay and leave. I'm not sure if this is a more efficient way of doing things, or if it would catch on in Kamloops.
After our walk, we ran into Rita, so asked about our information for Stockholm. She ran up to her room and brought down our itinerary for Friday, Jan 3. Our bus will pick us up at 6:45 am, and take us to Copenhagen Airport where we fly off to Stockholm at 8:45 am, arriving at 10:00. It looks like our day is busy with a few tours on the agenda:
- 11:00 am- guided walk in the Old Town
- 12:30 pm - lunch at Restaurant Traskillingen in Old Town
- 1:30 pm - transfer to Vasa Museum at Djurgarden
- 2:00 pm - 40 minute guided tour and 35 minutes free time at Vasa Museum
- 3:00 - 3:30 pm - transfer to the ABBA Museum and begin an audio guided tour in 3 separate groups
- 5:00 pm - transfer to the Radisson Royal Viking Hotel for check in
- 6:45 or 7:30 pm - 45 minute visit to an Ice Bar (2 different groups)
- 9:00 pm - optional reservations at a large night club - we aren't going on that.
Apart from this, we watched a couple episodes of House of Cards on Netflix, and then because we were tired, went off to bed.
Game 4 - USA and News Years Eve - Dec. 31, 2013
This is the big day, the game everyone has been waiting for in the round robin. After breakfast (buffet again), we went to our room to finish off the notes from yesterday, and then were ready to board the bus by 12:00.
Off we went to the Isstadium to watch both games - Czech Republic vs Slovakia and Canada vs USA. We got our seats in the end zone again for the first game. We expected the Czechs to win the game, and shortly into the first period, it didn't look like they would disappoint. We stuck around for the first period and part of the 2nd, and then decided to go to The Fan Zone to watch the Sweden-Russia game on the big screens. TSN has a feed into there, and we got the game announced by Dave Ranforf, but not the commercials.
That game started half an hour after the Czech game, so we got most of the 2nd and all of the 3rd periods. It turned out to be a pretty exciting game, after being 2-0 for Sweden when we arrived. It appeared that the Russians finally woke up in the 3rd, and decided they did have a chance. A lot of back and forth, and a lot of good scoring chances, after the Russians scored their goal. The Swedes scored into an empty net to put that game away, and go through the round robin, with 4 wins.
Then, is was get ready for the Canada-USA game. We headed to our regular spots, but were worried that someone would have purchased the seats where we had set up shop. The crowd got bigger and bigger, and the empty seats where we were sitting got fewer and fewer. I'm sure that lots of people decided to sit there, even though they didn't have tickets for that area, the same as us.
It got a little tense when a group of young men came into the same area as us, started stripping down to their shorts and bare chests. They each had a letter on
their chest, which in all, spelled out CANADA. They were hooping and hollering, and got the attention of the TSN camera a number of times, even before the game started. Then the folks who owned those seats came, and this group moved up to 2 rows, right in front of us. We moved down a bit, because it looked like these guys would be standing up and acting silly, during the game.
When Team Canada came onto the ice to start the game, the crowd went crazy, cheering, singing, dancing, and just making noise. Then, 3 other guys in long, black wigs came in to sit/stand right in front of us. They were really silly, and throughout the game got more and more drunk. We probably should have stayed behind the first group because they at least sat down when the play started, and only got up to dance and shout during the breaks. However, because we were in the last row, we could stand up to see whenever these guys stood up - a lot.
What an exciting game! We were worried about the outcome because the US had looked so strong against the other teams in the pool. Canada played them very well, handing out big checks, and generally stopping the American breakout, much of the time. What a great game plan for us. We were fast, big, and hard on their players, and the crowd cheered every hit, good shot, good save, and good play.
After giving up the first goal on a power play in the 2nd, we tied it up on a power play before the end of the period. Then in the 3rd, we got 2 goals (right in front of us) that were the result of hard work, in close, in the "dirty areas". Wow, was it loud.
The boys played really well, killing most of the penalties we took (not too many), and just being really tough on the puck. It was fun to watch. Things got a little tense when the US scored with just over 2 minutes to go, but the team played lights out for the rest of the game, winning face offs, getting control of the puck, and stopping whatever shots the Americans got on goal to pull off the win.
A pretty emotional end when the flag was raised, and the crowd (mostly Canadians) sang our anthem.
Then it was off to our secret location for the New Years Eve party. We found out it was at Luftkastellet, one of the places we had visited on our tour of Malmo. It was a huge convention centre, where we received a fancy dinner (prime rib), and a dance (a band from London, Ontario). Even though it was far past our usual bed time, we had a good time and thoroughly enjoyed the party.
Just before midnight, our hosts (Rita of Destiny Tours) came on stage to let us know that the fireworks would be starting soon, and we could go outside to see them. Then the buses would start arriving to shuttle people back to their hotels, when they were ready to leave.
The fireworks of Malmo are spectacular. Luftkastellet is on the beach, looking over the bridge to Denmark, and all around we can see the lights of Malmo. Fireworks were being set off at every point in the city, and they went on for at least half an hour. Very spectacular.
We boarded the first bus, and it left about 12:15 with a standing room crowd (all us "old" folks who aren't usually awake at that time). We got back to the hotel about 12:45, and were in bed just after 1:00.
Off we went to the Isstadium to watch both games - Czech Republic vs Slovakia and Canada vs USA. We got our seats in the end zone again for the first game. We expected the Czechs to win the game, and shortly into the first period, it didn't look like they would disappoint. We stuck around for the first period and part of the 2nd, and then decided to go to The Fan Zone to watch the Sweden-Russia game on the big screens. TSN has a feed into there, and we got the game announced by Dave Ranforf, but not the commercials.
That game started half an hour after the Czech game, so we got most of the 2nd and all of the 3rd periods. It turned out to be a pretty exciting game, after being 2-0 for Sweden when we arrived. It appeared that the Russians finally woke up in the 3rd, and decided they did have a chance. A lot of back and forth, and a lot of good scoring chances, after the Russians scored their goal. The Swedes scored into an empty net to put that game away, and go through the round robin, with 4 wins.
 |
| Welcome to the Game |
It got a little tense when a group of young men came into the same area as us, started stripping down to their shorts and bare chests. They each had a letter on
 |
| Fans in front of us. |
When Team Canada came onto the ice to start the game, the crowd went crazy, cheering, singing, dancing, and just making noise. Then, 3 other guys in long, black wigs came in to sit/stand right in front of us. They were really silly, and throughout the game got more and more drunk. We probably should have stayed behind the first group because they at least sat down when the play started, and only got up to dance and shout during the breaks. However, because we were in the last row, we could stand up to see whenever these guys stood up - a lot.
What an exciting game! We were worried about the outcome because the US had looked so strong against the other teams in the pool. Canada played them very well, handing out big checks, and generally stopping the American breakout, much of the time. What a great game plan for us. We were fast, big, and hard on their players, and the crowd cheered every hit, good shot, good save, and good play.
 |
| Oh Canada |
The boys played really well, killing most of the penalties we took (not too many), and just being really tough on the puck. It was fun to watch. Things got a little tense when the US scored with just over 2 minutes to go, but the team played lights out for the rest of the game, winning face offs, getting control of the puck, and stopping whatever shots the Americans got on goal to pull off the win.
Then it was off to our secret location for the New Years Eve party. We found out it was at Luftkastellet, one of the places we had visited on our tour of Malmo. It was a huge convention centre, where we received a fancy dinner (prime rib), and a dance (a band from London, Ontario). Even though it was far past our usual bed time, we had a good time and thoroughly enjoyed the party.
We boarded the first bus, and it left about 12:15 with a standing room crowd (all us "old" folks who aren't usually awake at that time). We got back to the hotel about 12:45, and were in bed just after 1:00.
Happy New Year