As I begin to write this it is Sunday evening in Michigan… and very early Monday morning in Sweden. My son has been awake for hours. Over excited for the World In Line Tournament to begin? Well, that and his roommate snores. This is also the time of year when the Midnight Sun is shinnng in Sweden. The light so bright in some regions, a person can actually get sun burn. The phenomenon happens between the end of May and the middle of July. In a few hours the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation), the host organization will begin what should be an action packed 1st day of competition.
Crews are polishing the floor of the rinks, refs are reviewing the rules. Ok maybe the ref thing is a bit much. Vendors are setting up booths; cameras are being put in place for action shots. Team USA travels with a fabulous support staff. Coaches, trainers and equipment guys are the backbone of this team’s potential success. The boys have amazing uniforms and state of the art equipment. This team even travels with their own washer and dryer! A huge stock of sticks and wheels made the journey along with a seemingly never ending allotment of tape. Almost anything you can imagine in the “patch them up and get them back out there” kit is also waiting on the bench.
The boys have also packed their superstitions. I assume other sports have players who have rituals and rites of passage that must be performed in order to ensure greatness, but I don’t have a big frame of reference. I’ve always been a very superstitious hockey mom. The details are too deep to go into but… I’ll admit I’m really bad about things being in certain places and if this happens than I do that… it’s bad. But most players have their own, very private tasks to complete, places they need to stand, sticks that need to be specifically taped and food that needs to be consumed at odd intervals. I’m hoping they are doing all of them before today’s game!
Well, happy to report we beat Team Canada, 7-2. Great game with the US coming out hard and fast right from the 1st drop of the puck. I did attempt to watch the webcast but was not able to sync up. I paid my $6.43 (50.00 in Sweden currency) but never saw a second of the game. The IIHF has a live score sheet on their website so I was glued to the refresh key for 2 hours. I actually had a meeting and I guess my colleagues know me better that they should… I was given a bit of slack to run back to my office to check the score every so often. Thanks guys! I spoke to my son and some of the boys later via Skype... very cool. They were tired but happy to have the 1st win under their belts. TNT did a fine job in net and the IIHF had great things to say about our boys. Keep it up and on to the next…
Will I attempt to watch Tuesday’s game on the web? Nope. I didn’t watch Monday and they won… If I watch Tuesday and we… aren’t successful... OMG! Ah... hockey superstitions… gotta love em!
USA! USA!
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