I have got myself into a pretty good routine so far. Get up, toast with peanut butter and OJ for breakfast in the kitchen at the Broadwalk Executive House. Watch a little SportsCentre. Shower and head to the rink to watch practice and do prep.
It is my third day here and the 3rd different type of weather we have had – today it is pouring rain.
I watched Laurier, a couple players from X, Manitoba and then Queen’s practice. My favourite teams are the ones that blast the tunes during their practice so I have something to grove to while I’m working. During my prep, I was reading the Laurier media guide and came across a name I recognized – one of the players who I coach now on a Senior AA team in Ottawa. But she played at Moncton not Laurier so I figure it was a mistake or a coincidence. I sent her a text and she confirmed she played one year at Laurier, sat out a year, then transferred closer to home to play at Moncton. Example #4 of the small women’s hockey circle and we are only in blog entry #2. #5 is Queen’s assistant coach Kim Pearce, who played at Princeton and did her law degree at Queen’s, plays in our league against us. The over/under for the weekend is 20. Any bets?
Then it was finally game time. I was working with former Laurier goalie Cindy Eadie for the McGill-Alberta game, a re-match of last year’s final. McGill used a couple PP goals and scored both late in a period and early in the next (death time in hockey) to down the Pandas 4-2. It was great working with Cindy, she analyses the game the way she played goal – very calm and in control.
The opening ceremonies were very nice. The teams were led onto the ice by girl’s hockey teams, who consider these players as their heroes.
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Dan took over PBP for the Laurier-St. Fx game which allowed me to text back and forth with my fiancée and son who were suck at the Newark, NJ airport due to the weather on their way to Florida for our vacation. I was able to take in the atmosphere of over 1200 people here at the SunLife Arena. My other responsibility was doing after period interviews. I was down near the Laurier bench near the end of the second period ready to interview a player when X scored late to tie it. When the buzzer went to end the period, all the Golden Hawk players headed to the dressing room, leaving me standing there with a mic in my hand. It happens, I understand they were frustrated and needed to get to the room to regroup. Unfortunately, the fans went home disappointed as the Hawks fell 4-3. Two exciting games to open the tournament – I think we are in for a great week.
I waited around to help Bengt cut some of the videos and then post them to the website. We were the last ones to leave the rink I think and I drove back to my place through the continuing rain. When I reached the front door, I first tried to use my own home key because the Boardwalk Executive Home does feel like home but then I went into full panic mode when I realized my key was not attached to my key ring. I checked through all my bags but to no avail. My last hope was to head back to the arena to see if I dropped it somewhere. The whole way all I could think off was if I didn’t find it I might have to sleep in my car. I pulled into the parking lot where I saw it shinning on the ground. What a relief! Good thing everyone had left already. As a reward I curled up on the couch and watched some TV before calling it a night.
Until tomorrow.
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