Today games started back up again. We had the morning free so after breakfast I took care of some work emails and went for a walk. Joy, Laura and I grabbed lunch at a local restaurant and then I headed to my game at Napean. Because Germany beat Czech in the earlier game, Sweden needed to beat Russia in my game in order not to go to the relegation round. That in itself is pretty unbelievable, Sweden has always been at the top of that next tier of teams behind the USA and Canada. Their starting goaltender blew out her achilles at the start of the tournament so I'm sure that has something to do with their struggles but I also think the rest of the world is catching up, which is really nice to see.
Russia came out really fast and scored a power play goal early in the first. At the end of 1 it was 1-0 Russia but they really controlled the play. Sweden came out fast in the 2nd but Russia was able to score 2 more goals to make it 3-0. The 3rd was back and forth but Russia was able to hang on and won 4-0 (with an empty netter). With that result, Sweden will play Czech in a best of 3 series to see who gets relegated to Division 1 following the Olympics. I worked the game with Joy and Zuzana and it was the best I've felt all tournament. I think I'm over the nerves and was able to just go out there and have fun.
After our game we drove over to Scotia Bank to watch Finland vs Canada. Because all of the youth teams are in town for Provincials (the equivalent of our districts), the arena was completely sold out. The announced attendance was over 18,000! It was such a great atmosphere - the building was rocking! Krissy, Joy and I were all saying how it gave us chills that this many people came out to watch a women's hockey game.
I'm off to bed, we have our photo session and testing early tomorrow morning. Goodnight!
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