Sometimes it does pay to stay up late

The award for the coolest experience on this trip now goes to what just happend about 30 minutes ago. I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel waiting with some of the boys for some pizza and in walks the entire World Junior Champions Team Finland. They're wearing their gold medals and these unbelievable golden hockey helmets, singing and dancing.  I have to say, it's great to see those boys so happy and proud of their accomplishment.  They were incredibly friendly with us, allowing our boys to take pictures with them, sharing their helmets for pictures, and even allowing one of the boys to put on a gold medal. These boys are on top of the world and they took a few minutes out of their night for us.  Congrats Team Finland! I hope our boys take away from this that no matter how big you are, it's always important to remember the people around you.

Coach Z

Final Game against Kristianstad and the Semi-Finals

We made the 80 minute drive Northeast of Malmo this morning for our final game of the tour against Kristianstad Wild Kings. They have a beautiful new arena and we finally experienced a rink where the boys did not have to wear their skate guards to walk from the room to the ice. Most rinks here have concrete floors in the rooms and everywhere leading to the ice surface, this one has a nice rubber floor. The boys came out pumped up after a few days off and scored quickly, with Anthony Tolfa finding the back of the net off a pass from Brett Lawrie 4:57 into the game. Kristianstad answered back 3 minutes later but then the Trojans potted two quick ones at 8:10 (Kelly from Joynt) and 8:52 (Joynt from Prodger and Kelly) to take a 3-1 lead. The Wild Kings battled back again and made the score 3-2 at the 10:37 mark. With just under four minutes left in the first, Eric Gordon took control of the puck and scored a nice goal to make it 4-2 HSC, which would be the score after 1.

In the second, Josh Prodger buried a blistering one-timer from the slot off a nice Joynt-Kelly passing play. The goalie didn't even see the puck as it sailed past him. Kristianstad wasn't ready to give up yet and found the back of the net again less than a minute later to make it 5-3. Anthony Tolfa scored his second of the game shortly after that to make it 6-3. At the 6:34 mark, the host team scored their fourth of the game in what was quickly becoming a defensive no-show for both teams. Carson Hobbes was removed from the net at that point and Matt Gledhill came in to try to settle the Trojans down a bit. At 9:19, Anthony Tolfa completed his hat trick with Eric Gordon earning the assist. Will Kelly scored his second of the game at 11:25 with Jeff Joynt sending him in alone and then Kelly backhand toe-dragged around the goalie and put it in.  It was a very cheeky move that Joynt had been unsuccessful at the previous shift, so Kelly was just showing Joynt how it's done. Joynt then put his second of the game away on a nice pass from Brett Lawrie. After two, HSC went into the locker room with a 9-4 lead.  

The coaches made some lineup changes and moved some players around in an effort to not embarass our gracious hosts too much. The only scoring in the third saw Will Kelly finishing off his hat trick from Brett Lawrie and then adding one more late in the game on a beautiful pass from Lucas Fracassi.

I will not write much about the World Juniors Semi-final games we went to, as I assume most of you watched the game at home.  The Sweden-Russia game was a nail biter that ended in some fisticuffs, but the Canada game had absolutely no flow and was really boring.  The entire crowd was yelling at the Finns to play some hockey, but as you no doubt saw, they very successfully trapped Canada and ended our hopes of a Gold medal.  

Tomorrow morning we're off to the Fotevekin Viking Reserve in the morning followed by the Bronze medal at 3:00 and the Gold at 7:00.  It's hard to believe it's our last day here, but I know the boys are all looking forward to getting home and back to school.  Is the sarcasm evident in my typing?

Coach Z

Helsinki, Stockholm, and a heckuva long bus ride

We spent the morning of Jan 2 exploring the beautiful city of Helsinki, Finland. We were given a guided bus tour followed by a couple hours for lunch and shopping. The unheard-of-in-50-years weather continued and we were able to walk around in quite comfortable conditions. We then boarded the Silja Serenade again for our overnight cruise back to Stockholm.

This morning, we got some time to explore Old Town Stockholm and do a bit of shopping there as well. Then we had our return bus ride to Malmo, which took 7.5 hours including a 1 hour stop for dinner. Upon our arrival at the Scandic City Malmo, we were greeted by most of the members of the Russian U20 team who were standing outside the entrance of the hotel just hanging out. Considering they have a big semifinal game tomorrow, we thought they'd already be in bed, but I guess they've already accepted that they will probably lose to Sweden.  Team Finland is also here, we're looking into which rooms they are in to make sure they don't get any sleep tonight. Just kidding of course, we'll just cheer so loudly tomorrow for Canada that they won't be able to play well anyway.

We have our final game at 10:30am tomorrow in Kristianstad, then it's off to the Sweden-Russia game at 3:00pm and the Canada-Finland game at 7:00pm.  It's going to be a great day.  Wish us luck tomorrow,

Coach Z

Game 4 - HSC's first ever blogspot.com Plopp Cup Championship

We found out late last night that our opponents, the Porvoo Hunters decided they were too scared to play against a Canadian team and were not coming to Pajulahti for our game today. The boys were very disappointed, so the coaches decided to draft teams for an intrasquad White vs Purple game with very high stakes. It was agreed that the losing team would have to jump into the freezing cold lake. Coach Moffatt also decided the game deserved its very own trophy, and fashioned the blogspot.com Plopp Cup out of a couple of old boxes, half a water bottle, a deflated soccer ball, a bunch of aluminum foil and a Plopp bar (a ploppular chocolate bar over here with a deliciously interesting name). The game was even blessed with a special guest referee to oversee the gameplay. We played two 30 minute run-time periods with all penalties resulting in a penalty shot, rather than 2 minutes shorthanded. The white team appeared dominant early, controlling the puck and moving it up ice with some slick passing leading to a goal a few minutes in. Purple answered back shortly after and the teams went back-and-forth throughout the first, ending the period 5-5. Despite the relatively high score, starting goaltenders Josh Prodger and Andrew Albini both made some amazing saves, including a double glove save by Albini where he saved one, but the rebound came out into the slot and he saved that shot with another glove save as he fell backwards into the net. Video review showed the puck did not cross the line, despite the insistence of the attacking team. Off the ensuing faceoff, the white team moved quickly down the ice and Eric Gordon found himself on a breakaway. Prodger stopped that attempt and then made an impossible diving outstretched stick save on Jeff Joynt's attempt at the rebound. The play continued end-to-end in the second period and with mere seconds left in regulation, the purple team tied it up at 10 due to a controversial call by the ref. This prompted a full-team shootout competition, with the team scoring the most being declared the winners. Both goalies shut down the first 2 shooters. The teams then exchanged goals and misses, and with 2 shooters left each, the purple team was up 3-1. David Kwant was next up for white and needed to score in order to keep his team alive. Albini made the save and the purple team rushed their goalie in victory.

Congratulaions to team Purple (Moffatt) on winning the first (and only) blogspot.com Plopp Cup Championship.

Purple (Moffatt)                               White (Moore)
Andrew Albini - 34/44                      Josh Prodger (the birthday boy)- 37/47
Scott Mulvey - 1 goal                       Eric Gordon - 3 goals
Will Kelly - 2 goals                           Jeff Joynt - 2 goals
Daniel Fulton - 1 goal                       Greg Ippolito - 1 goal
Kal Harber                                      Colby Parsons
Matt Gledhill - 2 goals                      Matt Adams - 1 goal
Lucas Fracassi                                 Brenton Urban - 1 goal
Anthony Tolfa - 2 goals                    Niall Currah - 1 goal
Brett Lawrie - 2 goals                      David Kwant - 1 goal
Griffin Dowd                                   Carson Hobbes

Our boys in the Kelowna news

Thanks to Bob Lawrie for forwarding me this link.  Apparently our four morph suit boys have made the Welcome to Kelowna website.  Check it out here:

http://www.welcometokelowna.com/columns/sports/news/Sports/13/12/31/Canada_Faces_USA_in_Key_NYE_Game

Coach Z

New Year's Polar Bear dip

After a great fireworks show, coaches Moffatt, Moore, and Zelinsky rang in 2014 with a few chilly jumps into the lake. Happy New Year!

Game 3: Another HSC win

After a fun night onboard the Silja Serenade and arriving in Helsinki around 9:30am, the group loaded onto our new coach bus and headed northwest of the city to the Reebok Areena in Espoo. We arrived with just 30 minutes until game time, but the boys were raring to go and dressed quickly. We actually found out on the bus that our opponents were not the team we expected, and we found ourselves playing their 4th tier 1999 team. Their coaches asked that we play a non-contact game as some of our players had 30-40 lbs on their players. The coaches made some lineup changes and gave the defensemen a chance to play forward and the forwards a chance to play d. Matt Gledhill, who was to sit the game as the third goalie, was also given the opportunity to play his first game as a player in ten years rather than watch from the bench.

 For the first time here, a goal was finally scored in the first period, as Anthony Tolfa kicked off the scoring 6:33 into the game on a feed from Lucas Fracassi and Niall Currah. Despite the age difference, the Espoo boys provided a good challenge for our altered lineup and managed a few good scoring chances, but Carson Hobbes kept them off the board. At the 14:48 mark, David Kwant scored his first of the tour, assisted by Matt Adams. The Trojans scored again 3 minutes later with Niall Currah banging in a rebound off a Lucas Fracassi shot, with Brett Lawrie also getting an assist. At the end of the first, HSC led 3-0.

Daniel Fulton came in to start the second period to ensure he gets his 5 periods of play. 7:32 into the period during a 5 on 4 advantage, Espoo finally found the back of the net to make the game 3-1. Niall Currah restored the 3-goal lead a couple minutes later with Lucas Fracassi earning his second assist of the game. Both teams continued to battle throughout the second with no more scoring, 4-1 HSC after two. During the intermission, bench boss Eric Gordon (who chose not to play due to the decreased level of competition) gave the boys some inspirational words to motivate them for the final frame.

The Trojans came out flat in the third, seeming to not take their opponents seriously, which led to two quick Espoo goals 1:26 apart early in the period. Finding the team up by only a goal in the middle of the final period, coach Gordon decided to stack the lines and send out some regular forward lines to get the game back under control and secure the win.  At the 15:33 mark, Anthony Tolfa scored his second of the game while the Trojans were shorthanded after a beautiful crossing pass from Will Kelly. History was then made as Will Kelly made another beautiful feed to Scott Mulvey who dingle-dangled forehand to backhand in the slot and went bar-down to bury his first ever HSC goal. The puck was secured from the refs to make sure Mulvey would forever have that souvenir. But it's already available for sale on Kijiji for collectors everywhere.

Off the ensuing faceoff win by Tolfa, Jeff Joynt walked over the blueline and rifled a shot past the Espoo goalie to leave no doubt about the result of this game. The Trojans were then asked to pull back the attack and the final minutes went by without any good scoring chances for either team. Final score HSC 7, Espoo 3.

Carson Hobbes was perfect in net saving 8/8 in one period of play. Daniel Fulton stopped 8 of 11 in two periods of play.

We now find ourselves watching the Canada-US game on an internet feed which we've hooked up from a laptop to a big screen tv through an HDMI cable. We're at Pajulahti Sports Institute in Lahti, Finland about 1 hour Northeast of Helsinki. We'll celebrate the New Year tonight with a Finnish sauna and some fireworks at midnight. The boys are excited for a much needed day of R&R tomorrow as we don't leave the institute all day. We'll have a nice sleep-in followed by some morning floorball, then have a game here at 2:00pm against Porvoo Hunters. After that, we'll have some more fun activity and some more sauna time in the evening.

Happy New Year from Finland!

Coach Z