the world of jim

Another gorgeous sunny day in Saskatoon – decidedly balmy at a mere -12C (no hats required as their wasn’t a wif a breeze).

We purchased our red Team Canada jerseys in the morning but could not find any green ones anywhere. Clearly Hockey Canada’s marketing group goofed when they only made up limited run which sold out very quickly in the fall.

Game 1 of the day saw the Swiss goalie stand on his head and deter the American’s anything till near the end of the game. We knew quickly that it would be a tight match and really it just boiled down to one goal (the Swiss goalie deservedly got player of the game). The American’s again managed to enjoy the benefits of being totally ignored by the referees and had few penalties. The Swiss were a decent team offensively but just couldn’t muster up enough strength to knock the American’s off their game.

Game 2 – the poor Latvian’s. Early on it looked like another shellacking by the Slovaks but they somehow managed to stop the bleeding and when they finally scored, the entire arena erupted into a standing ovation. The crowd was decidedly in favour of the Slovaks initially but soon were chanting in favor of the Latvians. No one wanted to see the team get decimated two games in a row. Turned out that their second goalie was a bit better than their first and then their offense finally kicked in and while they lost, they finally got something going. But unfortunately for Team Latvia, there’s something missing on the team – they’re just not playing hard enough, skating fast enough nor shooting enough although they improved their shots on goal significantly in the third period.

The public transit system continues to work well and we can get to and from the rink in about 20 minutes. People here are very friendly (as all hockey people are) and we chit chat with other fans too and from the rink. The hotel is quite quiet and Stewart continues his quest to meet up Bob Nicholson (head of Hockey Canada) and Stevie Yzerman (head of the Olympic Mens hockey team).

Boxing Day 2009 – we arrived to a very cold, very sunny beautiful Saskatoon sunrise (OK the sun was up but just barely). No wind to speak of, quite pleasant considering the temperature (and not a lot of snow to speak of either).

We checked into the Delta Bessborough and it’s right downtown by the river. Very nice and the people at the hotel have been terrific.

Before heading over to the rink, we walked about downtown for a bit.  Saw the old Eaton building right across from the Birks building.  Must have been quite the downtown core 50 years ago.

Downtown Saskatoon...before Game 1

Game 1 – Canada absolutely routed the Latvians. It was quite embarrassing but our boys played beautifully and kept their heads screwed on straight and we only took one nasty penalty (well deserved too). Score was 16 to 0 and shots on net were 66 to 10. We we’re shocked at either how well our boys played or how poorly Latvia played. Still not sure which.

We headed over to “WorldFest” to catch some dinner and to try and find “green” Hockey Canada jerseys. Had dinner, no luck with the jerseys.

Game 2 – Slovak came out strong and we thought within the first 5 minutes that they were going to gut the Americans. The Americans finally woke up and the Slovak’s seemed to shrink and stop playing hard like they started. Nasty stuff everywhere abound and the refs seemed to only penalize the Slovaks. Needless to say the Americans won handily even though the crowd was clearly rooting for the Slovaks.

Headed back to the hotel – it was a very long first day. Public transportation for the tournament seems to be working well however, they should be breathalyzing the fans and making the drunks walk home 🙂