RECAP : Punta Arenas Pt.2

When i was planning this trip there were so many highlights that i had planned for , but what we were about to experience will probably never be matched . Unfortunately i was feeling under the weather , i remember spending a full day running from my hotel room to the pharmacy LOL ... i think i went there 3 times and yes i was battling a bad hangover that day too . The crazy part of this trip was just about to begin as the tournament was upon us and we were about to be a part of Chilean history . 

First we had to start dealing with the press there , we had a few TV shows to go on to promote the tournament . The first one i took all the guys that were on my team , Alejandro brought Ricardo as a translator . We were all excited to be there as guests on the show , basically we were asked one question each like how do you like it here and why did you come here type questions ... very basic . I am waiting on a copy of it to arrive here at some point !

The tournament was finally starting the next day . La Copa Invernada ( Winter Cup ) first team up to bat was C.A.U. ( Club Andino Ushuaia ) they are from Argentina , i met most of them when they visited Toronto so i knew what we were up against . They brought a young squad and some of the guys were from Buenos Aires where they have quite a bit of skaters . Before the game there was this HUGE opening ceremony with an MC introducing us all , the Mayor was there , all the big wigs from the arena and the area we were in ( Zona Franca ) were all there too . Oh and there was about 700 fans there too with a few camera crews and reporters . It was absolutely insane ... we even had our own security guard :) You can't imagine how ridiculously amazing this experience was . When we skated on the ice they had a singer come out to sing the national anthems for Canada, Argentina and Chile !!!! The girl flubbed our Canadian anthem but it was still very beautiful . Kinda wish they sang the German anthem since half my team was from there ... maybe next year :P

After the opening ceremonies i had an interview for live television ... oh yeah did i mention this was historic ???? OH YEAH !!! First EVER live televised ice hockey game in Chile !!!! So the tv crew grabbed me and did an interview at the side of the rink before our opening game . I posted a link for the live feed and so did the other guys and it was amazing to see how many people watched it around the world . Kathleen watched it back home and said it was funny watching us play hockey on TV . It is one of the proudest moments in my life to be a part of such an unbelievable experience . Remember our goal going there was to help the sport grow , based on what we experience ... it will grow .

Once the game started we began our dominance and the fans loved watching some good hockey , when we got ourselves a good comfy lead it became more of a demonstrators event as there were some nifty moves that my team mates put on the Argentines . They were a bit nervous but so were we . The crowd and our television audience got to see a lot of scoring as we won the game 17-5. Remember it is 3 on 3 hockey and trust me when i say this , we really took it easy on them . We didn't come here to kill teams as you may think and we all think the same when i say we didn't fly all the way here to let teams beat us or act like idiots on the ice . We came here to show these guys how to play hockey and they saw some good skaters do what they do ... score goals . After the game we all got together to face the mob as fans and reporters all came onto the ice to congratulate us and our friends from Argentina . It was overwhelming and took about 30 minutes to get off the ice HAHAHA . Fans were taking pictures and asking for autographs . It looks like there is a chance that this sport will grow here . 

I will get more into the game actions in my next post . Its unbelievable how fast time is flying , next week i am off to NYC to celebrate my birthday . Hope to gather some stories from there too ... this time i am travelling with no gear :( 

Have a great weekend !