My last day in Portugal and I haven't gotten on the ice yet ... There is still the threat that this might not happen but regardless we woke up at 7 am on 5 hours sleep and got our stuff together then went down to the garage to get the nets ... Unfortunately Mauricio had misplaced the bolts to put them back together and was pretty sure they were left in his old car which was at a garage where it wa due to be demolished :( no worries as he knows one of the guys coming has some roller hockey nets which are much smaller but are better then nothing . We took off to meet Eliseu to grab the nets and headed over to Praca do Comercio where the rink is .
We got there around 8:30 am and were due to play at 8:45 am but the rink manager was nowhere to be found and one of the employees there had no clue why we were there either ... Is this gonna happen ? Guys started showing up one by one and then the manager arrived and he was quite skeptical about us playing ice hockey here , he let us on anyways :) the ice was soft ! It could have used a few more inches of ice and really needed the tent to be fully enclosed to avoid the cold escaping but this is something they will learn from for future ... Which I am quite positive that there is a future where for ice hockey . Yes Andi Tanzer there should be ice next year buddy lol ! I already told them that you will probably be the next to show up there :) part of the rink was in rough shape so we played sideways and since I was the only goalie we just had a game where each team cleared the zone . There was about 12 guys that showed up and there were a lot of onlookers surprised to see this happening here .
We all had a great time and the level was not that bad for a bunch of guys that are used to inline . It was really awesome seeing my new Portuguese friends smiling and being very careful not to destroy the boards or ice as the manager was still a bit worried and in fact by the end he was cheering us on , taking pictures and in a much better mood :) this was more then a great success and I feel very positive knowing that Mauricio will make sure the sport grows in Portugal .
We even had people come out to try to sport out ! Mauricio brought extra sticks and helmets for people to use just in case and one of the guys even had a personal lesson from me on how to hold a stick and shoot a puck ... Honestly I loved every second of this ! Some of the guys asked if I was bored because they don't think so highly of their skills on ice but my response is and will always be that seeing those big smiles made it all worth it . I want to go back !!! After the game I had the bright idea of putting skate guards on and walking into the square to take pics and a bunch of others did the same . With tourists everywhere looking at us like aliens taking photos ... It was quite the experience and we got some really good pictures an had fun in the process .
Obviously this was all good for the ice rink and for their sponsors Kinder who I hope will stay on board for the future ! Some great ideas are floating around and I seriously hope they come to fruition . I'm sure we will all hear about more games being played here in the future but for the meant time I can proudly say I was the first goalie to play outdoors here in Lisbon !!! Apparently there are pictures from the 50's or earlier with people playing ice hockey outdoors in Portugal so for now I can't make the claim to be the first group to play outdoors . I am almost sure they didn't have a goalie but that is up for discussion LOL ... Regardless another first for The Travelling Goalie (me) hahaha !!!
After all the pics were taken I had to get changed in public in front of the school children that showed up for their skate which is always weird so I found a private area to get down to my skivvies ... Most of the guys had to go to their inline practise and fair play to them as this is what is keeping the dream of ice hockey alive here so if inline keeps it going then I'm in favour of it . Obviously we went to the inline rink to watch Mauricio's son Diogo play , he is really good both on ice and on inline blades so it was a treat going to watch him and I can never really get enough of anything to do with the sport I love so dearly :)
We then headed back to the Tower of Belem to actually go in and we met up with one of Mauricio's hockey buddies ... Nelson Rodrigues who speaks more English then Portuguese :) he brought his kids along and we all got soaked crossing the draw bridge leading to the tower ... It was fun and funny watching others trying to make it across without getting wet .
We all got soaked and it was super windy and of course it rained as it did all week , except for while we played ice hockey ... Is it odd that the rain that drenched us all week stopped for our game ? It was really sunny while we played ! And I must say that being on the ice in 15c weather is hot !!! Yeah remember I'm used to skating in a rink that is frozen inside like being in an ice box and this well , wasn't an ice box hehehe ! All of this really deserves beer so when Nelson suggested we go to a Portuguese craft beer bar we all agreed and it was a great decision even though showering and eating should have been more important . Cerveteca Lisboa is an awesome little bar with a fantastic beer selection ! First beer I had was a local IPA then I hit up the BrewDog selection ... Really it is one of my favs on the planet so it's hard to have just one .
Nice blog! I love to play ice hockey. Your blog has given me another reason to apply for my visa to Portugal.
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