Thanks to everyone

I wanted to put up a final post saying thank you to everyone who made this trip possible for me. My family for giving me the time away from my committment to them, I know it was a lot for me to be gone for almost two weeks and I appreciate the sacrifice that they made, to work for allowing me the time off, Ringette Canada for the opportunity to go to this great event and represent not only them, but all of my fellow officials in Canada, our officiating team in Prague of Karen, Risto, Merja and Leslie, the members of the IRF who made the event happen, everyone at Challenger Hockey in Prague who were responsible for all of our travels in Europe, meals and the running of the event itself. The teams, who provided some great games during the event, and everyone else who made this trip possible.

It was truly something I will remember for the rest of my life. I hope to have other opportunities in the coming years in my officiating career, however if I don't, this is a great highlight in officiating for me.

If you would like to see more pictures, in the next couple of days I will load them onto facebook at www.facebook.com/rdrury

Not quite as planned

This was the view of Wurzburg from the pedistrian walking bridge over the river.

A view of the local castle up on the hill from the pedistrian walking bridge

This was a picture of Merja and I at the start of the Bronze medal game on Saturday.

We left Prague at about 5:30 on Saturday, destined for Wurzburg where we would spend the night. We made a stop at the Czech/Germany border at about 7:00 for dinner (McDonalds), the players were happy with this, as many of them haven't eaten this for 7 months since they started training for the event, but it wasn't really high on my list of places I wanted to eat. I got one of their salads which wasn't too bad. We were then back on the road, and got to Wurzburg at about 10:00 pm. We checked in, and then I went for a walk around the town to see what there was to see. This was another very nice, German city. The population is about 140,000 but it has a very small feel to it, although the main street we were on was quite busy with pedistrian traffic on Saturday night. The main street, seemed to be a newer shopping district that had a lot of small shops, and a few blocks over there were older churchs and buildings with impressive archatechture. I was pretty tired from the trip so went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The next morning I was up at 6:30, and couldn't get back to sleep (likely anticipation of finally getting to see my family again) and the bus wasn't leaving until 10:30 so I got up, made sure everything was packed, and went for a walk again. There was a light rain falling, but it wasn't too bad. I went back to the hotel at about 7:30 and had breakfast, and then was out walking again around 8:30. I did take some pictures (as I figured it is easier to take too many and delete over deciding after I get home, I really wish I had a picture of XYZ). Then it was back to the hotel to check out at about 10:00 and get ready to load on the bus. There was another 1 1/2 hours to get to the Frankfurt airport and we should be there around noon for our 2:40 flight.

We got to the airport just as we expected, but started to run into problems right away. The tour operator in Canada didn't let them know that our group (with all our excess baggage) was going to be there. This took quite a while to get sorted around, and eventually the coach for Canada East ended up just picking up the tab for the excess baggage and he will sort it out later with the tour operator. However the problems were far from over. Karen (the other Canadian ref) and Beth apparently didn't have tickets for the flight. They had booked their own flight to Germany as they wanted to go to France first, and it would appear their return flight didn't get booked. They are number 4 & 5 on the standby list for the flight (they had to pay and will get their money back) they will have to wait and see if they get on.

We went to see if there was anything to eat, after walking around for a little while, I didn't see much so decided on a sandwich. The Frankfurt airport reminds me a lot of Pearson, both in appearance and lack of decent quick food. Now it was time to clear security, and there were no problems with that, so it was off to the gate.

About 20 minutes before our scheduled boarding time, Karen and Beth got to the gate, apparently they did manage to get on this flight, a good thing too, as this flight was $350 Euros each, if they had to take the 5:00 Air Canada flight it was going to be $3500 Euros each (both are one way prices). We then had an announcement that the flight was going to be 15 minutes delayed due to the plane we are using was late arriving. Not ideal, but not the end of the world.

We loaded onto the plane, and waited for a bit. The pilot then came on and said we had some technical issues, and need to replace a part on the plane, it would be about an hour to get the part and have it installed. Now it was getting tight on whether I was going to be able to see the kids before they went to bed tonight, so was starting to get concerned, but would rather they find the faulty parts on the ground, as opposed to after we take off...

After an hour, the pilot came on again and said there was no sign of the part, so we might as well deplane and wait in the terminal. Great, now I definately won't see the kids before they go to bed. So I get off the plane, and make a call home from a payphone, Sharron was disappointed, but knows there is nothing I can do about it.

At about 5:00 German time we were back on the plane and ready to go. We should be landing at about 8:00 in Toronto, and if all goes well I will be home around 10:00 (which would be nice as I need to be at work in the morning). The flight was fairly uneventful, I found our flight path interesting, as we flew up over the southern portion of Greenland and then down through northern Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Ontario, I guess this is the best path to avoid flying directly into the winds of the jetstream. At about 7:45 we started circling northeast of Toronto. After a little while, the pilot came on and said there were thunderstorms north of Toronto, and we were going to try an approach from the south, so we circled south over Rochester and tried to get into the airport. This is when the pilot came on again and said, the storms were now fully over Pearson and the airport was closed. We are going to have to head to Hamilton. I thought this should be interesting as Hamilton is quite small, and I would be interested to see if they have the capacity to handle an international flight with this number of people. We ended up having to go well west of Hamilton (looked like half way to London) and circle back to get the right approach, and it was still very distrubing, as we were coming down there was lightning all around us.

Once on the ground we waiting for information, and waited and waited. After about an hour, the pilot said that we were waiting for our turn to deal with the ground crews as there were a large number of Toronto flights that had been rerouted to Hamilton. After about 3 hours the pilot told us that Hamilton doesn't have the ability to process everyone (I picture 2 border guards trying to process 30 international flights of a couple hundred people each), so we were going to fly back to Toronto once the weather cleared and we got a flight plan. After another hour of waiting (now at 4 hours) the pilot came on and said that although the weather is now clearing, he and the co pilot have reached their maximum flying time allowed, and we were going to need to get a new flight crew before we can continue on for safety reasons. Thankfully, there was a flight that just came in from Cancun to Hamilton whose pilots haven't reached their maximum time yet, and we could just steal them. This is a much better option than having to fly someone in.

After sitting on the runway in Hamilton for 5 hours on a very hot plane (the air conditioner doesn't work very well when you aren't moving) we were off again. Our flight plan was for an 18 minute flight at a crusing altitude of 6000'. After waiting for so long, I guess I was hoping for something more than that. But oh well at least we will get home.

We landed at about 1:40 am, and got through customs without too many problems (other than the guard asking me why Canada didn't win gold, as if it was my fault, apparently some of the players had already been through), and all the bags made it safely. Now it was time for the drive home, should I be concerned that I am now making a 70 km drive after being up for the last 27 hours? I felt okay, so it was off to the parking lot and heading home. There were a couple of points that I felt like my head was getting heavy, but the drive was uneventful. I got home shortly before 4:00am.

I hoped to be able to sleep in, but for some reason I was awake at 7:00 am. I guess my body is still on German time and thinks it is 1:00 pm.

Gold and Bronze Game

Well this morning was the bronze game. It was a very hard fought battle, both teams brought everything they had. Generally I had an okay game in my opinion, although a couple of times I found myself overthinking again, and had to pull myself back into it. Finland Blue ended up taking the Bronze by 1 goal (I think it was 3 - 2). The gold game just finished, Finland White came from behind to win 6 - 4. There was a flury of goals in about a 7 minute span and it was back and forth, but then Finland scored 3 in a row to go up for good. Canada East took home the silver.

Overall it was a very enjoyable 12 days, and I am looking forward to getting back home to see my family. So off to Wurzburg tonight, and then on to Frankfurt in the morning. Hope to be back on Canadian soil in the early evening tomorrow.

Can only worry about what is in my power

Here is a picture of our officiating team before the semis, Karen, Me, Merja, Risto and our Director of Officials Leslie.

Well this week I felt I had did some of the best officiating in my career. There were a couple of off points but, on a whole, I felt really good for the entire week. Now it comes down to the games that are assigned for Saturday. The down side, Karen (the other Canada ref) and I haven't reffed together at all during the week. I believe it was set up that there would always be a Finnish ref and and Canadian ref on each game. When it comes to the finals, this means there is only one spot available for Karen and I. She had a good week too, so would just have to wait and see. After the semis on Friday we had our nightly meeting and found out that Karen and Risto would be doing the gold game and Merja and I would be doing the bronze. I was disappointed as I felt I did everything I could, but at the same time that doesn't take away from what Karen and Risto did, so I can't worry too much about it. I think I had a very good week, and heard as much from most of the coaches, so I am happy overall with my performance. There will be other gold games and other opportunities for me.

It is off to bed after a lengthy late phone call from home.

Friday in Prague, and Semi Finals

Changing of the guard at Prague Castle.

More pictures of the church in the middle of Prague Castle that was 600 years in the making.

More pictures of the church in the middle of Prague Castle that was 600 years in the making.

More pictures of the church in the middle of Prague Castle that was 600 years in the making.

This is me standing in front of a church in Prague Castle. It took almost 600 years to build. One of the people I was with made the comment "and I thought my DIY projects were bad"

Here is a picture of Charles' bridge, One of the few solely pedistrian walking areas in the city. I believe it was about 600 years old, built in the 1300's.

This is a picture of one of the old buildings in Prague that houses the current governement.

The semi finals didn't start until the afternoon on Friday, so we decided to go see downtown Prague. It is a very different city, as there seems to be quite divided, not just the old town and new town, but also the areas that the government has been working hard to clean up and make a tourist destination, but on the way to that area, there are certainly signs of the years of tough times that the country saw. It appears although the government is working to change that, as there is a lot of construction going on, but there are certianly still signs of the hard times of the 80's and 90's.

We went to see Prague Castle (although not a castle in the true sense, more of a town that was used for royalty), we saw the old town, Charles Bridge, the new town, the lesser town, all quite interesting.

It was then time for the semi finals. With only 2 games today it meant we each took 1 game. Risto and I had the late game between Canada East and Canada West. He wasn't too happy with this, but I was, as I figured they were going to play hard and fast and put it all on the line. That was exactly what happened. Good hard fast game that Canada East ended up winning 4 - 0. Finland White won the other semi 5 - 0 although there was no intensity to that game, so I was happy I had the semi I did. This sets up Canada East vs. Finland White in the gold game and Canada West vs Finland Blue for the Bronze.

Picture's From Wednesday night at the Hotel Praha

Got a new camera before our trip to Florida, and it had a fireworks setting, so had to try it out during the fireworks show Wednesday night.

Another fireworks shot, this one the timing was better, it is tough with fireworks to figure out when to take the picture.

Here was a picture of the buffet and some of the view of Prague that we had during the party.

Not what I expected

Well this is why I don't bet on sports. My predictions from yesterday were wrong. The morning games went pretty much as expected. I didn't feel as comfortable on my game between Finland White and Canada West as I have the rest of the week. I think I was thinking about the feedback I have been getting all week, and any time I think on the ice it is a bad thing ;o). The afternoon game between Finland Blue and Finland White I felt more comfortable, but the game wasn't what I expected. Finland Blue ended up winning 6 - 5 in the last minute of the game. This means that the semis tomorrow are going to be Finland Blue vs Finland White, and Canada East vs Canada West. This also means that the final will definately be Canada vs Finland on Saturday.

After the games it was back to the hotel for our meeting and then dinner. Followed by the nightly phone call back home. The kids are really missing me, which is quite hard. Belle said yesterday that I have never left for more than a week ever before, so she definaltely knows exactly how long I have been gone.

Tomorrow (Friday) we are going to go see downtown Prague and Prague castle as there are no games until the afternoon. Hopefully I will be able to pick up the last of the stuff for the kids as well.

Wednesdsay's Games

Well it was an early start this morning, as I had the first game. Although all things considered 8:30 game time isn't too bad. It means getting up at 6:30, but it isn't as early as some provincial championships where we are up at 5:30 on some days.



The first game of the day was Finland Blue vs. Finland White. Ritzo (my partner) said it likely wouldn't be too intense as they play with each other all season, and all know each other, and wouldn't do anything to hurt each other. It was also fairly well know that the White team is better than the Blue so there isn't the same level of trying to fight for the win. We went out for the game and it was an okay skate, but it really was lacking any intensity. I think the final was 9 - 2. Not a lot that needed to be called. But then there was my afternoon game...



In the afternoon I had Canada East vs. Finland White, the two teams that are proving to be the top two, I didn't realize going in, but this ended up being likely one of the most challenging games I have ever officiated. The game was very fast and evenly matched, which isn't too difficult for me to keep up, however the penalties that were going on were quite technical in nature. The amount that I had to watch, and keep track of all while going close to full speed, was mind boggling. However with all this going on, I felt good on the ice. I think I called what needed to be called, especially in the first two periods, as after the half, the number of penalties dropped significantly. Both coaches have obviously figured out where the line is and have informed the players appropriately. The 2nd half was still quite fast, and the game included another penalty shot. This is now my 2nd penalty shot in 2 days. I haven't called this many in the last two years combined, and now I have called 2 in 2 days. I hope this isn't a trend. Today's penalty shot doesn't get much more obvious as it was a clear cut breakaway (she had about 3 strides on the Finnish player) and the defender dove and took out her feet. Yesterday's wasn't as obvious to everyone, as it was for a defender entering the crease and preventing the scoring of a goal, a little more technical. Canada East ended up winning the game 3 - 2. If everything plays out the way it is expected on Thursday Finland White and Canada East will both finish 5 & 1 but Finland White will finish first based on plus/minus. Finland Blue will likely end up 3rd as a result of their 5 - 2 win today over Canada West. This all will likely mean that it will be East vs Blue and West vs White for the semis on Friday, but that is still another day away.

After the last game we were off for the banquet. This was held at the Hotel Praha, a very nice hotel which had a veranda that overlooked the old part of the city. There was a full roasted pig, among a lot of other food, drinks, and a very nice fireworks show (I will post some pictures tomorrow). They also had music playing all the entire time, so the players and some of the parents had fun on the dance floor. It did make me realize that when my daughters are 17 or 18 they are not going to be dressing the way many of these players were, however I guess I will only have so much control over them when they get to that age.

It was then back to the hotel for our nightly meeting, and then a phone call home to see how everyone was doing, then it was off to bed to prepare for the games on Thursday.

Let the games begin

Just before my first game of the u19 world championships with my partner for the game Merja Laakso.

Well, it is Tuesday, and the Games are about to begin. Although it has been a very good week leading up to this point, it has also been quite tiring. I am a little nervous about going out for the first game, as I hope I am up to it, I am pretty sure that I was chosen to come here for a reason, and I have the abilities, however there is still a certain amount of doubt.

We got into the hotel at 10:30 last night, and had our officials team meeting at 7:45 this morning. This is where we found out about one additional rule difference between Canadian rules and the IRF, if a player gets tied up along the boards, and there is only one stick in the ring, we still turn it over. No more quick whistles to avoid penalties, and giving it back to the team in control I guess. This will take some effort to remember as well. I guess I will figure it out as I am standby for the first game of the day (Finland White vs. Canada East) and then have my first game between Finland Blue and Canada West.

I went out for the first game with Merja Laakso from Finland (picture above of us going out before the game). Once I got out on the ice, most of my concerns went away, I have done this a thousand times before, I just need to go out and skate my game, and everything will work out. So that is what I did. It was a fairly close game, although the teams seemed to be playing down to each other. I didn't realize until the end of the 2nd period (we are playing 4 - 12 minute periods) when the Canada West coach made a comment that we didn't like them, because we had called 10 penalties against his team, and 1 against Finland. I had no idea we had called that number, but what I told him, and is very true, I don't keep count. If I see it, I call it. What 10 penalties to 1 means, is that his team is committing more infractions. The game ended fairly close (3 - 1 I believe) and I felt pretty good out there. I will see how this afternoons game goes. I have the short turn around between games today, (3 hours) so hopefully the legs will hold out.

During my 3 hour break we also had opening ceremonies, during which they needed to have one official say the English officials oath, one say the Finnish, and one say the French. As Merja is the rookie out of the Finish crew she was voluntold to do the Finnish oath. The Canadian refs got to do the English and the French. The problem being neither of us speak any French. Well Karen claimed seniority on me, and took the English, which left me with the French. This should be interesting, grade 12 french from 14 years ago don't fail me now. My goal was not to have the entire crowd laughing at me, ala someone from nationals 3 years ago. I stumbled my way through, and there was no laughter that I could hear, although in speaking with Julie from the Canada East bench afterwards she said she was chuckling. I was told it was a good effort for someone who doesn't speak french though. Even with it all written out for me, it was still very difficult.

So now we are on to game 2. This game was Canada East and Finland Blue. This was a different experience, Finland Blue plays a slower controlled game especially coming out of the zone, where as Canada East is very high flying. So depending on what direction we were going in, we either had to be patient on our break out, or as soon as they got the ring, you had better be in full stride or you will be left behind. This game ended 12 - 6 for Canada East, although it likely could have been higher scoring for Canada East, they let up for the 2nd half. I felt really good again for this game even with the short break. Maybe I will make it through the week after all.

The rest of the pictures from Monday

Here is a picture of the budwiser brewery and restaraunt.

This is the inside of the monestary used in the Sound of Music.

The arches that Maria runs through when leaving the Monistary on her way to the Von Trapp house.

This is the graveyard the VonTrapp family, hid from the SS in during the Sound of Music.

Continuing the trip through Austria, the longest stretch on the bus

Here is the birthplace of Mozart. A small 2 bedroom place, not a lot of room for 7 kids.

Here is a picture of the gardens in the middle of Salzburg, in the background at the top of the hill you can see the fortress, that has been around for about 1000 years.

These are the stairs that Maria comes running down with the kids in the Sound of Music.

This morning we left Hallen, and were spending time in Salzburg. It only took us about 30 minutes to get to Salzburg, and then we had a guided walking tour of the city. We saw the gardens in the center of the city where some of Sound of Music was filmed (although apparently very few people from Austria know much about the movie or have seen it, just last year they finally decided to create a Sound of music museum although our tour guide figures it will be another 4 years before it gets built). After the tour of the old town, and seeing things about Mozart (his birthplace was Salzburg) we were free to go on our own for a while in the city. Karen, Beth and I decided to walk up to the monistary where more of the sound of music was filmed (as Karen is a fan). So that was very nice to see. Apparently it is one of 23 monistaries in Salzburg and 74% of the population is Catholic.

After we left Salzburg it was back on the bus for another 3 hours, until shortly after crossing the Czech Border, one thing I found interesting is there are no border crossings between the EU member countries. The Czech border gates were still all up, but they were unmanned, I would assume that it is due to the fact the Czech Republic only recently joined the EU, and haven't got them down yet. They also haven't switched to the Euro yet.

We then stopped for dinner at the Budwiser brewery, as Budwiser was originally a Czech beer. Anheiser Busch bought the rights to it, and then due to some poor trademark protection, the Czechs couldn't make their own beer, in the 90's they got it all worked out and were again allowed to brew their beer.

Then we were back on the bus for another two hours. We got to the teams hotel in Prague, this is where we were now going to leave them and head off to our hotel on the other side of town. I prefer ours however, as we are only 5 minutes from the rink and they are 30 - 45 depending on traffic.

On the road through Austria

This was the longer of the two slides. I took this picture as we were about 1/4 the way down. We were travelling at 20 mph (as they take a picture of you and put the speed on it).

Here is everyone sitting very close to each other on the "train"

Karen and I in our mining outfits, although some of the pictures made us look like Klan members.

Here is a picture of the healthy lunch stop we made.

This is a picture of Linderhof castle and the surrounding grounds. This is from one side (yes, another long walk to this point).

This is the castle from the other side, the small building at the furthest point in the picture is where I took picture 1 from. Lots of walking, but have to work off the food we have been eating somehow.

Well I have finally found some internet connection (sitting in the Arena in Prague) so it is time for some catching up.

We left Oberammergau fairly early on Sunday morning, which was okay, as just about everything is closed on Sunday anyway. We travelled for about 2 hours before stopping for a quick tour of Linderhof Castle. This castle was much smaller, but the lands around it were very nice. We didn't actually go inside this one, but spent about an hour walking through the grounds. Then it was back on the bus for another 2 hours when we stopped for lunch, we had the choice of McDonalds or Burger King , nice picks for training athletes, but ah well, with the amount of fried pork and bread everyone has been eating there is no turning back now. I figure the only way the Bavarian people aren't all 400 lbs is the amount of walking and bike riding that everyone does. Either that or the smoking keeps them thin. Apparently the hazards of smoking haven't been communicated to the Europeans, it is like I am travelling back to the 80's everywhere we go. Cigarette machines on the street, and smoking in every restaurant and hotel. You forget how bad it is until you are back in a cloud of smoke. We were then back on the bus for another 2 hours to get to Hallen Austria. Here we went for a trip into the salt mines (how Salzburg got it's name, as it was the money from the salt in the 7th century that brought most of the wealth to this area) deep in the mountain. We had to enter using the traditional method, which was a train (really it was a bench on wheels), and then to go down we took a slide (first a 27m, then a 42m slide). We were also in traditional mining outfits. It was quite interesting, although not for those who are claustrophobic.

After this we were off to our hotel in Hallen. A small place, but it was a place to sleep, and we were off early the next morning anyway.

Exhibition game number two down

Photo Credit goes to Beth. She had to work quite hard to get a picture that included both teams, me and the Fussen sign on the boards.

This is a bit of an action shot as play was working around the end zone.

Well we played the 2nd exhibition game between Canada East and Canada West. West played a much better game for this one, but East didn't play as well. It ended in a 5 - 5 tie which included 3 goals in the last minute of play, and 2 in the last 20 seconds. It was quite exciting. For those who don't believe I am actually reffing over here (Jenn ;o)), I have included some pictures from last nights game. We had to do a lot more skating, both because the West played better, but also when teams aren't making the passes we expect there is more stopping and starting, for the referees, which is much harder on us. Still feeling pretty good, although I am hoping that the Austrian's don't eat as much pork as the Germans, as I don't know my stomach can handle much more and still skate...

Today we check out from the hotel and are starting on two days of travel through Austria on our way to Prague. Will have to see what Internet access I have on the way. By late Monday night we should be arriving in Prague and preparing for the championships. I will also get to meet the officials from Finland at that time.

Saturday in Oberammergau

We have been doing most of our travelling with Team East, and they decided to cancel their morning practice on Saturday. So we have had some time to enjoy Oberammergau. It is a hot and sunny day today. So sitting outside in a cafe, just outside the Internet Cafe is very nice. I included some pictures I took on Thursday of our hotel and the view from the hotel balcony. I always thought those pictures and figurines of stereotypical German towns weren't real, but apparently they are. If you take what you would imagine a small German village would look like, you likely wouldn't be too far off. I think we there is talk of going mini-golfing with the team after lunch. I still have to find a long distance phone card, as I fear if I have to call from the hotel again, it is going to bankrupt me.

I did find out today that of all things to forget, I apparently left the battery charger for my camera at home. Which is odd, as I distinctly remember pulling it out, but I guess it didn't make it into the bag. I went to a local electronics store to see if they might by chance have a universal charger that would work for it, and he didn't have anything he could sell me, although he said he would charge it for me on his big charger in the store, and that should get me through for a couple of days. Hopefully I will have more luck finding something in Salsburg on Sunday.

Tonight is exhibition game number two between East and West. We shall see how things go tonight.

We are off to the Alps

The picture on the left is the view from the castle. The one below is where we started our walk up to the castle. 20 minutes to complete this hike, not a small task.

Well, Thursday we were headed south to the Alps and the boarder between Germany and Austria. We are going to be playing two exhibition games (Canada East vs Canada West) in Fussen, and both teams will be staying in Oberammergau. Both of these are quite small towns, only about 3000 people living in each, although there seem to be a fair number of tourists.

The Canada East team had a practice on Thursday, but both team West (as they just arrived in Germany on Thursday) and the referees skipped the skate for that day. On Friday we all had more practice ice. Both teams practiced, and we decided to get the cobwebs out of our legs to go our with team East. We skated our route while they practiced their breakouts. I felt pretty good, so I guess it may not be as bad as I thought. I guess we will see tonight. As it is the first game.

The castle I have included a picture of is Neuschwanstein Castle. One of the biggest tourist draws in Germany. It was really quite impressive. Although the walk was not something we likely should have done just before going for a game. This picture is the point where we started our walk up the Alps to the castle. And due to tight timing, our tour was starting in 20 minutes, so that was how long we had to get up to the castle. All of this was 3 hours before gametime, it's not like we need to save our legs or anything...

After the castle we went back into Fussen (about 5 minutes away) and got ready for the game. I made another trip through town looking for a long distance calling card (I have no idea why they are so hard to find here) still haven't found one, so it was off to the arena. I wasn't sure what to expect with the game, as I have done much skating since the start of April. We went out to the rink, and as I feared there were no free play lines, or creases, apparently they had spent the day trying to find some water soluble spray paint so the referees could paint the lines on (obviously they have never seen my artistic side), I don't recall covering off the painting of lines in any of my clinics, but figured if they thought we could do it, Karen and I would do our best. Well as it turns out they couldn't find any. So for the exibition games we will just need to guess at the freeplay line, and use the hockey crease, far from ideal, but you make due with what you have. We will have to see whether they find any paint for tomorrows game.

We started the game, and within the first 2 minutes I had 2 body contact penalties against Canada East, and then about a minute after that a boarding call on Team West. So now I am wondering, if I am calling it too tight or if the teams are just all spun about finally getting to play. I asked Karen, and she said there were no problems, so we went on, and sure enough they got into the swing of things, and there were only a handful of penalties after that.

All in all, I felt pretty good skating with them, the international format of 4 periods each 12 minutes in length actually makes it easier, as although the total game is longer than we play at home (2 - 20 minute periods) with the breaks and the flood between the 2nd and 3rd it just seemed shorter. I guess I would relate it to doing two games in a row at home, which happens all the time, and the 12 minutes periods are shorter, so I may survive this after all.

Canada West went out to an early lead 1 - 0 thanks to the two players that a referee put in the box early in the game, but East ended up coming back and winning 5 - 3. The teams didn't do too badly, although there were more missed passes than I would have expected, guess the referees aren't the only ones who need these games to shake the rust off.

The rest of the day in Munich

This is a picture of the opera house. It burnt down in the first year it was open in the 1800's but it was a good time to burn down, as all the builders, and architects were still alive, and could rebuild it exactly as it was.

This is a picture I took after climbing to the top of Alter Peter, the tallest chapel in Munich.

This is a picture of the Glockenspiel, everyday at 10:00 am and 5:00 pm the bells and music play for about 15 minutes, while the characters in the tower rotate.

These are one of the sets of enterance gates to the pedestrian area. An array of shops and sites to see.

Well, we had several hours on our own in Munich and as I was trying to stay awake for the day, I decided to go for a walk through the pedestrian walkways. I have included some of the pictures so you can get a feel for some of the architecture. Although some of these buildings look hundreds of years old, during world war II most of the Munich downtown was completely destroyed. After the war the government rebuilt some of the buildings to be as close to the original as possible. Others were done in a newer style, which has left a real blend of buildings throughout the downtown.

Tomorrow we are headed south to the small town of Fussen, where we will be practicing (as the arena is in Fussen, and off to Oberammeragau where our hotel is. Both are very small towns right on the border with Austria.

Catch up time, as I now have internet

Well for the past two days I have not had internet access. I checked in the room when we got to our hotel in Oberammeragau and didn't have any, finally got some time at the hotel this morning, to find the local Internet Cafe. The next couple of posts will be catching up on the past few days...

Day 1 in Europe, Munich

Well Tuesday turned out to be a very long day. Went to work for a full day and then off to the airport for my 6:40 pm flight. This doesn't seem too bad until I realized that I was going to get to Munich on my direct flight until 8:50 am Wednesday. Knowing myself, I don't sleep well on planes, trains or automobiles, I didn't figure I was going to get much sleep. Just as I thought, other than maybe 30 minutes, there was no sleep, although I was sure the Jonas Brothers movie they were playing would have put me out, but alas even that didn't work. Other than no sleep it was a very smooth flight, one of the best I have been on. We landed at 8:40 am Munich time, waited for everyone to get all of their luggage, and got onto the bus. It was about 45 minutes to get to downtown Munich where we were meeting a tour guide to take us on a bus tour of the city. This ran from 11:00 - 1:30 and included a look at some of the beautiful archetechure, and a trip to the first of several castles we are going to get to see. I am amazed at how beautiful the city is, so will likely spend some time going for a walk this afternoon, before we go to hofbrauhaus for dinner.



For those who like beer, it seemed like every place we went past the guide was saying there was a beer garden there, they range in size from small (500 seats) up to large (9000 seats) so there is always someplace to get a cold drink.

I did get some pictures, and will try to post them at some point over the next week. Won't be today though, as I am too tired to go through them all.

After spending the day in Munich today, we are going to head out to Fussen tomorrow. Will be another day of site seeing, so should give us time to adjust to the jet lag before reffing our first game on Friday evening.

I was happy to see all my bags arrived, as did the extra bag that I brought for Karen (her reffing stuff) so we should be good to go. Out of the 100 or so bags that were travelling with our group, only 1 didn't make it (a players clothes) so all in all, that isn't too bad. At least nobody is going to be off trying to buy new skates.

That is all for today, I am off to see the city.

Finally got the IRF rules

Well it is Monday, July 27th and we are leaving tomorrow. I got an email from the Technical Director of the IRF that included what the expectations are in terms of what we are supposed to wear away from the rink (although the other Canadian referee left on Saturday, thankfully they fell within the guidelines we expected), and she also sent through the 42 page document that listed the IRF rules. I hadn't put too much thought into this previously however, there are some subtle changes from the Ringette Canada rules, which are going to be very difficult to switch back to. Ringette Canada made some rule changes 2 years ago, which took most referees 18 months to have become habit, as they were some significant changes in the way we do things. Well, for this event we now get to switch back. On top of everything else, this is going to add a large amount of stress. Most referees at higher levels react to situations, as you need to see, process, decide what you are going to call and make the call all within a half second. Not a lot of time for thinking, so most of our actions are because everything is so ingrained it can be just a reaction. Any time we change things, it becomes consious thought and is much more difficult. Well, we will have to see how easily we can switch back to the old way of doing things. It could be interesting.

Decided to take the family out for dinner last night, as it was my last night at home. They had talked about wanting to go to Red Lobster when I got back if they all behaved, so I surprised them with a trip there last night. Everyone had a good time, although, it is still distrubing when they have to give us a party table (as we need 7 seats, which generally means a table for 8) just for my family.

I finished the last of the laundry last night so that it was all done for the family before I left, and was able to finish packing. I also finished up the "honeydo" list, so now it is just time to get some sleep and then one more day of work, before it is time to go.

Very exciting.

Busy weekend before I leave

Well this past weekend was a very busy one. I was trying to spend some time with the kids before I had to leave, had to start packing, went to the gym, and was also getting a bunch of work done on the house (new windows on Saturday and new roof on Monday) so it was quite a crazy weekend. Didn't really get much packing done until Sunday night, but that is okay, I generally don't put too much thought into these things.

Are we supposed to wear our polyesters and stripes for two weeks?

This was the quote from an email from the other Canadian referee on Friday when she realised that we were allowed 23 kg of baggage total. As our referee bags come in around 20 kg, her question was whether we were supposed to wear our ref pants and striped shirt for the entire time we were there. After some clarification, we found out that they did have a excess baggage allowance for the players and coaches, but had forgot to include the referees. Thankfully, after a few hours of worrying (excess baggage is at a cost of $15/kg) we heard back from Ringette Canada indicating that they got us included with the excess baggage allowance. Yea, we can bring clothes as well as our ref stuff. Thanks for the help Nathalie & Stephanie...

It does mean that all the bags need to travel together, and I need to take Karen's (other referee)bag with me to accomidate that (as she was going to Paris for a few days of vacation first), but that isn't a big deal, at least they will get there, and we won't be paying $300 per bag!

Less than a week to go

Well it has been an odd week, I have managed to make it to the gym every day this week, although wasn't sure if I was going to make it Tuesday, as I had to take my 1 year old to the hospital late Monday night as he spiked up a fever that wasn't being helped by Tempra and Motrin, but none the less, I was able to make it. Generally I am feeling better about how the training is going. I do about 45 minutes - 1 hour of solid cardio a day, so I think I am on the right track. I have never been the weight lifting type, and really my biggest concern was around my cardio. Hopefully come next week, I will at least have a fighting chance.

I have also now done some of the running around required before the trip, ordered some small amounts of each currency that I am going to be needing (as Czech currency has to be ordered 3 days in advance at the bank), I also picked up a plug adaptor and read a nice tip about bringing a small North American powerbar as opposed to picking up multiple adapters, this should allow me to plug in all the electronics that are a reality of trying to travel and still get work done. I have also been working with the kids to prepare them for Daddy being gone for 12 days. The 1 year old isn't going to understand, although the 3 year old says she understands I don't think it will be real until I am gone. I think the older 3 (ages 6 1/2, 8 1/2 & 10) all get that I will be gone for quite a while, although they too likely don't really know how it is going to effect them. They have trouble when I am gone for a weekend early in the season, and even more trouble when I am gone 8 days for CRC's, this should be a real test. Sharron hasn't really said too much, she knows this is a big opportunity for me, although leaving her at home with 5 kids isn't easy. I guess this would be the mixed blessing of this particular opportunity, I wish I had the finanical ability to take them all with me, but it just isn't going to happen. Hopefully it all works out well, and they will all survive while I am gone.

Finally found a gym

Well we went up to the cottage for the weekend, so there wasn't much excersising going on, but it was nice to spend some time with the family. Got home on Sunday and did the normal domestic stuff (Sunday is laundry day, and with a wife and 5 kids it usually takes me a significant amount of time to get it all done), but I was able to spend a little while in the afternoon continuing my search for a gym that would sell me a 1 month membership. I don't know why this is a difficult concept for gyms to do, but I guess they all bank on people signing up for a year, and not using it after a month. After going to 4 different places, and almost having to finalize with a 3 month, I stopped in at Premier Fitness (in the old Deville's for those of you in the Whitby area). Didn't have time to work out yesterday, as I had to get home to finish the laundry, but did get signed up with the intention of going before work on Monday.

So this morning, I got up at 5:45 and off to the gym I went. I had planned on doing some time on the bike as my main focus is on cardio. I ended up spending 45 minutes on the bike at a pretty good speed and heartrate. I am not sure if I can rely on the distance the computer told me I went, as I did 8 km last Monday and felt like I was going to die on a real bike, and this one said I did 30 km in my 45 minutes, and I feel really good. In any case, after the pain I was in running last weekend, I didn't want to kill myself again (as I still have to go into work afterwards). Overall I was happy with the workout. Will be back again tomorrow and have to push things a little bit harder.

Back on the ice

Well last night I skated two games in Waterloo. It has been a month since I have been on the ice at all, and I have only done 3 games in the last 3 months, so needless to say, headed off to u19's is coming with some concerns. Karen and I made the drive out to do our games, fairly uneventful, but I was certainly feeling not being in mid-season form. The feet were hurting part way through the first game, and my cardio just isn't where I would like it to be. But alas there isn't much I can do about that now. My feet actually started to feel better partway through the 2nd game, I am not sure if that is because they hurt so much I couldn't feel them anymore, or whether they actually got used to the skates jk, but it is still the cardio side that I need to do something about. As it was a long drive home (thanks to various construction along the 401 in the summer) I had a fair bit of time to think, Karen and I covered most of our talking points in the 1 1/2 drive there, so there wasn't much left to chat about. Not to mention it was 11:15 at night when we left Waterloo so we were both tired. I came to the decision that I was going to try and join a gym for a short period, just to have a place I can get on a bike and ride. Unfortunately finding a place that offers a one month membership just isn't all that easy to do. I will keep trying, but may have to stick to the old fashion training.

11 days until I leave, still have a lot to get in order, have to get a couple power adaptors, get to the bank, figure out if I want to use my blackberry over there, and figure out what I am going to be bringing with me. I am sure the time is going to fly by, so I should probably get started on this soon.

Why Run When You Can Ride

Well after the pain that my knees were in after my run on Saturday, I decided to try something else, as walking wasn't going to cut it for cardio. I asked my sister-in-law if I could borrow on of their bikes to use a few times for the next 2 weeks. She agreed, so I was all set. I had planned to go for a ride last night, but Sharron was feeling under the weather again, so I spent the night with my 5 kids. Not a bad way to spend the night, but it doesn't help the excersise, even if I am rolling around on the ground playing with them. So I decided to get up early this morning, and go for a ride. I figured just down to Hwy 7 and Hwy 12 would be a good place to start (it is about 4 km each way). Well today was a learning experience on a number of things.

1. It does take some time to come back to you, when you haven't rode a bike in about 10 years.
2. I should remember to take my mp3 player with me (thought the same thing about my run after the fact).
3. Borrowing a bike from someone who is 6 inches shorter than you poses some challenges, and adds to the workout.
4. When borrowing a bike from someone ask how the gears work before going for a ride. It isn't a good time to try and figure out that you are in the lowest gear, when you are halfway up a hill.
5. Biking isn't as easy as it looks
6. Most importantly, when planning a route, do not leave the biggest uphill climb until the last 1/2 km. This almost killed me.

Thankfully, I have 2 games that I actually get to referee tonight in Waterloo. Finally some excersise that I enjoy. I may have to break down and get a 1 month membership at the gym across the street from work. Atleast there is some level of control over the machines there.

I will update more tomorrow with how the games in Waterloo go tonight, it is a summer league so not very intense, but still not a bad skate.

My holy crap moment

As a Christmas present for the kids we decided to take them to Orlando to see the sights of Disney. Our trip was planned for June 27th - July 5th. This was before I knew anything about U19's. Needless to say this took a lot of planning, and we finally got our trip. We got back on the 5th and had all the normal house stuff to get caught up on, and we also had some planning for Kaity's 10th birthday party on the 10th. On the 9th I had one of those moments, when I realized that it was less than 3 weeks until I leave. Where did the time go? And I am now realizing, this is the offseason. I haven't skated since early April. I am in my offseason shape. This isn't going to work as this is going to be a major event. I need to be in top shape. Ughhh, this is going to mean getting some training in. Well I don't have much of a choice, as it is going to have to happen. Starting this weekend I will go for a run. So on Saturday the 11th, I head out, once all the kids are down for their afternoon quiet time. I just figure I will jog to the end of our street and back. For those of you who know our street, this isn't exactly your regular subdivision. I live in the middle of nowhere. What was I thinking. Nothing like starting your training with a 5 km jog. Needless to say I was sucking some pretty serious wind, but generally didn't feel too bad. That was until later that night, I remembered why I don't jog. Someone with two bad knees shouldn't jog. The next day I was in a lot of pain, but need to push through, as I need to get in a shape other than round. Sunday and Monday I went for an hour walk, as the knees couldn't take another run. Took Tuesday off, and we will see how tomorrow looks for another run (likely not quite as ambitious as the first).

U19 Championship Event itself

From the look of the itinerary we will have 2 games per day to ref, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon or early evening on each of the 4th, 5th and 6th. There will also be opening ceremonies on the 4th and tournament party and fireworks on the 5th.

August 7th there are no games in the morning, as it is semi-final day, so we will have a walking tour of Prague Castle & Old Town, along with lunch and some sightseeing. In the evening, I will ref one of the two semi-finals, and then back to the hotel for dinner.

August 8th are the gold and bronze games. This will take much of the morning and early afternoon. Will want to make sure I am there to watch any games I am not reffing. After the games we will be heading to Wurzburg, Germany where we will be spending our last night in Europe.

August 9th we leave for Frankfurt, and leave out of Frankfurt for home at 2:40pm. If all goes well we should be home around dinner time Toronto time.

My first look at the itinerary

Well I got my first look at the Itinerary for the event in early May, and saw that the Canada east team was leaving late on the 28th which would mean that I wouldn't have to take another day off work, so this might work to leave the evening of the 28th, as it was another day away from home, but Sharron was willing to allow me to be away for another day. Work would be more difficult, as they had already been very accomidating. So this is what things look like:

Arrive morning of July 29th in Munich Germany, tour of Munich until lunch, after lunch head for downtown Munich for some sightseeing, meet up with the Canadian teams to walk the Hofbrauhaus and then have a buffet dinner and entertainment at Munich Hofbrauhaus.

July 30th we head to Oberamergau, Germany and spend the afternoon, sightseeing around Oberamergau and have dinner at a local restaurant, the evening was free to do as we would like.

July 31st We have the morning free, and then head to Fussen. We have some time on our own to see Fussen, and then go to see Neuschwanstein Castle. The evening of the 31st there is an Exhibition game that I will ref between Canada East and Canada West in Fussen. Dinner at a local restaurant to follow the game.

August 1st The teams are going to Oberstdorf for a practice, not sure if we are going along, but then back to Fussen for lunch and some afternoon sightseeing, and then an exhibition game in the evening between East and West followed by dinner.

August 2nd We leave our hotel and go to Linderhof Castle for a tour on our own. We leave here just before lunch for Hallein, Austria. Stop on the way to Hallein for lunch and then tour the Salt Mines near Hallein. We then stay the night in Hallein.

August 3rd We leave Hallein for a tour of Salzburg. We have a walking tour of downtown Salzburg, and in the early afternoon depart for Prague. We will stop on the way in Ceske Budejovice and dinner at the Budweiser Brewery Restaurant (where else do you go with a bunch of u19 players?) jk. Arrive in Prage that night.

The event itself will be the next posting.

Not just Czech

It was a couple of days later that Ringette Canada let me know that the intention was to have some exhibition games prior to the competition as well as some tours, so they would like me to go on the 28th or the 29th. They were going to be going to Germany for a few days and Austria for a short time. Well now we are added an extra 2 days. This was going to be more difficult. They said it would likely be possible for me to fly out the 30th, but would have to take a cab to the train station from the airport, take a train to Fusen, and then a cab to either the hotel or the arena, depending on exactly when I got in, so that I could catch up with everyone and make it for the exhibition games. Well I didn't like the idea of travelling for 12 hours, and go straight to the arena and ref a high level game. That just wasn't going to work. So it was back to work and Sharron to find out if I could get more time away. Thankfully, I was able to work it out with both. So now I was looking at leaving on the 29th. Still a day later than the Canada East team, but much easier to catch up with them. Should be able to make this work.

Starting to fall into place

Well after some work, and figuring some things out and the understanding of the opportunity by work, I was able to get the time off work. I also talked with Sharron, and she likely would never had said no anyway, but was even more willing to let me go, as she said she was feeling guilty about me having to come home from PEI, so she was okay with me going. So it looked like it was all going to work out. I had planned to have the 31st of July off anyway, so told Ringette Canada I could go as early as the evening of the 30th. Everything was looking good for me to go to the Czech Republic.

The phone call

About a week and a half after the end of nationals I got a call from the Director of Officials for Ringette Canada. I figured she was calling just to see how things were going with Sharron, and how I was doing. After going through all of that, she told me I had been selected as one of the two officials to go to Prague, Czech Republic for the U19's. I was shocked, to say the least. Not having any idea what the selection criteria was, and having written it off in my head, it was certainly unexpected. I was told the event was August 4 - 8 but she didn't have much more information beyond that, with regards to when we would be leaving etc. I told her that I woudl have to get back to her, as I hadn't planned for any of this when I was booking vacation with work for the year, so now had to figure out what I was going to do.

April 2009, flash forward to nationals

Well, I was pleased to get asked to officiate once again at the nationals for 2009 in Charlottetown. I hadn't put any thought towards u19's since the fall, and just wanted to have another good nationals. This was going to be a different event, as they had 10 of us doing just NRL games and the rest of the crew doing the Belle and Junior divisions. I am still working on having the same level of confidence at this division (more psychological than anything), so my goal was to have a good week. Well on Tuesday, after reffing 2 games, I got a call, Sharron had been taken to the hospital by ambulance with breathing difficulty. I was on the first flight out of PEI (which wasn't for 15 hours) but the week was over just as it started, as my attention had to be somewhere more important. There was always next year.

My first thoughts of U19's

About two years ago I heard some talk of two new championships, the world club championships which had the best local teams from Finland and Canada playing off in a championship, and the U19 championships which would have 2 teams from Canada (east and West) and 2 teams from Finland that are both U19 and Sweden and the US would send their national teams. The hope was to use it as a development opportunity. I felt I had just had a good showing at my 2nd nationals, and thought there might be an outside chance I might be able to get my game to a point of being asked to one of these events. I continued to hear little bits here and there about both events, but wasn't really sure of what the selection criteria was to get to these events. Over the next season I decided to just do my thing and do my best, and what will come will come. During that season, I heard an announcement that the world club championships would be held in Sault Ste Marie in November 2008. I still had some hopes that I might get asked, but wasn't sure of what the selection criteria was. I just continued to do my thing, and ref to the best of my abilities, and again felt I had a good nationals, which resulted in being asked to officiate the Belle gold game. As the next season came to a start, I hadn't heard anything about WCC's so figured there were others that were more highly ranked, that would do the event. I would just keep reffing my game, and giving my best day in and day out. I thought there was a very slim chance of u19's at this point as I hadn't got my level 5 after the last nationals so I had basically put it out of my head. I continued to ref my game and work on development for some of our younger officials as these were what was really important to me. Everything else will come with time, and I need to focus on what is in my control. So that is what I did.

Start at the beginning

Well I have had a couple family members suggest keeping a blog of my experiences around the U19 World Junior Ringette Championships, to be held in Prague, Czech Republic August 4 - 8 so I will try my best to keep these updated to the best of my ability.