We ventured down into Prague via tram again today (we are
professionals now;) ) and met up with
The Poganski’s for lunch. Their son
happens to be rooming with TV and are very nice people. We enjoyed eating in Old Town and visiting
about our families and the differences of our hockey experiences – they are
from MN and their High School hockey program is a very popular path… afterwards, Lance & I headed back over
the bridge to “Lesser Town” to peek into a few churches and to see the Castle
gardens. And that was about it! I think
we have done everything that we wanted to do while we were here…
A few “funny” stories about the language barrier…
1 - we have
discovered that in Chomutov there isn’t very many English speaking people. The town is about 1hr. from Prague so by the
time we get there, we need to use the restroomJ On Tuesday, I was able to communicate via
charades to the people that worked at the rink that they needed to turn on the
lights in the bathroom but yesterday was a different story… the guy didn’t understand me now was he
willing to try to play charades with meL so, I turned on my phone’s flashlight and
used the facility via flashlight! Then I
remembered that there is wifi at the rink and I have an app that can
translate! So I quickly typed out my
information and showed it to the guy and he quickly smiled and nodded yes!! And
turned the lights on! Every time that I
walked by him, he just smiled :)
2 – today as we rode the tram, we were just sitting enjoying
the sights as they went by. The tram
that we have to take is known as the “tourist tram” (aka pick pocketers
heaven). So we are pretty aware of our
belongings and what’s going on. All of a
sudden a man steps in front of us and whips out a medallion with a red
caricature on it and says something in Czech – lance and I just nodded “no” –
then he said “tickets please” in English J we quickly showed him our ticket and all was
well. We thought he was trying to sell
us something or get us distracted to pick pocket us – we were relieved that he
only wanted to see if we had a valid ticket – and thank goodness that we
did!! The men (there was actually 2)
were dressed in plain tan clothes and will fine riders if they do not have a
valid ticket and from what we have been told the fine depends on how much $
that you have in your wallet! Later
today as we sat at Starbucks we noticed the same 2 men with an Asian couple and
police – we are guessing that they got a fine:)
We’ve also discovered the restaurant “routine”… once you
have been seated, it is important to order a drink right away, the next time
the waiter comes you need to order your meal then you usually don’t see them
until your food comes, they take away your dishes and then nothing… you have to
wave the waiter down to get your “bill”.
I’m not sure how long they will let you stay at the table until they
bring you your bill but we’ve sat waiting for quite some time and finally gave
up waiting and asked for it :) LOL
Tonight’s game was against Czech. We played them on Sunday and won in an
exhibition game but tonight was essentially for the Gold. Czech has won all of their games just like we
have. We play Slovakia tomorrow but they
have already lost – we will need to seal the deal tomorrow with a win and for a
celebration! Czech came out strong
tonight and scored – it was the first time in the tourney that we have been
behind but the team persevered and did great! In the 2nd period
Czech came out flat and we came out strong to put up some goals. Taylor had a sweet drop pass to Blake and
Blake scored to give us a score of 4-2. Later in the 3rd period
Taylor scored the last goal to put the score at 6-2! He played so hard and at one point was hurt
as he skated hard to the net to deflect a shot and ended up hitting his elbow
on the net – he should have a really big bruise tomorrowL The boys were in great spirits after the
game. They all came out for a stretch
and were showing off a bit for the parents who were eagerly snapping photos!
On the way home we decided to get gas with the other MN
families (Poganski & Gersich) so we could look stupid together – I guess…
nothing too exciting except that the guys went in first to “try” to ask if they
needed to pay first – after a few minutes of not understanding each other the
guys just decided to pump then pay;) all was good:)
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| the cute crosswalk signs:) |
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| inside the St.Nicolas church |
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| same church |
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| the Wallenstein Palace Gardens |
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| palace gardens |
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| the beggars here assume this position - face down with a hat in their hand... |
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| National Anthem with Czech |
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| our game night dinner - keilbasa |
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| there are no programs - only this 1 poster of the schedule... |
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| the post game stretch:) |
The USA Hockey website recap:
| Under-17 Select Team Tops Czech Republic, Clinches First Place |
CHOMUTOV, Czech Republic – The U.S. Under-17 Select Team clinched first place in the 2012 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament with a 5-2 win over the Czech Republic. Ten different players recorded a point to keep Team USA undefeated in tournament play at 3-0-0. "We're happy and it feels good, but we still have one more game to play," said Barry Smith, head coach of the U.S. Under-17 Select Team. "We'll prepare the same way and come to play tomorrow against Slovakia." Trailing by a goal after one period of play, the U.S. began to click offensively in the second. Taking advantage of a five-on-three power play, Kyle Connor (Shelby Township, Mich.) banged home a cross-crease pass from Austin Poganski (St. Cloud, Minn.). Joey Dudek (Auburn, N.H.) then scored twice as he cleaned up rebounds from Seamus Malone (Naperville, Ill.) and Alex Jasiek (St. Louis, Mo.) to stake the U.S. to a 3-1 advantage. Blake Siebenaler (Fort Wayne, Ind.) capped the second period scoring by burying a pass from Taylor Vickerman (Kennewick, Wash.) on an odd-man rush. The Czech Republic came out quickly in the third, scoring less than a minute into the period to cut the U.S. lead to 4-2. Much of the play was back-and-forth from that point until the U.S. reclaimed its three-goal advantage when Vickerman skated from the corner and slammed the puck under the goaltender's pads. U.S. netminder Chris Birdsall (Anchorage, Alaska) continued his dominant play, recording 19 saves en route to his third win of the tournament. Team USA will complete competition in the Five Nations Tournament tomorrow against Slovakia. Opening faceoff is set for 6 a.m. (EDT). |
1 comment:
What does the Wallenstein Palace statue depict? It looks...strange from our angle!
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