Day 9 - Vipiteno, Italy

Up yet another time at the crack of dawn to catch the bus from the ice rink for a drive to Vipiteno, Italy and a game with the Bronchos. Have I mentioned that there is about 3 inches of snow on the ground?  The roads are clear, but there is definitely a temperature change being in the mountains of Germany.

On our way we passed through the Lechtaler Alpen mountain range (the Swiss Alps) where not only did we see amazing snow covered mountains jetting from every side, but several castles embedded in the mountain side.

Our route took us through several tunnels to reach Vipiteno, a town snuggled in the mountains. Despite a lot of open land, this town has a quaint shopping and market area ending at the summit of a ski area.

 

After a short walk through the town, it was time to get ready for the game with Vipiteno. The rink is open air, meaning that the side walls do not touch the roof allowing the air to flow in the rink, and making it much colder that the 20 degrees it felt like in there.

A 15-1 win, the Select team is now 4-0 on the 2009-2010 tour and 8-0 overall in European Tour play.

Scoring:

Per 1 - 06:04 - SEL - Von Mondevergine from Jerry Holden

Per 1 - 17:49 - SEL - Ryan Hernandez from Adam Thomas and Kent Arsenault

Per 1 - 19:01 - SEL - Kent Arsenault from Ryan Hernandez and Jeremy Barber

Per 2 - 05:06 - SEL - Shaun McTigue from Steve Sypek (SH)

Per 2 - 11:34 - SEL - Matthew Morang from Bill Allen and Steve Sypek

Per 2 - 12:57 - SEL - Ryan Kovesdy (unassisted)

Per 2 - 17:16 - SEL - Matthew Morang from Michael Truex and Steve Sypek (PP)

Per 2 - 18:56 - SEL - Bill Allen from Michael Truex and Andrew Trainor

Per 3 - 01:23 - SEL - Adam Thomas from Kent Arsenault and Steve Sypek

Per 3 - 02:50 - SEL - Von Mondevergine from Jeremy Barber

Per 3 - 03:02 - SEL - Jerry Holden from Von Mondevergine

Per 3 - 04:19 - SEL - Matthew Morang from Steve Sypek and Michael Truex

Per 3 - 07:17 - SEL - Brett Galbraith from Jordan Jakubik

Per 3 - 07:31 - SEL - Kent Arsenault from Ryan Hernandez and Adam Thomas

Per 3 - 07:53 - SEL - Ryan Hernandez from Adam Thomas

Per 3 - 19:03 - VIP - Mattias Dellice (PP)

Powerplays:

Selects - 1 for 2, Vipiteno 1 for 11

Shots:

Selects 39 (on Dominik Steinmann), Vipiteno 27 (13 on Mike Poepping, 6 on Justin Sand, and 8 on Adam Brown)

Then we headed to Innsbrook - another incredible city - this time in Austria. Basically, parts of Austria cut through Italy and Germany. Our route back to Fussen included a detour.

  

 

 

Apparently America is liked by someone in Innsbrook.

 

And as I close most of my blogs, it's time to head out at 1am to take the 1/2 mile journey to my hotel. Tomorrow we take a 9am train into Munich, Germany. Then, We may just have some time tomorrow night to take a much needed rest before Game #5 with Memmingen on Tuesday.

Guntas Noyas Yah! (Happy New Year in German)

Day 8 - Germering, Germany

Day 8 – Fussen, Germany, January 2nd, 2010 - waking up early again, everyone met the bus at the ice rink for an 8:30am departure.

Our first stop was in Dachau, a concentration camp for political prisoners set up in 1933. (Munich is in the big box on the map, and Dachau is in the smaller box above. Germering, where the Select Team plays tonight, is west of Munich.)

It served as a model for all subsequent concentration camps and was under the command of the SS. In the 12 years of its existence, over 200,000 persons from throughout Europe were incarcerated here and in the numerous subcamps.

More than 43,000 died. On April 29, 1945, U.S. troops liberated the survivors.

It was amazing and difficult to fully grasp what had taken place at Dachau since most of the barraks and chanbers were destroyed. The SS wanted to remove all traces of what had taken place.

Below is a memorial to those killed.







The entrance to Dachau.

During our visit, we were treated to a snow fall. I was taken aback how something so beautiful could take place in a place that had so much ugliness happen on its grounds.

The order to open Dachau.

A memorial set up in the courtyard to remember those persecuted. This depicts what people - who at first did not believe happened to those sent to Dachau - saw when they finally took a look at the deceased piled in mass storage areas before being sent to mass graves.

After the U.S. liberated the camp in 1945, those responsible were tried for their crimes. The names below represent the results of the trial findings and their fate.

After Dachau we headed for the rink in Germering for the third game of the European tour against the Wanderers. The Selects' first game is on video!!  Yea!  They won 5-3 in a great game.

Here's the opening faceoff, but the link to the full game is below.

Here's the link to the game --->  Click here!  Keep in mind the first 5 minutes doesn't have my play by play on it and the game starts at the 23:00 mark. I didn't realize a setting was wrong. Perhaps that's a good thing?? Ha!

For a game tracker, scoring summary ---> Click here!

Day 7 - Fussen, Germany

Day 7 - New Years Day!   We packed our bags and left Geneva for Germany. A 6 hour drive through the foothills and small, but quaint villages was an amazing sight.

We arrived in Fussen with enough time to take the team to one hotel in downtown, the parents to another about 4 blocks away, and I am staying along with league officials in a small older bed and breakfast type place.

The team had practice then we went to....yes....another Pizzaria, but with a German flair.

Just a note that tomorrows game against Germering has been moved to 5 pm, which is 10 am Central time, 11 am Eastern, and 8am Pacific. Hopefully we will have internet access for the game.

Another note:  There is no internet access where I am staying. The only access is at the hotel where the parents are staying and it's about a 1/2 mile walk from where I am. It's snowing now and without transportation, I'm not sure if I can keep this blog updated or not....as with everything so far....we'll see.....

Fussen, Germany in the snow.....

It's 12:30 am, time for me to make my trip back to the hotel in about 3 inches of snow......gotta love Europe!

Day 6 - Geneva, Switzerland

Bonne Annee!  (That's French for Happy New Year!)  

11 am - December, 31st - Geneva, Switzerland - We get up...barely.... and get on bus #10 for a walking tour of Geneva.

This is a chance to get away from the hotel and look at another incredible part of the city.

This town is mixed with upscale shopping and business, with the older parts, dating back to the 16th century, just blocks away.

After walking through the main part of town, we stopped through the old town. The building in the photo below to the left is the oldest residence in Geneva going back to the 16th century, but the basement is as old as the 9th century.

The dark tower-like building with the white painted grout.

The flag is the photo represents a "canton" which is a division or state in Switzerland.

There are 26, and each canton is flown with the Swiss flag.

Having fun on the tour of old Geneva.

More photos of downtown Geneva.

Next we toured the Catholic cathedral of St. Peter. It became a Protestant church in 1536. John Calvin preached here from 1536 to 1564, and the cathedral became the guiding center of Protestantism.

Like reformers all over Europe, Calvin's followers stripped Geneva's cathedral of its altars, statues, paintings and furniture. Only the stained glass windows remained.



You could pay 5 euro to go to the top of the church towers and boy was it worth it.  Look at this view of the city.

Walking past an outdoor cafe in downtown Geneva which has many outdoor areas surrounded by small tall buildings.  Here is a close up of a beautiful fountain that is spread around several parts of the city.

We headed back to the hotel to dress up for a nice meal at Molino Ristorante and a New Years celebration. Funny, but most of the eating places we have eaten at in Switzerland have been Italian Pizzaria's

Team picture at the Christmas tree just before New Years!   Bonne Annee!

As some of us walked back to catch the #10 bus back to the hotel, there was a fireworks display over Lake Geneva. They really are there, somewhere......

Day 5 - Yverdon-Les-Bains, Switzerland

10:35am - Wow....morning comes early. Seems like I've been up all night. Ha!  Three hours of sleep is all I was able to get, others grabbed about 5 hours.  Once again there's just enough time to send a short note before we're headed out for a trip to Lusanne, about an hour from the hotel, to visit the Olympic Museum.

Tonight's game will be (should be) live on the internet. Just note that the game is at 7pm and not 8 pm. So, using my conversion skills.....that's 12 noon Central time, 1pm Eastern, and 10 am West Coast time.

Talk to you soon.......

8 pm Swiss time - Unfortunately, once again internet capabilities are a problem. I have just a few minutes to tell you that we will be taping the game and hope that somehow we can post the video. (Video available below)

It's 2 am Swiss time now, and once again I'm filing this under Day 5.

We left the Ramada Park Hotel in Geneva at 11am for a trip to the Lausanne. It's an incredible place situated on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Lausanne is built on the southern slope of the Swiss plateau, with a difference in elevation of about 1,640 ft (500 meters) between the lakeshore and its northern edge (Ouchy the city's marina) and the Le Mont-sur-Lausanne and Epalinges mountain range.

This is where we stopped and took a tour of the Olympic Village and the Museum.

After the tour we went into Yverdon-Les-Bains, Switzerland to eat.

Because the restaurants close between 3 pm and 5pm, and lunch was on our own, we had a difficult time finding a place to eat.

Others found the only place still open..... as Coach Lowden poetically put it, "I came all this way to Switzerland just to eat at McDonalds?"

Luckily, a few of us, including Coach Lowden, found Gesipa willing to serve us Pizza and Lasagna after a few minutes of negociation.

Then we headed to the rink for game two, against HC Yverdon in Yverdon-Les-Bains.  A 4-1 win, the Select team is now 2-0 on this European trip and 7-0 in the two trips.

GAME VIDEO: Click here

Scoring:

Per 1 - 5:53 - YCV - Kevin Bonzon from Thomas Stastny (SH)

Per 2 - 00:14 - SEL - Adam Thomas from Kent Arsenault

Per 2 - 11:07 - SEL - Kent Arsenault from Chris Wagner and Ryan Hernandez

Per 2 - 14:10 - SEL - Kent Arsenault from Steve Black and Adam Thomas

Per 3 - 03:09 - SEL - Joe Dabkowski from Andrew Trainor

Shots:  42 on Fabian Zaugg (YCV), 29 on Justin Sand (Michigan State) who gets the win.

YCV was 0-4 on the powerplay and the Select team went 1-5 with the man advantage.

Well, it's off to the same routine tomorrow.....ah....today..... breakfast at 9am and and 11 am departure for a tour of Geneva. We're supposed to have some time after to come back to the hotel and grab some sleep before the big New Years celebration in downtown Geneva. 

Let's hope.....