The team met for breakfast at 10:00 am with our second friendly game in mind.  We were scheduled to play the Slovakian Club Champ Hurikans Bratisalva.  We got together for a quick strategy talk before leaving to the arena.  Everyone waited impatiently for the lineups to be announced, with the disappointing loss of the day before in mind.

Coach Oesterman placed a positive spin on the situation, in the very encouraging way he is so well-known and appreciated for.   The Quebec Red Phoenix line was to stay the same and the other two lines were juggled considerably.  Part of this had to do with Montreal’s Eero Piilokivi falling ill to a stomach bug and not being available for the game.  The coach did, however, warn that changes would be made in the third period.

We arrived at the rink quite early and began our warm up.  It was really nice to prepare outside in beautiful 20 degree, sunny weather.  The guys suited up and before we knew it, the first whistle was blown.  The Hurikans came out extremely aggressive, placing a ton of pressure on the Canadian defense.   A very intense first period was played with no one team dominating the other and the score tied 2 - 2.

Coach Oesterman felt the Hurikans were lucky to be tied and suggested to his team, drawing on his years of experience, that they would not have the stamina to sustain such a high level of intensity.

Although period two appeared to be the weakest the Canadians played and at times looked as defensively shakey as the aweful third period played against the Slovaks the day before, they were able to walk away with a 6 - 3 lead.  Canada was able to finish their chances and stellar goaltending from Sam Garrison and Martin Belanger kept the Hurikans at bay.

As was promised, the coach juggled the lines in the third.  The big change involved the Red Phoenix line which had remained in tact to this point.   I had the welcome opportunity of playing between Canada Cup scoring champion Patrice Pare and line mate Patrick Ducharme.  The remaining Red Phoenix players were split across the other two lines.
Above this, the Red Phoenix players were to adopt the system the rest of the team was already playing in place of their more familiar ball hockey system.  The impact was immediate as our line capitalized in the first minute to start the period.  The solid play continued as we added to our cushion and improved our defense, only relinquishing one goal against in the period.  The final was 9-4 , a well-deserved victory for Team Canada.

It was nice to get the win we felt we maybe should have the day prior, especially heading into the start of the tournament.  We returned to the hotel, ate dinner as a team and finished the day with another strategy talk.  The lineups for tomorrow have yet to be announced and will likely be released during the pre-game practice held tomorrow morning.  We are all focused on winning our first round robin game against France but naturally we are also individually concerned with position in the lineup.  It will be interesting to see how coach Oesterman chooses to start the tournament after having significantly adjusted the lines and achieved solid results in Canada’s very successful third period against the Hurikans.  Can’t wait for tomorrow’s match!