To The Victors!

Hannah-medal
Originally uploaded by Big Swede Guy.

Go the spoils. Or something along those lines.

Last weekend was my daughters hockey tournament in Dryden, Ontario (about 3.5 hrs west of home). Our girls went undefeated (4-0) before capturing the championship during a nail-biting 3-2 win in the final against a very good Dryden All-Star Leafs team!

Congrats to the Leafs and to Hannah! Everyone is proud of you!

To be, or Not to be...

Hannah-goalie3
Originally uploaded by Big Swede Guy.

A goalie... That is the question.

With our regular goalie out sick, my little defenceman decided she wanted to try and play goalie tonight... So before the game, we got her all dressed up in the goalie gear and spent 1/2 hour shooting the pucks around and having fun.

It was really too cold to be out much longer than that - it's been very cold and windy here the last week. Fortunately, the ice is in perfect condition, and with the little snow fall we've had... I haven't even had to shovel. :)

Current Temp: -12C (-20C Windchill)

Hockey Day in Canada

Hockey Day in Canada
Originally uploaded by Big Swede Guy.

What an awesome day... For my American friends who are unfamiliar with "Hockey Day in Canada"... it's basically a celebration of hockey that the CBC promotes. All 6 Canadian NHL teams play each other over the course of the day - an afternoon, an evening and a night game. There are highlights and stories and such all during the day - which is telecast from a "host city" chosen by CBC. This year, it was the small town of Nelson BC. I thought this would be a great day to invite folks over to spend the afternoon playing boot hockey and watching some NHL games. The weather was perfect (-12C, no wind and sunny), plenty of beverages were consumed, food was eaten and almost no one was hurt in the process (Paul who had a hard time standing on the ice).

I'm definately going to make this a yearly event!

Starting to look like a rink!

Starting to look like a rink!
Originally uploaded by Big Swede Guy.

Finally got around to putting up the other end boards today! Thanks to Jeff, it only took about 2 hours to get everything done. We had to chip away at some of the ice around the frame to get enough clearance to make sure the boards were all level.

I borrowed a friends compound mitre saw, and I bought a new circular saw today - both were put to good use. Its amazing how easier a job can be with the right tools! :D

I'll be flooding tonight, and putting up some more puck fencing on the new end boards tomorrow...

Oh, and its COLD here again for the next couple of weeks anyways!

Current Temp: -7C (Overnight -14C)

A Week goes by...

and what a week it was. I think it included two rain storms, a snow storm and mostly temperatures at or above freezing.

That being said, I DO still have ice, but I've lost a fair amount along one side... And it's as bumpy as a curling rink again. I did throw a thin coat of water on it last night (only -3C overnight) to try and get it a bit slippery again - I'm having a boot hockey game Sunday with the guys/gals... so hopefully it'll be adequate.

Although temperatures have been above normal this year, starting next week it looks like we're dipping back down to the lovely range of -10C to -20C for a week or two! YAY! *claps hands, jumps up and down with glee!*

I also picked up the wood and supplies to put up the boards on the far end... Jay and I cut and framed those 4 board sections, and I'm looking to finish them with help from Jeff and have them up on Sunday.

Oh, and we did skate a few times over the last week, so all was not lost.


Current temp: -3C (-1C today)