March 30th…………..and what a day it was!!

Well today I managed to roll out of bed around……..mmmmm I forget!  Like 930am ish to get to breakfast and to the bus by 10am to leave for practice!!  Corn flakes again! Mmmmmm ha!

Practice was a little less than fantastic, for me that is!  Got out there, legs felt much better but I had a splinter/sliver in my sock so I had to take my skate off and take the chunk of wood out of my sock that was ‘sticking’ me!  Haha got back on the ice for about 10 minutes and Jadi took a shot/passed the puck, it was high, high enough for me to try catching……..well apparently I need to ‘redo’ my vision tests as I got the puck in the wrist…..right in between my glove and elbow pad!!  It instantly HURT………and so off I went again……maybe I just wanna hang with Carla??  LOL…….and we put ice on it for all but the last 5/10 minutes of practice during which we did break outs but the pain was a little too much but still played through it!

Then we were off the ice and back to the hotel and off to subway again…..our game was 8pm so lunch wasn’t until 4pm and dinner at 1040pm so to avoid this long ass time until lunch/dinner we grabbed Subway.  I shared a foot long with Simone, a tuna sub, it was delicious!!  We were all upstairs watching the game vs Romania again but after I was done eating I went and………..yup you guessed it, napped!!  I really love napping!!  Haha, meeting at 3pm and ‘lunch’ at 4pm.  When we got back we had more meetings…….LOL and then I napped again! It was a 30 minute power nap and it was brilliant!!!
Off to the rink at 645pm……..warm ups……then onto the ice we went and off the ice I went back to the locker room and iced my arm and got it taped for the game.

The first period went well, we went up 1 to 0 with an amazing goal from Dalene Rhode, a rookie and an amazing player with unbelievable talent.  Her goal was a sneaky wrap around, the entire play was amazing from the face off till the little ‘colored’ girl put it in the back of the net!!  (And in SA it is OK to say colored so don’t get offended!)
The 2^nd period didn’t go so much according to plan and they came back to 2-1.  And in the third it ended 5-1.  BUT it was a good game, we all saw ice time, all 3 lines, including our 48-year-old goalie, who came up with 3 amazing saves in the last roughly 3 minutes she was in the net (after not playing for a couple years and ‘signing on’ for this all roughly a week before departure).  All in all it was an absolutely amazing game, our spirits were raised and even though we lost and we are out of medal contention I am still proud to be on this team, I am proud to be a South African and I have had an amazing tour with many, many wonderful memories.  Memories such as us starting  the 3^rd period with Dominique and Bianca in the penalty box and the waka waka song (our war cry before games) comes on and both start jamming in the penalty box and pretty much everyone in the rink watching them, it was priceless, they were jamming like rock stars!!  (Reminded me of the Ducks movies when the goon and the little Asian kid started pulling their pads etc off in the penalty box!!)
After the game we were buggering around in the locker room and taking funny pictures and such……well I decided I was going to pretend to leave in my new black one piece Itech underwear suit……..with my pelvic protector on…….(see the pics below)!  Well then the ice had been done and Kieran dared me to run out on the ice, bear in mind I’m wearing socks…….so off I go and so the photos begin….again see below!!  Was laughing soooo hard at this point pretty sure I almost peed my pants, well my one piece suit haha!
Then once changed we were off to dinner, at like 11pm…….and it was PASTA it was soooo yummy, I was starving and ate a lot!
Now back at the hotel, blogging, posting blog, getting rub down from Carla then hitting the sack jack (as my dad would say!)

All in all it really was a great day, hockey, naps, hockey, amazing teammates and tons of memories!! Thank you to my teammates, thank you to my coach, thank you to our doctor and manager and thank you to everyone who’s ever supported me through the years I’ve played this game, I wouldn’t be here without each and every one of you!!

For now over and out……..10-4……….later gator and any other dumb, clichéd statement I could make!!

Some famous quotes from Dalene from Doc Carla’s room……..what do you think you’re gonna get love bites and kisses?? (with reference to Carla saying she was thinking it wasn’t a good idea to play hockey after all with all our bruises etc) and then saying……….this is hockey NOT ballet we box here!!!
Now telling Jadi………”I think you should put your arm down……cause you’re gonna wanna put your arm down……!!”

Well the time spend in Carla’s room tonight left me laughing sooooo hard at Dalene and the group I’m pretty sure I’m well on my way to a 6 pack after tonight!! Much, much fun…….and as a word of advice…….with a friend like Dalene there is not much need for enemies……she gives you so much kak and tells me I have weird, disgusting toes, my skin is too white and my elbows are messed up…….haha!!