Sid and the boys playing soccer

Day 9 - 2/23/2010

Sorry for the delay. Internet can be a scarce item to get around here. I also have been very busy and putting in sometimes 16 hour days. I have a lot of great experiences that I have managed to get some footage on so I promise to post when I can. for now I have some shots that were interesting and much more to come. Thanks for reading.

Check Russian game

Canadian locker Room

This is the Canadian Locker room before today's game

Day 7 - 2/21/2010

As requested I will send some video. Things are happening very fast!

Day 8 - 02/22/2010

Today the final woman's teams are coming to play at the main rink. There is a lot of organization involved because they don't know which mens teams are going to be eliminated and they will not be eliminated until Tuesday. There is no rooms left so it will be interesting to see how this works out. It is interesting to see how even the refs to the ice managers that you see shoveling the snow after the Olympia has cleaned the ice. The refs are great they like to try new things and appreciate when you help them out. We ard still very busy helping the teams out by making sure their equipment is performing as they like. Here is a few picks that we have for you, and a video of team Canada warming up. See you soon and thanks for reading.

Day 6 - 02/20/2010

Their are 3 games at the men's rink today so it should be another busy one. The other thing that keeps us hopping are the practices. What occurs for practices, is the players come in, get dressed and get on a bus to go to a practice facility. It is very well organized and when the teams move they have plenty of help by the volunteers that are assigned to help out the team. We are having fun with some of the players like Teemu Selanne comes in to talk to us and catch up with old friends. The players also have been talking about the ice conditions, the ice is a bit softer here so we have been dealing with some players that need to have a less aggressive edge on their blades. Joe Thornton was in wondering if we could help out with this issue, so we made a suggestion to the Team Canada Equipment Manager and Joe was back up and going.
Its great to see the arena just packed, this is the third Olympics that I have been to and it was disappointing to see the arena not filled to capacity in previous events. Not here, every game is filled and the crowds are really excited. The feeling of nationality amongst the teams is great to see. In the room we have a non bias attitude which can get pretty funny because we all have our teams that we want to win.
Jagr has been on fire and he is loving the FBV, he is going to purchase a machine and possibly bring Joe Frei (Brians Custom Pro)from Windsor Ontario back to Russia with him. Joe may never return! Jagr is really talking it up and also is putting up a great performance to boot. They have a big game tomorrow against the Russians so we will see how he does.
We are getting ready for Super Sunday its going to be a great day with 6 of the most elite hockey countries getting ready to drop the puck. We will be busy for sure but being busy means we are doing a great job. It is great to see the teams that I thought would not have done that well do well. Slovakia has been doing a great job they have been great to deal with as well as watch Baba is beaming! Looking forward to tomorrow, thanks for reading.

Day 5 - 2/20/2010

Today was great we were much slower so we could regroup and actually have more time to talk to players, a lot of the players are now interested in the new technology. Jagr is all about it and is really doing well in the tournament. Everyday he is down here visiting and relaxing in the room.
Right outside of our room there is a large area where the players will play a game with a soccer ball,(its a warm up routine that they go through) the object is to not let the ball hit the floor. I thought it was kind of cool that the Czech and Belarus team were playing it together. There really is a sense of having fun, as well as great competition.
Because we have access to pretty well anywhere in the rink we get ourselves into interesting places such as the rafters high above the ice surface. It is an interesting perspective however not that effective for seeing the puck. All in all it is a pretty cool view to see all of the fans I know that this is a "behind the scene's" piece I thought this would be a great "above the scene".
The Hockey has been going very well so far it has been an incredible tournament and is lining itself up to be one of the best. All for today, thanks for reading.

Day 4 - 2/18/2010

Today started out incredibly busy we were inundated with riveting and sharpening. I did get to see something pretty cool. They had the clock down to ice level so they could work on the remote control camera that shoots from way above the ice surface. The US - Norway game was good however we watched it from our room. Mike Aldrich (US equipment manager) came in to sharpen skates in between the periods on the machine, Phil Kessel likes his skates sharpened in between each period so we were sure to leave one of the skate sharpening heads available for him.
There was quite a buzz in the air with the Canada - Swiss game, the Swiss moved down right next to our room so we could here them chanting getting ready for the game. They definitely were up and it showed up in the game going to the shoot out. I watched the shoot out from the zamboni door. I keep for getting to take my camera down I will try to do that today or tomorrow. Patti (Canadian Equipment manager) ran into a snag with Iginla's skate holder being shattered by a shot. He came to our room during the game to see if we had a spare, we had one and off he went to make the repair. The Swiss were very excited after the game as they should have been they really did good. We congratulated the Canadian players as they walked by the room on their way to the bus, some of them sopped and talked to us about the game. They thought that it was a pivatal point but were optimistic that they would be more on top of their game.
I had a great talk with Tim Thomas, (Goalie for team USA and the Bruins) he wants his skate sharpened very sharp and was interested in the FBV. He knew a lot about it and we think we have him all set, it is a wicked edge that we put him on. We had a lot of fun helpping him out.
The Russia - Slovac game was great. Not just that it was an upset but it was pretty electric around here. It seems to be a bit more fun when the smaller countries do well, its like the underdogs do well, it feels good. Until tomorrow, thanks for reading.

Day 3 - 02/18/2010

Started the day off today at the Men’s game rink, we were fairly busy from the get go Jagr was in getting his skates sharpened he is a great guy and had all of us laughing. He decided to give the FBV a shot and loved it. He had one goal and an assist to lead the team to a victory.
I did an interview with Eurosport which is European sports channel (Canadian TSN) It was an interesting interview as I spoke English and they did no, should make for a great segment. They wanted to know about the new technology and what we were doing to help out the player’s it was actually pretty fun to do the interview and they had fun because we had some pretty high profile players in the room while they were shooting. We have most of Latvia and Belarus on the new cut so the equipment manager’s were down trying to find out what all the player’s were talking about. It was a lot of fun because we had to speak through an interpreter in order to get the point across. They were really impressed and said that the player’s wanted to buy a machine for the team. It’s funny how it works in other countries.
Mike from Team USA made a decision to use our machine to sharpen all of the USA player’s skates, so he was in the room for a while and we really enjoyed his company. It was nice to have him there talking up the FBV he says that half his team is on it which validated it for a lot of the players. I got to see how much respect he has with the players.
It really is exciting to see the athletes and to see the passion they have for their sport. The care that they take in their equipment and the level of intensity they have to learn about new things to improve their game. The days are long but the time is going by very quickly. Talk to you tomorrow, thanks for reading.

Day 2 - 02-17-2010

Started off the day today at the men's Game Rink. It is the same rink where the Vancouver Cunucks play. The room is quite a bit smaller than the woman's game rink, you might say it was very intimate. It works well, and was extremely busy. After four Olympics it seems the athletes have grown to depend on having the service available. We saw a lot of countries come through Russia, Belarus, Chek, Finland, Switzerland......most were very interested in the new way that we have to sharpen skates (FBV). I had a lot of fun going through the process with them and we sharpened a lot of skates and got great feedback. Players were getting tools to tune their sticks and grabbing any surface they could to perform their pregame rituals. I also got a chance to work with the equipment managers from team Canada. Their names are Pat O'Neil from the Vancouver Cunucks and Pierre Gervais from the Montreal Canadians. It was great to work with them and they are truly committed to Canada winning. I also had a great time with a very good friend Mike Aldrich. Its hard to talk about this to all my Canadian Friends and family however he is the equipment manager for the USA. Mike was in the room a lot repairing skates and doing some sharpening, it was a pleasure having him in and seeing him doing the work that he does so well.
I also want to mention about the volunteers that help us out with serving dinners and making sure that we have everything so that we can serve the players. It is amazing how they are donating there time doing things like standing in a parking garage no where near a venue, athlete, or even spectators, but they sure help by making sure that we are going in the correct door or room. As far as I can tell the only thing that they get besides the thrill of being involved in the Olympics is an Official Olympic suit. Don't get me wrong it is a cool suit at the Olympics. I can't say it would be much of a fashion trend after the games are over. Many thanks to the volunteers.
There were 3 games today at the men's venue. USA vs. Swiss, Canada vs. Norway and Russia vs. Latvia. I was very busy and did not have a chance to go out and see any of the game. We do have a TV down in our room and watched it on the closed circuit. There is a delay of about 5 seconds so we know when someone scores as the crowd lets us know before the TV. I did get a snap shot of the USA coming out between periods 1 and 2 heading back to the ice for the third. We watched the first 2 periods of the Canada game from where the Zamboni door is right behind the net. For those who watch the games if you see me that will probably be where I am standing.
There are a few interesting pictures, let me know if there are any other questions or comments and keep passing this along to people that I may not have.
Thanks for reading!

Day 1 - 02/15/2010

Well I started out being dropped at the Windsor Airport headed to my connection in Toronto. Always an interesting flight seeing all the familiar landmarks high in the sky. There was not many on the flight which surprised me as I just assumed everyone was going to Vancouver. From Toronto I flew direct to Vancouver where I was picked up in our "official" Olympic car, and was brought to the accreditation's building to check in. It was very well organized and did not take long at all before we were at our first stop which was the figure skate venue. For each venue there are separate entrances that the people go through who have credentials. This means quite a lot of security as you are with the athletes. It is kind of like playing Russian Roulette as they scan your pass and you either get a green light or a red light. Getting a red light is not so good as you have to go through extra security as a "random" selection. The figure skate venue was well run the people who were doing the sharpening were happy with the equipment so we went to find some coaches to talk to, however we did not come by any.
We were now off to the Women's hockey rink where Canada was playing the Swiss. As most of you know it was pretty much a blow out however the Swiss did score a goal and for the most part the girls were very happy about this. I was speaking with one of them after the game and tried my best German out (they speak German primarily in Switzerland) which received quite a few laughs. Turns out she was looking for some type of Rubber Cement to fix her shoes which we have at the men's rink and will be able to help her out tomorrow. At this rink we had some very famous equipment managers from the St. Louis Blues Bert Godin and Ray Halle. Bert has been an equipment manager for years and has become a very good friend. Ray has been his Assistant manager for a few years and also has become a good friend. I also was able to catch up with former NHL equipment manager Mark O'Niel who was also in good form and up for the games. These guys can handle anything and do it with a smile on there faces it was as if they were born to have this job of service.
After catching up on life and sharpening some of the players skates we watched the Scandinavian and Sweden Game. It was much more exciting than the Canadian game as it was not as big of blow out. After the game was over we packed it in and had dinner to return back to our rooms. Its about midnight now on the west coast so I am ready to get some rest as the men's tournament is starting up tomorrow. I will be able to let you know what that is like than. Below are some of the snaps that were taken. Thanks for reading!