Let the games begin!

Well if I have to go why not make it an adventure! As many know I am attending the 2010 Olympics and am going to have a different perspective. I am not going as a spectator but I am going as a service to the women and men’s hockey as well as the figure skating. My job is to represent Blackstone who is providing the equipment for the service shop’s at all of these venues. We were asked by Easton Hockey to team up with them and provide an incredible experience for all of the athletes who are participating. Basically if they need something in the realm of equipment repair we will provide it. I have participated in Salt Lake 2002, Torino 2006, and now Vancouver 2010. Hopefully you will be able to see the different perspective of down in the bowels of the arena’s where at times there is completely nothing to do and within minutes you are overwhelmed with tasks such as skate sharpening, riveting, boot fitting, equipment repair.....all the way of providing some beverages and a little piece and quite for some coaches. Please feel free to comment on anything or ask questions.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

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.
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