Ice Hockey Country (aka Switzerland)

We left the estate for Bern, Switzerland - figuring that Bern is a little over half way and that would give us an easier drive on Sunday. As we arrived at our hotel ( a brand new Holiday Inn that was clean, simple, and attached to a new mall complex that had an AMAZING water park in it), the front desk worker asked if we were there for the World Hockey Championship. Obviously, Troy's interest was immediately peaked. We said no, but asked who was playing. He thought it was US vs France that night. Interesting. Having been to the French Hockey league Championship game, we weren't too impressed by the level of play, but thought it might be a fun thing to see the US in action.

After Nana & Papa volunteered for babysitting duty, Troy found out that it wasn't US vs France, it was US vs RUSSIA!!! At that point there wasn't a question of if we were going to go or not. If there were tickets, we were there!

Swedish Team fans

We were 2 of 10 Americans at the game and the Russian fans were loud & crazy! Beers were good, the stadium was more like a barn that seated 7,000 people than a state of the art stadium (we are truly spoiled by our stadiums in the US), but it was fun, and the Russian team was amazing (with at least 5 NHL players). The poor US guys were just completely outplayed, out manned, out maneuvered. The 4-1 ending score was a gift, and the US goalie was actually named player of the game!

** End note: Russia beat Canada in the finals for the Championship, Sweden beat the US for 3rd place.