Blogging With the Bobcats: Cydney Roesler and Nicole Brown Highlight Days 4-5 in Switzerland
8/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
Authors: Juniors Cydney Roesler and Nicole Brown
Day 4:
Well day 4 started off with a nice late wake up (around 9am) with the same breakfast we've had for the past 3 days. It was still good, but one can only eat cheese and meat with a little egg for so long. The energy was up for our first international competition of the week, yet we had a long trip to Kussnacht, Switzerland ahead of us. Even with beautiful scenery around us, people still managed to fall asleep. We stopped for lunch in Axenstrasse, Sisikon at the lovely Hotel Tellsplatte where we finally mixed in something green (aka salad) but wait for it.... We still had pasta. We won't complain, the food was just as good as the incredible view. Let's not forget the 17km (12 miles) tunnel. This was apparently the longest tunnel in Europe. It was interesting seeing the language on the highway signs change, as they speak Italian, German and French depending on where you are in Switzerland. We can all say we now know how to say "Thank you" in 3 languages. Speaking of languages, Nicole and I tried to enhance our German vocabulary by reading the signs and attempting to pronounce them correctly. No one can speak German on the bus so no one told us we were wrong. While some people slept, many stayed awake to take pictures of the amazing scenery. We were surrounded by the Swiss Alps for most of the trip which encompassed many lakes, waterfalls and small towns up in the hills. We all thought York hill was steep...
Four hours later, with a belly full of pasta, we arrived in Kussnacht for our first game against the Swiss national team who won bronze in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. We all walked in and saw the Olympic ice surface and immediately felt the burn in our legs. After our on-ice warmup, which was a long 20 minutes (we're used to 15), we gave each Swiss player a classy grey Quinnipiac cotton T-shirt. Maybe now they can look at the T-shirt and learn how to say Quinnipiac, or maybe just even spell it. With the game finally underway we were all excited and prepared to feel the burn. First period finished with a couple chances from us and with Ashley Winslow making her debut in net shut the door on multiple occasions for the Swiss as well. Walking into the locker room after the first period we all agreed that the jitters were out and we were ready to score on this tender. Second period was much of the same as the first with multiple attempts from each team, we had a few more chances then them but couldn't capitalize. Third period comes along and were really itching to score now, but yet again the Swiss goalie ( coach said she's one of the best in the world ) shut us down. Unfortunately, come the second half of the third period, the Swiss took advantage on a two-on-two and slid the puck just under Winslow's pad. We battled hard to make a comeback but once again, the Swiss scored another goal off a rebound therefore finishing the game off with the Swiss winning 2-0. Following the game, the team, staff and parents ate another delicious pasta dinner and once again boarded the bus back to Como.
Day 5:
After what felt like a short sleep because of our late arrival the night before, we ate a quick breakfast and loaded onto the bus to head to Zurich which was a four hour drive. We took the same route as the day before so we saw the same incredible sites. When we arrived in Zurich, players and coaches ate a spaghetti dinner in the heart of the city. After the meal, we had 45 minutes to walk around the city but unfortunately on Sundays, many stores were not open but we were still able to witness the beautiful architecture and scenery, and look for anything open to buy chocolate. Sadly only a couple of us managed to find some. Who would have thought that chocolate would be the hardest thing to find in Switzerland. The free time passed quickly and we were once again on the bus to the rink. Once at the rink, we were all pumped to have a big locker room but the downside was that we had to hike up a staircase to get onto the ice. This meant we were once again going to feel the burn. After one period of play and down one goal, we realized that we were once again facing another good goaltender but things changed in the second. We came out firing and began to find ways to put the puck past their goalie. The final score of the game was 6-1. It was a great game to end our hockey adventures in Europe and last hoorah with the 2013-2014 team.
