Meal time! With Anne Schleper, Molly Schaus and Shelly Picard





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What a night!! It felt like forever before we had our first game. Many, many, many foam rolling sessions, warm-ups, cool-downs, recovery shakes, training meals, and then GAME TIME! It was so much fun to compete with and as Team USA in our first match of the world championship tournament!!

We took on Canada for a 4-2 win. It was a fast-paced game with some very impressive play. Kacey Bellamy was en fuego (on fire) and raised the crowd with her booming slap shot. Jocelyne tucked a nice goal underneath the bar far side of the net to give us the initial lead. Kendall Coyne followed up a rebound from a Kacey Bellamy slap shot to be sure it went in the net! And my lines (line mates) made a fast tic-tac-toe play for me to score. It was also our captain, Meghan Duggan’s 100th game!! We will be giving her a puck marked with 100 so she has another great memory for the trophy case. Vetter or as we call her Vetti-Spaggs, or Cigg, anchored the goal and made some outstanding saves (not out of the ordinary).

Haley Skarupa selfie with Emily Pfalzer & Hannah Brandt going for a walk before the game!

If we learned anything from last night, it was that the best wins are ones accomplished with the entire team. Last night’s effort was wholeheartedly TEAM won. Veterans or rookies, you were not able to tell as every team member did her job. It was a great starting point for us, but not something we are ready to ride on or settle with. There is much more work to be done. We take on team Finland later this evening (early afternoon for everyone back in the United States).

It is hard to harness all the energy from last night’s win and settle down to sleep and prepare for the next day, but we have an amazing group of staff and support staff who make sure we are in great shape for the next puck drop. In addition, we experienced another daylight savings last night! A little confused that the signs posted in the elevator said “daylight savings” as we already participated in losing an hour of sleep a few weeks ago while we were still in the United States! Vetter and I are roommates, and we were unsure if our clocks would automatically adjust. But all was well when we woke up and took the lift down to find pancakes, bacon, oatmeal, deli assortments, croissants, yogurt, juice and coffee. Before the time difference from New York to Malmo, Sweden, was five hours, but now it is six — learn something new every day! (The pancakes made up for the lost hour of sleep.)

Well, I think it is time for me to sign off now and take a pre-game nap! Just had a hearty meal.

Talk later?

Okay,

Hk21

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