This year’s Women’s World Championships ended on a tough note for us. We lost to the USA 4-3 in the final. It was a bizarre game. At times, we were outplayed, but there were also some strange bounces and 48 minutes in penalties called. Ultimately, they beat us on special teams play. It’s never fun to lose, but I know it will motivate Hockey Canada and all of us players to look to be better for next year in Finland.
It’s really amazing to think that the Worlds could be held in China. Looking at the history of communism and dictatorship and the way the country and the role of women has evolved, it is truly a great thing for the game.
It’s hard to believe that Harbin has nine million people and is only China’s 12th largest city. To give you some perspective, that’s bigger than Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver combined.
We stayed at the Sinoway hotel and it offered all the modern amenities of any nice hotel in North America and there were no issues. The real issues were food, water and air quality. To that extent, all teams went to great lengths to ensure they stayed as healthy as possible. I must say, I was truly appalled at the smog conditions. Right from stepping off the plane, the air felt heavy and just seemed to sit on top of you. It was hard to breathe walking around, let alone on the ice. We had masks if needed, but I didn’t feel too comfortable walking around in them, even though many of the locals did. I will certainly pay more attention to environmental issues after experiencing China.
Water was another issue. Early in the event, the Finnish team mentioned to me that 10 of their players missed the first two days of practice due to drinking bottled water with ice. All water consumed must be bottled—it’s just too poor to drink otherwise.
The rink itself was a nice venue. The ice conditions were much better than we ever expected and the dressing rooms were not elaborate, but comfortable. They still allow people to smoke in the rink, so that is tough on the lungs as the game moves along. Overall, I think I have seen the same or worse in other countries.
As a team, we managed to see some of the sights and sounds of Harbin and do some shopping in the market place for watches, clothes and grocery items from back home. To that extent, we learned to cope with what comes our way and ate a steady diet of oatmeal, protein shakes and canned tuna if the food wasn’t quite right. A night out at Pizza Hut certainly didn’t hurt anyone either.
There are a few things I have learned from the Chinese culture that can apply to the game of hockey. One of the most prominent is a survivor mentality. People here live in tough conditions, yet they work very hard to make ends meet. They are not afraid to toil and sacrifice for the little that they get. On top of that, they seem very pleasant and content, which I admire. One only needs to take a walk down the street or look out the hotel window if things aren’t going quite right to realize how fortunate we are to be Canadians, and Canadian female hockey players. Life could always be worse.
So, despite the fact we lost when it counted the most, we will all leave China with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the country that we live in and a perspective on the world as a whole. |