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[unicornduke]

 This weekend was fun. Thursday driving out and back to Utica went well, skipping the blow out game was perfectly fine. I worked Friday from home and did a little bit of house work and made food. 

Then Saturday I stopped by the grocery store to pick up more snacks and such, then drove straight to Utica. I brought a cooler for the food I packed. It was miserable driving, windy and raining. Very high winds. But I wasn't in a rush and got to the arena early. First game that day, Germany vs Switzerland for placement in group A was the best game all day. The other two weren't very fun since Canada and USA wiped the floor with the other teams. 

I still hate the USA fans. 

Late morning yesterday since the bronze medal game wasn't until 1pm, so me and the friend staying with me left the hotel late and then got hot chocolate downtown. Got a picture with Ashley "Stretch" Johnston, who was an OG Riveter and she's so tall. And very cool. 

Bronze medal game was AMAZING. It went to overtime for 10 mins, then a shootout and all the players were so dang tired by the end. Finland won and both goalies played super well. Really fun game and the crowd was really great. Ooohing and aahing everytime anyone did anything at either end. 

Then the gold medal game of USA and Canada. This was the funniest possible ending to this tournament. The previous game between them had ended 1-0. This ended 5-6 in overtime, those poor goalies. USA accidently had four players on the ice in overtime, got a penalty called for it obviously and then Canada scored with two seconds left on said penalty. Extremely funny. I headed for the door as soon as they scored because I wanted to hit the road. Turns out the cops had closed the main exit for no discernable reason so I had to find the back exit. It only took 15 mins to get to the main highway thankfully. No issues getting home. 

I highly recommend going to a women's world tournament if you can, they're so much fun! I'm hoping to go to more in the future but this was an incredible way to get to watch a lot of fun hockey. Over 9 days, I saw 19 games in 7 game days with two break days in the middle. I learned a ton more about teams and players that I didn't know a ton about and I got to see USA fans disappointed which is one of my favorite things. 2025 is in Czechia which I definitely won't make but Canada is set to host another senior worlds and two U18 worlds in the next three or four years, so I might get a chance to do this again. 

Comments

[cathyw]

I'm jealous that you got to see it in person! I've seen two USA vs Canada games live (my first ever hockey game was USA vs Canada in the 2018 WW's when it was about an hour from my house), and it's such good hockey. And it feels like Czechia and Finland are setting up at least a consistent "B-tier"? it will be interesting next year to see what Czechia can do on home ice.

...and you know, if we're going to commit The Stupidest Ice Crime in a gold medal game we deserve to lose.

[unicornduke]

That's really neat! I highly recommend going to some of the other countries' games if WW ends up near you again, they're often very fun and don't have the crush of people that USA vs Canada does. I think Finland and Czechia are aiming for gold but aren't quite there yet. There's been chances but I think they need a few more years and some more talented younger players to develop some more. I do worry about Finland if Hiirikoski retires at some point, but she's committed to Lulea at least two more years, so there's that.

It was genuinely so funny to me. I don't dislike either team but I'm also not rooting for either team, so it was just fun to watch that bonkers game.

[cathyw]

Oh, definitely! In 2018 I was almost entirely new to hockey - I wanted to see the US team, because that was the year they were threatening to boycott and I wanted to support them after that, and USA vs Canada tickets for the preliminary round were still available. Now? I would definitely go to a Finland vs Czechia game (or probably either of them against USA or Canada) and expect to see good hockey. (Would not bother with USA vs anyone other than those; good hockey is not going to result from USA vs Japan.)

I noticed a lot of the top European players have come to the US to play in the NCAA, which says to me that that level of development isn't quite there in Europe, but enough players (plus the handful in the PHF/PWHL) will bring that experience home and it will build up over time.

[unicornduke]

The group B games are also a lot of fun and after chatting with some folks sitting behind me, the tickets for those games were around $15 each. So good hockey for pretty cheap. I think Sweden vs Germany was one of the best games all tournament.

I think Europe doesn't have the system set up in the same way, a lot of the European players who stay in Europe to develop often play on pro teams, not as common in the SDHL now, but Lovisa Selander played for SDE before she went to RPI and I know a number of the U18 Swedish players are actively playing. Naistan Liiga, there's some young players. So a different development, but not as systematic as NCAA.

[rmc28]

I'm aspiring to get to Czechia next year (should be do-able if I start saving this year); if my household finances improve I might make it to NA in the next few years.

[unicornduke]

Ooh that's so exciting!