Youth Olympic Games Blog Post: Day Eleven

For the next two weeks, Team USA's ice hockey team will be in Lillehammer, Norway, playing at the Youth Olympic Games. Every day, team leader TC Lewis will be blogging about the team's experiences as they gear up to try and bring home the gold. This is an insider's view that readers won't be able to find anywhere else. For more information on the Youth Olympic Games, click here.

02/20/16

It was a day off from competition but not from preparation.

We experienced our first Norwegian snow fall last night and it has being snowing ever since. We figure there is probably 4-5 inches of accumulation.  It has made for some really treacherous walking. We have seen lots of spills but so far, the team and staff are managing it well enough.

I always consider soccer a summer sport but I forget that the rest of the world plays in the fall through spring. We walk by this soccer field every day. It is heated underneath but with the snow still falling fairly hard, it was accumulating. I have been amazed at how frequently the field is in use. In the afternoon, the snowplow came out and got rid of all the snow.

We had a 3:00 p.m. practice and then a media group asked several players to help with a photo/video shoot on the outdoor ice rink. We hope the piece makes it to some program back home. Tonight, we all went to the bronze medal game for a bit. Last I knew, Russia was up 6-2 over Finland. We're all really excited to be playing for gold.

The panoramic photo is of the arena where they played the gold medal game back in 1994. This gives a nice shot of how the activity center is on the left and the dining area is on the right. The team almost always eats at the same table, or at least it;s always within one table of the same spot. It seems like every country staked out their own area and kept it throughout the time here. 

The gold medal game will be streamed online here and here.

Go Team USA

Takk

-TC

DAY TEN | FINAL DAY