The Neuberg Highlanders remain undefeated in the Damen Eishockey Bundes Liga (DEBL), as they beat the Gipsy Girls Villach, 11-2, on Saturday in Villach. With the win, the Highlanders improved to a 7-0 record in DEBL while Villach falls to 1-7.
The Highlanders struck first as defender Jessica Jenkins skated with the puck into Villach's zone. She shot the puck and captured her own rebound, sliding the puck passed the goaltender. At the 10-minute mark in the first period, I was able to score a goal on the powerplay giving the Highlanders a 2-0 lead. Four minutes later, I scored my second powerplay goal of the game. I beat Villach's defender but was tripped. As I was falling to the ice, I slid the puck between the goaltender's five-hole.
Photo Courtesy of Harmut Marchl
The Highlanders were able to put one last tally on the scoreboard before the period ended. Evelyn "Eve" Hochegger scored the final goal for the Highlanders. The Gipsy Girls capitalized on one play and scored their first goal of the game.
Neuberg entered the second period with a 4-1 lead, but Villach came out bursting with speed, determined to tie the game. The second period proved to be the Highlanders' worst period as they were unable to score even one goal while Villach cut its deficit to two goals.
Photo Courtesy of Harmut Marchl
As the Highlanders stepped onto the ice for the third period only leading 4-2, they proposed shortening the bench to two lines if the Gipsy Girls scored another goal. I told the captains that they were not going to score, and they didn't! The Highlanders scored seven unanswered goals in the third period and finished the game with an 11-2 victory. Seven different Highlanders contributed goals in the game. I received credit for three goals, while Hochegger and Julia Willenshofer scored two goals each. Jenkins, Bettina Angerer, Sabrina Schlauer, and Katja Weiss each put one puck in the net.
The Highlanders play their final game of the 2011 year against HDK Maribor on Sunday at 4 p.m. in Kapfenberg.
Read more...
On Thursday, I celebrated American Thanksgiving in Austria. My roommates (Courtney Bradley and Jessica Jenkins) are Canadian, so we celebrated their Thanksgiving in October. Unfortunately, we could not find a turkey for their Thanksgiving, but I was lucky enough to grab one of two turkeys in the grocery store a couple weeks ago!
On Thanksgiving Day, I opened the refrigerator to find my thawed-out turkey. I proceeded to wash and clean out my turkey. I made stuffing for the turkey, although the grocery stores here don't actually have a bag called "stuffing mix." I used bread cubes, called knödel brot (dumpling bread), which are used to make knödels, or dumplings. The grocery store also did not have all of the same spices and herbs that my mother usually puts in her stuffing mix, so I had to do without certain things like savory. That is one thing I found difficult when trying to cook something from home. The grocery stores here simply don't have the same ingredients as the grocery stores back home in America. I had to work with what I could find at the store. After making the stuffing, I opened the turkey up and jammed all my knödel brot stuffing inside. I seasoned the outside of the turkey with rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. I also put slices of butter on the skin of the turkey. I put the turkey into the oven at 10 a.m. It was a "4,444 kg" turkey, which is about 9.7 lbs, so it needed to cook for about 4 to 4 1/2 hours. To my surprise, the total bake time took about 5 or more hours. This was my first turkey that I baked all on my own and I think it turned out great!
My boyfriend, Michi Schmieder, arrived at the apartment several minutes before the turkey had finished. He was so sweet in that he brought me a bouquet of red roses! I put the flowers in some water and continued my role as the master chef of the household. I took the turkey out and carved slices of meat. In addition to the turkey and its stuffing, I also served rice with gravy, green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs, and crackers topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and a pepper (a tribute to the Quinnipiac women's ice hockey Thanksgiving feast). For dessert, I made a sort of apple crumble-like thing. It originally started out as an apple pie, but Austria doesn't have pie pans. I had to use a spring-form pan for my apple pie...crumble...crisp thing. All in all, it was a great first American Thanksgiving in Austria! After cooking all day on Thursday, I don't think I will be cooking for a while!
"We played a friendly match against Budapest on Sunday.Unfortunately, we lost, 5-1, due to our lack of older players.We played with the Highlanders’ second team, which has players younger than half my age!It was difficult playing with girls, not only half my age, but half my size.Because I am bigger, I skate faster than the girls and because I am older, I am more experienced.Last year at my university (Quinnipiac University) in America, I was also the oldest on the team.The difference between the Highlanders and my university team is that the youngest player at Quinnipiac was 18 years old, not eight!I am considered the grandma on the Highlanders for I am the oldest on the team.
I just celebrated my 23rd birthday on 16. November.For my birthday, I went to Graz with my boyfriend (Michi Schmieder).We went shopping and walked around the city.Over the weekend, I further celebrated my birthday as my roommates (Courtney Bradley and Jessica Jenkins), my boyfriend, and I went to Munich, Germany.We bought tickets to see the Boyce Avenue concert at the Kesselhaus.Boyce Avenue is an American band, so they sang all English songs, which I liked very much.I enjoyed celebrating my first birthday in Austria, and I had a great weekend seeing my first European concert!"
In a friendly match, the Neuberg Highlanders found themselves in their second loss of the season. Although the game did not count towards anything, Budapest beat the Highlanders, 5-1, in Kapfenberg on Sunday.
Budapest took a 1-0 lead within the first shift of the game. As the Highlanders were down by one goal, I came back scoring the equalizer for my team. We ended the period at 1-1.
The score remained even as both teams battled to a scoreless second period. In the third period, Budapest took a 2-1 lead after two minutes of play. Within six minutes later, Budapest extended its lead 3-1. In the final minute of play, Budapest secured the victory as it scored two goals 22 seconds apart.
The Highlanders struggled as they were missing some key players in the lineup. Since the game did not count toward our league standings, members from the Highlanders' second team were asked to play in the game. That meant there were girls that were more than half my age playing on the team!
My roommates (Courtney Bradley and Jessica Jenkins), my boyfriend (Michi Schmieder), and I traveled to Munich, Germany on Friday for we had bought tickets to see Boyce Avenue in concert at the Kesselhaus. The trip took about 4 hours driving. We left in the morning hoping to get to Munich in the afternoon so we could walk around the city before the 8 p.m. opening act for Boyce Avenue.
We arrived in Munich around 1 p.m. We checked into our hotel and dropped our bags off at the room. Michi and I went out for lunch. We went to Pizza Hut! It was Michi's first time at a Pizza Hut since Austria doesn't have any. After we ate, we walked across the street to the BMW Welt. The BMW Welt (or BMW World) was separated into two large buildings. We went into the museum first, where we walked around gazing at all the different types of motorcycles and cars manufactured by BMW.
After touring the museum, we walked outside and crossed over a bridge to get to the second building. This building was more like a shopping mall. Rows of cars were on display throughout the two floors of the building. Buyers could observe the cars and even take them on a test-drive, starting from inside the store. While the museum was full of "Please Don't Touch" signs, this building allowed people to engage in a hands-on experience with the vehicles. Michi and I sat on one of the motorcycles even though it was bolted to a stand, meaning it could not be moved or even turned on. However, I enjoyed it. Afterall, it marked my first time being on a motorcycle!
After spending an hour or two at the BMW Welt, we had to hurry back to the hotel so we could get ready for the concert! Michi and I drank some wine as we got ready while Courtney and Jessica went downstairs to the hotel's bar. All four of us piled into a taxi and made our way to Kesselhaus, the venue where Boyce Avenue would be playing. Unfortunately, the first taxi took us to the wrong venue. Apparently, the concert had been originally scheduled to take place at Theaterfabrik so the taxi driver took us there. It was a 15-minute drive to the Theaterfabrik and we soon discovered it was going to take another 15-minute drive to get to the actual venue where the band would be performing! The doors opened at 7 p.m., which was the time we were planning on getting there, but due to our detour, we got to the venue around 7:30 p.m.
Once we arrived at real venue, there was a long line outside the door extending down the street. Jessica and I hurried out of the cab, ran across the street, and got into the line as fast as we could! Michi and Courtney shortly filed into line with us. Once we got inside, there were already tons of people piled in front of the stage. We all got beers and worked out way into the crowd.
Tyler Ward opened for Boyce Avenue. He is similar to Boyce Avenue in that he became famous from his cover songs he posted on YouTube. Boyce Avenue came on stage shortly after Tyler Ward's opening performance. Overall, it was a great concert and we all had a blast at our first concert in Europe!
"We had a team practice on Sunday; however, there were only four of us because some girls had games with their other ice hockey teams. Coach Werner Kerth compiled the practice with mostly shooting drills. We worked on taking quick shots and slap shots. The lack of a goaltender did not make for such an exciting practice but we figured out a way to make it work. We flipped the net over and shot either on the left or right side, whichever side coach directed. At the end of practice, coach had us get on the goal line and push the net down the ice one at a time. We did this for a few minutes, but thankfully, I was able to leave early because I had a dinner date.
I made plans to have dinner with my boyfriend, Michi Schmieder, and his parents. I was going to meet his mother for the first time. Not to mention, this marked the first time I was going to meet someone’s parents that didn’t possess English as their first language. My lack of knowledge of the German language put a great deal of nervousness upon me, but once we sat down for dinner, I felt a sense of comfort. I found it funny but cute when his mother tried to speak English to me. I’m sure his parents also found some amusement as I attempted to read the menu in German. We enjoyed a bottle of wine as we ate our meals and it turned out to be a successful dinner date with the parents!"
Yesterday, I celebrated my first birthday in Austria! For the big 2-3, I went to Graz with my boyfriend, Michi Schmieder. We decided to go shopping for some Under Armour once we entered the city. We went to ALLSTAR Sport and ended up spending just more than €300 (about 450 US Dollars) on Under Armour gear! My boyfriend was so sweet in that he paid for all of it!
After we left the store, we parked at a shopping center inside the city and walked toward a giant wall of steps leading to the top of a mountain. This sight seeing attraction is known as Schlossberg. As we walked up the stairs, we observed the amazing view of the city. We could see the rooftops of buildings as if we were on top of the city. We climbed the steps further and we approached a tall clock tower, which was located on the top of the mountain. There were several other buildings at the top, such as a café, but we just walked around overlooking the city.
We worked our way back down the steps, which seemed a lot easier than climbing up them. Once we hit ground level, we walked to a unique bridge that crossed over a river, Murinsal - Island in the Mur. The center of the bridge looked as if it was a bowl sitting in the middle of the river. The unique architectural concept of this bridge really caught my eye since I have been planning to attend graduate school for architecture. We walked across the bridge toward the bowl-like structure sitting in the center of the bridge. A cafe and a playground resided in this "bowl." We sat down inside the café for I was freezing cold. I have yet to get used to this Austrian weather. We each had a cafe latté to warm our bodies. After we thawed out a bit, we continued on our journey across the bridge. After we stepped off the bridge, we made our way back to the shopping center where the car was parked. With my being a girl, I had to stop in a store and buy a few more items before we left Graz.
We arrived at the car and left Graz. We drove to Bruck an der Mur, where we had dinner. We ate a restaurant called Papa Joe's. This place seemed like a Mexican restaurant, but it had an array of items on the menu ranging from burgers to burritos. We ordered two beers each. The funny thing was that these beers were 1/2 yard tall! I struggled lifting the glass as I tried to pour the beer into my mouth. For our meal, we ordered the Star of Santa Fe, which was enough for two people. Our waitress brought out a giant platter that had an arrangement of meat (beef, chicken, pork, and bacon) hanging from a pole. She set the platter down and lit the dangling meat on fire. It was quite a sight to see! After our meals, we ordered some dessert although we seemed pretty filled. We ordered a chocolate fondue dish that came with an assortment of fruit for dipping. After we finished our dessert and our beers, we drove home to Mürzzuschlag.
As I walked into the apartment, my roommates (Courtney Bradley and Jessica Jenkins) surprised with decorations on the walls for my birthday. On our dining room table, I found a gift bag for me. It contained two bottles of wine and my favorite kind of chewing gum! After several minutes had passed, Jessica brought out yet another surprise, an ice cream cake that had two numbered candles on it, a "2" and a "3." I blew our my candles and drank one of my bottles of wine (It was a small bottle) to conclude my birthday.Read more...
After playing Division I women's ice hockey at Quinnipiac University, I "skated the dream" as I played professional women's ice hockey for Austria's Neuberg Highlanders. This blog details my experiences in playing hockey at the professional level in a different country.
