The Day Before the First Game

In less than 24 hours, I will be playing in my first Eishockey game with my new Austrian team, the Neuberg Highlanders.  But before I begin talking about preparation before the game, I must announce that my first "insider" article for the newspaper, Kleine Zeitung, has been published as the newspaper arrived on the doorsteps of many Austrians this morning.  As a journalism major at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., I did not find it difficult to write the article, especially since I was able to write it in English.  The sports journalist, Christoph Heigl, did his best to translate my words into German for the surrounding community.  In addition to my article being published, Courtney Bradley, Jessica Jenkins, and I highlighted a photograph for another article discussing the Neuberg Highlanders' upcoming two-game series against the Turkish National Team on Friday and Sunday. 

After discovering these articles in today's newspaper, my roommates (Courtney and Jessica) and I went to Kapfenberg for practice at 2:45 p.m., or 14:45 according to Austrian time.  In practice, we mostly worked on in-zone situations and breaking out of our zone.  We also practiced our powerplay for the first time.  Julia Willenshofer (16), Courtney (19), and I make up the forward line of the powerplay while Jessica (20) and Bettina Angerer (20) paired as the defensive unit.  We seemed to move the puck really well, even as the Turkish coaches watched our every move.  After practice, we met in the locker room to vote for captains.  Congratulations to Martina Kneß as she received the most votes for team captain!  She will lead the Highlanders along with assistant captains Willenshofer and Angerer.


After we left the hockey rink, Courtney, Jessica, and I stopped by the grocery store to grab some items for a nice meal the night before our big game.  We returned home after a short inconvenience and I made a delicious pasta dish to get us ready for our first game tomorrow against Turkey at Kapfenberg at 8:00 p.m., or 20:00!  Wünscht mir Glück!