From Player to Coach

Yesterday, my roommates (Courtney Bradley and Jessica Jenkins) and I traveled with the Neuberg Highlanders second team on the bus to Linz.  The second team, which has players aging from eight to 14, had a game against Ice Cats Linz at 8:30 p.m., or 20.30 is what they say in Austria.  Neither the head coach nor the trainer could attend the game due to prior responsibilities, so our team manager suggested that my roommates and I play coach for a night.  Jenkins was in charge of the defensive line-up while I coached the offensive lines.  Bradley was proudly named "door girl," as she opened and closed the door for the players entering and leaving the ice surface.  She seemed very intent on doing her job as Jenkins and I laughed at how focused she was at opening and closing the door.

Coaching the young Highlanders was difficult since most of them haven't learned a great deal of English in school yet.  I did not know how to say "good job" in German, so I hope my little pats on the girls' shoulders and heads let them know that I thought they were playing well.  Well, Jenkins and I actually knew barely any other ice hockey phrases in German to tell you the truth.  The lack of communication definitely proved to factor into our coaching ability.  I was able to speak with the captain of the team because she knew English.  If I had something to say to the team such as "take shorter shifts," I would go to her and tell her to talk to the team for me.

For the first two periods, we rolled three sets of lines.  After completing the first period with a 1-0 lead, we decided to keep the lines the same for the second period.  After Linz tied the game, 1-1, in the second period, I decided to just play two sets of lines in the third.  We changed the lines up and it like a promising decision before the third period started.  In the third period, Linz took a 2-1 lead and a sense of nervous came over me wondering if I made the right decision.  I seemed responsible for this change in the line-up.  However, the girls did not seem deflated after Linz scored.  They picked up momentum and scored two goals, taking a 3-2 lead.  This eased my nervousness.  With 0.2 seconds left in the game, 12-year-old Jennifer Pesendorfer put the cherry on top and scored the final goal of the game.  The rest of the "coaches" and I gave each other high-fives for our success in the 5-2 victory.

photo courtesy of Hartmut Marchl

Read more...

A Tie Against Budapest and a Denmark Loss

photo courtesy of neuberg-highlanders.at

On Sunday, the Neuberg Highlanders tied, 3-3, against Budapest in Kapfenberg.  Julia Willenshofer scored the first goal for the Highlanders, taking a 1-0 lead.  With one player in the penalty box, the Highlanders found themselves in a 5-4 penalty kill.  A Budapest defensemen had the puck at the blue line getting ready to take a shot on the Highlanders' net.  I attempted to block her shot and was successful.  I found myself on a breakaway and scored a shorthanded goal, making the score 2-0.  Budapest was able to capitalize off of a draw in the Highlanders' zone.  Budapest scored and finished the period with a 2-1 deficit.

In the second period, Courtney Bradley scored the third goal for the Highlanders as she walked out of the corner and wristed a backhand shot into Budapest's net.  Unfortunately, Budapest tied the game 3-3 after scoring late in the third period.  In the third period, Jessica Jenkins and Martina Kness found themselves in a fist fight against some Budapest players in front of the Highlanders' net, forcing them both to take a seat in the penalty box.  However, Jenkins did not let her previous penalty for fighting stop her from lifting up the gloves again.  She tackled a Budapest player in the corner of the Highlanders' defensive end and as punches came from both sides, the referee once again escorted Jenkins to the penalty box for a second time.

photo courtesy of neuberg-highlanders.at

The next day, we played Denmark.  This team was extremely fast and more skilled than most teams we have played this year.  The Neuberg Highlanders found themselves in their first loss of the season.  Denmark defeated the Highlanders, 7-3.

After being down 2-0 for most of the first period, I was able to score the first goal for the Highlanders off a rebound from Jenkins' shot that hailed from the blue line.  The Highlanders walked to the locker room with a 2-1 deficit after the first period.

The second period proved to the be the worst period for the Highlanders as Denmark scored four straight goals.  After the drop of the puck in the third period, the Highlanders picked up speed.  One of my teammates and I found ourselves on a two-on-one with a Denmark defender.  I passed the puck under the defender's stick and my teammate was able to get a shot on net which resulted in a rebound in front of the net.  Fellow teammate, Sophie Hellerschmid, was able to get her stick on it and scored her first goal of the season on the rebound.  Just 30 seconds later, the Highlanders won the face-off at center ice and skated down the ice toward Denmark's defensive zone.  Jennifer Pesendorfer passed me the puck and my shot drifted passed the Denmark's goaltender, making the score 6-3.  After scoring my second goal in the game, I found myself on the defensive side of a one-on-one.  Denmark's player was able to get a shot through me and the puck sailed passed the Highlanders' goaltender.  The goal proved to be the final tally of the game.

The Highlanders return to league action as they play Gipsy Girls Vallich on Wednesday in Kapfenberg.

Read more...

Venice

On Tuesday, my roommates (Courtney Bradley and Jessica Jenkins), one of our trainers (Axel Riegler), and I traveled to Venice, Italy.  We left around 9:30 a.m. or 10 a.m.  The drive was scheduled to take five hours, but some missed turns changed the road trip into about a seven- or eight-hour journey.  We had to pay nearly €50 in tolls because we turned around on the highway so many times and went through some of the same toll booths about three times each.  After the never-ending car ride, we finally made it to Venice!

We parked the car at a nearby parking garage and started walking around Venice.  The smell of salt water reminded me of home!  The first thing on everybody's mind was food, so we decided to eat at an Italian restaurant overlooking the Grand Canal.  We probably should have looked at the prices on the menu before sitting down at our table.  I ordered a small bottle of wine, of course.  That was one of the main "To-Do" items on my list: try Italian wine.  For a small bottle of wine, which is two glasses, it cost €17.  The bottle ended up being more expensive than my actual meal.  It was nice to see seafood on the menu because in Austria, there is no seafood, unless it is frozen section of the market.  As a girl that grew up near the beach, I love seafood!  I ordered Spaghetti alle vongole (Spaghetti with white clams).  It tasted really good but I feel I could make a better version of the dish.  It definitely was not worth the money.  Jessica ordered a pasta dish with tomato sauce, while Axel ordered pizza.  Courtney, the one of the family that doesn't try anything new, ordered Gnocchi with Gorgonzola.  I had a taste of her dish and it was delicious!  Courtney liked it as well, which seemed surprising to all of us at the table.  After we ate, we got our bill and it was €104.  That first meal killed our wallets and I don't think we were planning on going back there again.

After dinner, we walked around Venice some more and went into all the little shops.  We found that nearly everything was expensive.  Once the sun started going down, we were determined to find a place to stay for the night.  We searched around Venice for the cheapest hotel that would accompany a group of four people.  After failing several times, we finally found a place that had a quad-room vacant.  Once we paid for the room, we had to walk all the way back to the car to grab our luggage.  After we walked back to the hotel and put our luggage in the room, we decided to go walking and get some drinks.  We bought some beer and wine and then we went to a little bar known for making fresh fruit frozen drinks.  Jessica ordered a Bloody Mary and I ordered a Pomegranate Vodka frozen drink.  Axel showed how tough he was as he ordered a Piña Colada.  We returned home around midnight or 1 a.m.

The next morning, I got up early to run around Venice.  I was hoping that the tourists had not already packed the streets, but I was wrong.  It was difficult running in Venice as I had to dodge so many people.  After my run, I returned to the hotel to wake up my children (Courtney and Jessica).  They did not like my way of waking them up because I ripped open the curtains of our windows and shined the morning sunlight in their faces.  Once everyone was ready, we went downstairs of the hotel to eat breakfast.  After the meal, we began our adventure around Venice at 10 a.m.  We walked and walked...and walked.  I was determined to see the Basilica di San Marco, but it was a challenge to find it since we did not have a map.  We took a break at 1 p.m. to have lunch at another local Italian restaurant, but this time, we looked at the prices before we entered.  Jessica and I ordered pizza.  Axel ordered Gnocchi with mixed cheeses, similar to what Courtney ordered the night before.  Courtney ordered a Bolognese pasta dish.  We spent at least an hour or so resting at the restaurant as we were trying to post-pone the rest of our walk to the Basilica.

After asking several people along the way, we finally made it to the Basilica.  It was a crowded area and we were all very tired from our long walk.  There were a lot of pigeons everywhere.  Jessica and I thought it would be fun to interact with these pigeons so we held bread out in our hands.  All of sudden, a swarm of pigeons landed on our hands, arms, and shoulders.  Jessica and I were both praying that none of the pigeons would leave any "gifts" on our clothes.

After visiting San Marco for awhile, we decided to head back to the hotel, but we didn't know exactly where our hotel was located.  This made it difficult to ask locals for directions.  We just knew that our hotel was north of where we were.  Using the compass on Axel's iPhone, we continued walking in a northern direction.  On our way, we ran into another Venice attraction, the Rialto Bridge.

After observing the bridge, we proceeded to walk home.  Suddenly, we approached a bridge that we walked across as we entered Venice on the first day.  Smiles came over all of our faces and a sigh of relief was seen in our body language.

We arrived near our hotel around 7 p.m., so we decided to have dinner at a local restaurant.  With a tight budget, we chose a place that had pizza and other little snacks.  We all ordered kebabs and walked toward the back of the restaurant where there was outside seating.  The room was filled with these large, lit-up lily pads, some bar stools and bar tables.  We pulled a bar table up to the lily pad and set our food on the table.  We used a bench located under the lily pad to step up onto the lily pad itself.  We enjoyed our kebabs on our lily pad seats and watched the Italian news channel on a TV on the wall.  As people gathered into the room to enjoy their own meals, Courtney, Jessica, and I looked around us.  People we were sitting on the benches that were located under the lily pads and they had their food placed on the lily pad, which we discovered was a table.  We must have looked silly sitting on the table!  We were three Americans (Well, one American and two Canadians) sitting on the table in an Italian restaurant, eating kebabs, and watching the Italian news channel, which we had know idea what the news was saying!  After our faces grew red of embarrassment, we slowly crept down from the lily pad table and proceeded to sit on the benches like all the other Italian locals surrounding us. 

At the end of the night, we decided to return home to Austria the next day.  We did not plan how expensive Venice would be, actually we didn't particularly plan the trip at all.  I think for our next trip, we will plan better and not eat at such an expensive restaurant the first night...and we will try not to sit on the tables at the next city we visit!

Read more...

Gösser Kirtag

Yesterday, my roommate, Jessica Jenkins, and I attended the Gösser Kirtag, a festival held every Thursday after the first Sunday in October in the town of Leoben.  It originated in 1836.  First, Jessica and I had to get outfits for the event.  Our team manager, Margret, took us to get these Austrian outfits called dirndl.  A dirndl is a type of traditional dress worn in Austria, based on the historical costume of Alpine peasants.  A dirndl consists of a bodice, blouse, full skirts and apron.  We went to Wernbacher Trachtenmode to try on some dresses.  We picked out two dresses for ourselves and returned home.  We went to ice hockey practice later that day.  Afterward, we got ready and dressed in our dirndls.

We drove to Leoben for the Gösser Kirtag.  Music and market stands filled the streets.  The smell of beer and sweet treats, like gingerbread hearts and pretzels (or brezel in German), lingered in the air.  These are just a few things that make the Gösser Kirtag one of the most traditional and popular events in Leoben.  Overall, Jessica and I had a great time at the festival as we enjoyed drinking Austrian beer and wearing our dirndls!

For more pictures from the Gösser Kirtag, click here.

Read more...

"My Hour Strikes After Midnight"

My Hour Strikes After Midnight

"On Sunday, I traveled to Klagenfurt for my first time and found that it was warm enough to wear flip flops!  We played DEC Dragons Klagenfurt and pulled out a 6:0 victory.  The game was rougher than I imagined as Dragons’ players slashed you in the arm everytime you skated by.  After the game, we enjoyed a healthy post-game meal at McDonald’s.  I was surprised to see beer on the menu because American McDonald’s don’t sell any alcoholic drinks.

After the meal, we continued on our bus ride back.  In my past four years playing ice hockey at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, USA, I have always used bus rides back to call my family and friends and tell them how the game went.  In Austria, it has been extremely difficult communicate with my family and friends back home.  The time difference and the long distance seems to separate me from  people in America.  As I watch my Austrian teammates SMS or call their family and friends on the bus, I patiently wait until the clock strikes a good time to contact my parents.  Usually, if I want to talk to them, I have to wait until they get home from work, around 6 p.m. in USA’s Eastern Standard Time.  With a six-hour time difference, I have to stay up until midnight or later just to video-conference with my parents over the computer.  It’s a challenge to communicate with people thousands of miles away, but I can’t wait to see them face-to-face in person, and not on the computer!"

Read more...

Highlanders Light Up Dragons

photo courtesy of neuberg-highlanders.at

In a 6-0 victory, the Neuberg Highlanders defeated DEC Dragons Klagenfurt in Klagenfurt on Sunday.  In the second minute of play, I scored the first goal to give my team a 1-0 lead.  My roommate, Courtney Bradley, scored the second goal.  Her shot was deflected and lifted high in the air.  The Dragons' goaltender could not set eyes on the puck.  From in the air, the puck landed softly behind the goaltender's back and into the net.  Anna Johann and I assisted on the play.  The Highlanders completed the first period with a 2-0 lead.

In the second period, Julia Willenshofer added another tally to the scoreboard, 3-0.  Bradley scored another goal, advancing the Highlanders to a 4-0 lead to end the period.

Bradley put another puck in the net in the third period, contributing her second hatrick of the season.  At the final buzzer, I made a pass to Sabrina Schlauer who shot the puck at the net.  The puck trickled past the goalie in the final seconds of the match.  Bradley led the Highlanders with three goals.  Willenshofer and I had one goal and two assists each.  Schlauer scored one goal and had one assist in the match while Johann contributed two assists.  Bianca Tendl and Lisa Marchl were credited with one assist each.

In the same day, two other matches in our league, the DEBL (Damen Eishockey Bundesliga), were completed.  EHV Sabres Wien II beat HDK Maribor, 9-1.  HK Triglav Kranj defeated Gipsy Girls Villach, 7-3.

The Neuberg Highlanders lead the league in points with 12.  EHV Sabres Wien II place second in league standings with nine points.  HDK Maribor and HK Triglav Kranji are tied in third with six points each.  Gipsy Girls Villach fall below them with three points.  DEC Dragons Klagenfurt and Team Turkey finish last in the standings with zero points each.

DEBL_Statistikinformation_6_02_10_2011

The Neuberg Highlanders return to action as we play Gipsy Girls Vallach on Oct. 26 at home in Kapfenberg.  The puck is scheduled to drop at 16.15, or 4:15 p.m.  That is 10:15 a.m. in USA's Eastern Standard Time!

Read more...