We had our first game today against Switzerland. Overall, it
was a good game. We won 11-3 I believe. Yours truly had 2 goals and 2 assists.
I should have had a couple more, but I couldn’t quite fall into a rhythm. It
takes time I know, and I definitely wasn’t the only one. Our shots weren’t
quite falling until the second half when Matt (one of the Americans) got a hot
stick and popped a couple in. Dan, one of the captains, had a great day with 6
goals and 3 assists. He’s got good vision coming around the back of the net and
he found me a bunch of times sliding off my man.
I did a tonne of running as I was playing midfield and
rotating in through attack when the alternate mid line was running. It felt
good though, good to be in the thick of things for sure. I even knocked someone
down. I thought it was a pretty good hit. A loose ball, the guy looked at me as
he was going for it, then for whatever reason, put his head down. So I took two
strides from the side, dropped my shoulder and dropped him. It felt amazing,
but it’ll probably be only hit I get all tourney. It does happen, every once in
a while.
I also had my first experience with the ol’ post game ice
bath. And let me tell you, it is goshdarn cold, but you feel like a million
bucks after. A little pick me up for the legs. And a certain cuppage of a
particular region keeps the boys and the whole body actually, that little bit
warmer. And just to clarify, an ice bath
is basically the bathtub filled with water as cold as it comes out of the tap
and then filled with ice. Boy, it’s delightful.
Last night was the opening ceremonies. I think they would
have been really cool if they had tightened up the whole schedule. Instead, we
were at the stadium for like 6 hours. They walked in all of the teams, and then
sort of introduced all the higher ups of the European Championships. Then they
had a band play, Red 17. They were okay, apparently they play the theme song
for the tournament. Yes, the European Lacrosse Championships have a theme song.
They even played a cover of teenage
dream which coincidentally, I had been singing non stop since Monday along with
Marc and Nye. We shared a moment as we sang along. After the band played an
oddly long set, we watched the Netherlands play Germany. It was a pretty good
game. I think Germany is an overall better team, but the Netherlands goalie was
outstanding. He’s insane. I think he played D1 in the states and he made some
unreal saves. He definitely kept them in it, and gave them a chance, but their
comeback fell short 9-8.
I also forgot to mention that the women’s Euros are
happening at the same time. The Latvian girls were hanging out pretty close to
us and I definitely wasn’t complaining.
Anyways, big game tomorrow against Italy. I’m going to chill
out, watch some soccer, I mean football,
and hit the sack.There is currently thunder and lightening. There's something so calming and cozy about a storm like this so I feel like I'll sleep well tonight!
Iain
PS. If anybody is interested in catching some of the games
online, the link is below! Pretty cool way, to spend a few hours. I’m number 24;)
Song of the Day:
Michicant- Bon Iver
This is the song I listened to on the way to the field today. It's such a beautiful song and it helped calm the nerves a little bit. In a strange way, it also pumped me up. It's also the first Bon Iver song I'm putting on the blog. Prepare for many more though. They are amazing!
Photos of the Day:
Jamie holding our flag like a boss. Yes we wore our kilts to the ceremonies. Although, who ever designed our polos made an interesting decision on the size of the necks. It's funny, everyone is curious as to what we where under our kilts. They had a tv camera and a microphone and they interviewed Peter and Matt and the last question they asked related to that subject. The answer "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" didn't get us very far.
A couple of the other teams. Switzerland and Israel. I think Israel is actually quite good as their team is made up almost entirely of North Americans. I even saw a guy wearing a McGill lacrosse jacket.
Just my tournament pass.
The Netherlands/ Germany game. A beautiful day to play and the field looked amazing. Too bad the rest of the tournament is being held at another site.
A gorgeous night walking out of the stadium. I've decided that I love Amsterdam. They are some beautifully picturesque areas.
The stadium.
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