Perhaps the hardest blog to compose....

This is a tough blog to write as I didn't think I'd be writing some of these things --- *sigh* --- AIK made it to the final match and for the regular season we were undefeated. I was pretty confident that the women of the AIK bandy team were well on their way to a repeat of winning and defending the SM Guld status. I was wrong...and I am very saddened to write that. I am still in a bit of shock and disappointment. The IFK girls came out striking hard with high pressure on our team, and it showed that they were hungry. One friend of mine said “you could tell that your team had everything to lose and they had everything to gain”. I do think that’s how our team played…unfortunately. However, on the up side, it is said to be “good for Swedish Bandy” to have another team win the gold! It shows that you can play all year and have a great season, but that doesn’t mean that you can win “it all”. It means that although we had an awesome chemistry and great team, we too are human. “What went wrong?” one might ask. I honestly don’t know. Not to discredit the girls of IFK, but the goals they scored were from outside of the penalty area…where goals are rarely scored from. Granted, we shouldn’t have given them the shots to score from there in the first place. We had many chances ourselves to score, but we missed the net. AIK and IFK both played a hard fought match and both teams put their hearts into it…but what went wrong? I have no answers. Maybe the question is more for IFK and “what went right?”

I did get to skate for a whole minute when one of our half backs lost an edge (after going flying over the boards and landing on cement!), and one of our midfielders also lost an edge, but that was all of the ice time I got to see. I cannot complain about the little bit of ice time that I saw that particular day. The game was brutal and I even saw our strongest player get flipped as she took a knee to knee impact; I would have lost my knee in that collision – I’m glad it wasn’t me, and I’m glad that our player is OK. I played a lot of bandy this season, so sure, while I wanted to take to the ice during that final match, I realize as well that I’m an American bandy player that has only been playing bandy for 4 years and I played a whole lotta bandy this winter. Coming into this season, I was thinking I’d get to skate every other game or so if I was lucky. The team did originally have about 20 people that were interested in playing, and we ended up with 16 for the whole season; of the 20, there were an additional 2 midfielders that I could have been competing for ice time with – I’m a very fortunate person to have had as much ice time as I did. I am also very thankful that I was given the chance to be on the bench during that final match. You see, we have had to sit at least 2 people every game this year, meaning that they don’t even get to take to the bench in their bandy gear during the games, rather they sit in the stands and cheer on the team. Yes, I’m very lucky to have even been in the jersey that day, and it’s an experience I will never forget. The anticipation, the excitement of getting ready, going through warm ups, taking to the ice, the cameras on the players, the buzz going through the locker room…it’s something that I cannot put into words. The silence that filled the locker room at the end of the game was disturbing; this was something we had been playing for all season and to have it taken away from us…that was not how we wanted the season to end. I do have to say, that it builds character. It makes me hunger to come back even more and play another season with a team that can win the gold just to see what it’s like to be on “that” end of the game. I think AIK will come back with a vengeance and take it to whomever they face next year and win it all back! I know that they can!!! I hope to be able to return to Sweden and play some time in the very near future – I’ve only become hungrier.

I have to admit that the after party was just as crazy even though I was not on the SM Gold team. I will leave it at that…it was a blast and I had a great time…the next day was not as forgiving and I partied like I had won the gold because in my heart and in my mind, I have had a very golden season here playing bandy with a great group of people all of whom I will miss when we head back to the States.

So, the questions I’ve been getting are “what will the team do now? Will you continue to train? What are the other team mates like? Do they have families? How can you give up every weekend to play like that?” Let me take them one at a time:
I am still training, just not on the ice. We ‘pulled the plug’ on the cooling unit for the ice the Wednesday night before we played in the Finals, so I won’t be “skating training” while I’m here. That last practice was quite memorable in my mind: I was on the ice as one of our team managers turned it off and I felt very sad. Thom had the chance to take to the ice before our team did that night and he sat there just listening to the silence of the night and the shifting of the ice as it was fighting to stay frozen on that warm evening. I stayed out there after everyone had gone off, took a lap around slowly taking in the view of the snow capped trees as the ice is set off in the woods. I got to center ice and had a few tears slide down my cheeks, and then I skated off. So sad to realize that it was my last bandy training on my home ice.

Instead, the training I will do now is more for my “off season” sports such as marathons and triathlons. One of the girls on the team teaches classes at a local gym, so I went to a spinning class on Monday (after we played the final on Saturday), and will attend on Wednesday as well. My running training will start up in full force after this weekend as our team is going to a “Ski Weekend” together. From what I understand, there is very little skiing and more socialization than anything…I intend to do both in moderation.

The team will take a bit of a physical break (after we do our skiing/social weekend together), and then they will get back into their training in May. Really --- they start training for their bandy season in May and it doesn’t start until November!! I will plan to follow their training plan this summer as well so I may be in the same top physical condition as them when I make my return  (Ok, I will do the training, and am going to work on figuring out how we can come back!)

The team mates – they are all in school or working full time. When I say “School” there is one girl who is still in “high school” and the rest are at University. They are all very dedicated to bandy and they have no problems giving up their personal time to train and skate like they do. Everyone’s family members and significant others realize the commitment that is required of them and they just understand it. The players on the team --- none of them are moms this year (although 2 are pregnant now!), but in the past, there were a few that were moms. Like I said, the family just realizes that the commitment is in the players blood, and they work together to make it happen.

What will Thom and I do now?
Well, this coming weekend as I’ve already mentioned is a skiing weekend/party weekend for the team. Thom will hang at home and go out with the guys (which is good as I’m sure he’s been dying for some “guy time”). After that, we have planned a small Euro Trip to Helsinki, Tallinn, and Riga. We have a day scheduled in each of the cities, and in Riga we will meet with my friend Sarma so she can show us around. After that long weekend of travel, we will come back to Sweden to see how they celebrate Easter and then (tears filling my eyes), we fly back home.

We will only be home for a couple of weeks (long enough for me to file taxes, say hello to those in Minneapolis), then we fly out for a family vacation with my side of the family. VERY excited to see all of them, especially my mom and my little niece (who I understand speaks in full sentences now and she’s just 2!!!!!!! Glad I’ll have someone to talk to on the vacation, HA HA!)

I just can’t believe that we are down to our last 3 weekends here and that’s it. We’re done in Sweden, we resume life back in the States, and I wish that I could come back and do it all over again. We’ve had a great adventure here and the only thing I would do differently is schedule the trip to be longer so we could see Sweden in the summer months as well.

Oh – and I did win the Bjorn Borg underwear competition (thanks everyone!) I came out with 15 new pairs of underwear and 3 new bras! Quite the collection!!! I will know if I am a finalist in the Adidas competition on March 30th, but I’m still in the running for the Nike competition! Please make sure to vote each day! Thanks to all of you who have been, I appreciate it.

Keep on voting for me on the Nike one!!!
http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?picid=832420_51122567&pid=1393431&scid=418&=HP_sports_PPIMEMAIL&isep=1&pbapi=-1&pbvi=45721425&pdi=2366

I’m sure to have a few more blog posts before we head back to the states…I just can’t believe this was my wrap up of the bandy season. Where did the time go?

For the love of the game,
KP

I will shed a few tears...of joy and of sadness...

I can’t believe it – it’s the last official week of the bandy season here in Sweden! ?! ?!??!? Fy Fan! I’m sad! I wish that this season could continue, and at the same time I wish spring would finally get here. If I could have the best of both worlds, I’d have the seasons outside but have an indoor bandy field! Some day, when I win the lottery, I will build an indoor bandy field and play year round. Now THAT is a dream I will have to work at to achieve.

This past weekend, we faced VAIK for the 2nd match of the Semi-Finals. We had ice time reserved on Sunday in case we needed game 3 (as it was a best of 3 series), but we also were prepared that we would win on Saturday and therefore have practice on Sunday instead of another match. Yes, we had practice on Sunday. With a great match played by the AIK dambandy spelar (women’s bandy players), we won the match 5-2. I won’t elaborate on the play, I will just say that “dang that was great bandy!” Unfortunately, I was unable to play in the match as it’s fair to give everyone a chance. I sure do hope I will skate on Saturday March 21st as we are IN for the FINAL match against Nassjo. These two teams have faced eachother last year for the series final as well, so this is one that will be a hard fought match. We did a great exercise with the team this week – the task was to positively say something about each of our teammates, then we were given a sheet of paper that had all of those positive thoughts from the team members on it. My level of determination and passion for the sport has been seen by others on the team, and I have been called “The Fighting Tiger”. That’s very flattering, and I hope I get to show that spirit in one more match this season.

This week we have spent every day on the ice, so I don’t have much of an update other than that. Thom and I didn’t do any exploring, just work, to the bandy field, back home (and I don’t mind!). This coming week will be more of the same, and for that I am quite excited honestly. We were told in our Sunday morning practice that this week before the Final will be dedicated to bandy, and I couldn’t agree more! Training all of the usual days this week, however, we will be going to Uppsala for the game on Saturday. Uppsala is about an hour north of Stockholm, so we will actually make the journey there on Friday so we can get to the field, take in a skate, then relax for the evening with visions of bandy goals dancing in our heads. The excitement on the team is buzzing with high energy and the girls are all so pumped. I’m anxious, excited, and yet at the same time, sad. I am sad because the “Final” means that my time here to play bandy is coming to an end. I’m so very grateful for the fun and educational season I’ve had, but I wonder “couldn’t it be a bit longer??” I have so much yet to learn, so much to improve upon, and so much more to experience and do on the ice. Please? Just a few more months?!? Ok…yes, I realize that the seasons change, and the iced bandy fields will turn to green fields for futbol and the bandy klubban will be exchanged for cleats by many. I will turn in the skates for my running shoes and begin more training for my marathon coming up on May 31st --- ironically, Minneapolis and Stockholm are holding their marathons on the same day. I think I should take part in the Stockholm marathon instead of Minneapolis . Since I did not play on Saturday, Thom and I decided to try this bar “Peppar” that we have seen every day as we make our way to and from the subway station. Boy, am I glad we did!!! I had a fajita (granted, not served sizzling hot like in the US), and it tasted wonderful! We had a beer there, then decided to hit a few places on the way back home and try the atmosphere (beer) at each of them. I had a blast! We both enjoyed the night very much and had a great time. On Saturday morning, I decided I would turn to my marathon training for some exercise and take in some more of the glorious views of the Swedish terrain. I ran around Haga park and then decided to continue my run to the bandy field. I was surprised that it only took me 30 minutes to run there – it takes most of our bus and/or train rides 45 minutes! Once I made it to the bandy field, I continued through Bergsharma and the surrounding areas – the areas that we have been running as a team during the dark, so I hadn’t seen most of the sights. I will have to take Thom and Reese back there with my camera to capture some of the cool things I saw. It was simply beautiful and definitely reminded me of why I was running that day.

So there won’t be much of an update this week from me as I’ll be doing what I said I would – focusing my energy towards the bandy training this week. I will, however, post the results of the final match, and I do anticipate posting a picture of me with a golden helmet very soon. If you wish to watch the match, it will be televised on “SVT” – I’m not sure which channel (1, 4, or 24), but you should be able to find it if you want to watch it through the “svenskbandy.se” web site. Email me if you are interested and I can do some searching. We will play at 11:45 on Saturday (5:45 am CST for those of you back home  ). In my upcoming blogs, I will try to reflect back upon some of the highlights of being here. I simply cannot put into words the emotions I have started to feel this week, knowing that the bandy season is coming to an end for the year, knowing we will be returning to the States, and all of the great adventures we have had here. There simply are no words to really explain the experience, but I will try. This week, I anticipate the tears of joy and sorrow will flow; I will be so excited to be a part of the SM Guld chant and participate in the game, but I will be very sad to have the last 90 minutes of the season ticking off of the clock...a happy and sad day all at once.

Thanks to everyone who has been voting daily for the Adidas and Nike contests. The Adidas one only runs for one more week so keep your votes rolling in! The Nike one will continue for about 40 more days, but keep those votes going!!!

Believe in the Run - vote every day!

BELIEVE IN THE RUN Sponsored by Visit NIKE USA

2 contests in addition to the Bandy contest

Ok, time is really getting away from me and I apologize. Since our last game...we have done quite a bit. We had the weekend "off" the last weekend of February, and so after I posted my last blog, we went on a walk to see if we could find this "old wooden house that the Queen lived in in the 1800's". We thought it would be close...and we had read that it was a "major tourist attraction" so we figured it would be easy to spot. Ha! Well, it wasn't easy to find, but we did find it, and we didn't see any signs that it was a tourist attraction. I took a picture anyway! That was pretty much the excitement for the weekend as I was still coming down from the cold I had battled. The week wasn't much more exciting until Friday rolled around.

We headed to the "Radio Tower" (the name is Kaknas Tower - literally translated - "Cookie Nose" tower). It is the tallest building in all of Scandanavia and there is a restaraunt at the top. We went up at dinner time, so I was starving and hoping for a good dinner anyway since we had a game on Saturday that I was to play in as it was the first game in the Semi-Finals! Steak and potatoes sounded great....

We found the tower (after crossing across a very large field/park that seems a bit different for what we have seen in Stockholm...), and we took the 30 second ride to the 30th floor to have some dinner. Oh my! The view was spectacular, even though it was a bit cloudy that day. The dinner -- mmm!! YUMMY! I haven't had a "Swedish Steak" before, but it was delicious. The only difference - they put an egg on the top of it. More protein as if the beef doesn't have enough I guess. Whatever the reason, I ate it, and I ate it all because it was so yummy! The evening was definitely romantic and one of the best adventures we have been on I think. Perhaps it's because we didn't have any expectations going into it, but whatever the reason, we really enjoyed it and I'd be happy to go back again.

Saturday was the first game against VAIK in the Semi Finals at their rink. I was told I'd be dressing to play forward and midfield. While this was true, I did dress to play those positions if needed, I did not get to see the ice at all. It was a tight match from beginning to end, so I, being the less talented one of the team I guess, rode the pine for the game. I hope to dress again on Saturday - even if I do ride the pine, it's just great to be a part of the experience. I do think our team will do better against VAIK this coming Saturday though, so the score may have a larger difference and be weighted in favor of us for more of the game so I may get my chance to skate. We ended up tying the game 3-3 in regulation, went into overtime and with the game still 3-3, we went into a shoot out. The 7th shooter for our team finally put one in to win! Whew! 1 game down, 1 more to win before the Finals!

On other news of things I've been keeping busy with - I've entered 2 more contests online. The Adidas one is to win a chance to be a model with Candace Parker for Adidas. The other is for Nike and to win some of their gear. You can vote daily for both of them:



Adidas: http://www.adidas.com/campaigns/uswomen/content/default.asp

Nike:
http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?picid=832420_51122567&=HP_sports_PPIMEMAIL&isep=1&pbapi=1393431&pbvi=45721425

The Adidas one is tricky - - - when you get to the page - "Skip Intro" is on the right - - - it helps to skip it. Then a purple circle with a white arrow will be in the middle of the screen ---- you can click on that and it will take you to the page. You will have to enter your email address and some other information if it is your first time to the site. Otherwise, log in with your email address, then search for me with my email address: bandychick6@yahoo.com Then you should be able to find me and vote for me that way.

The Nike one --- that one is very direct and simple!

Thanks for all of your support and voting!

KP