Day 2 in Stockholm

After a good night’s sleep (for most people) the team met for breakfast and began the day. We boarded our bus and Ollie, with the help of a guide, took us on a City tour of Stockholm, giving us the opportunity to see many of the important sites. These sites include various museums, the location where the Nobel Awards are given out and the neighbourhood where Bjorn Borg and Tiger Woods have condominiums. Our first stop of the day was a visit to the Vasa Museum. This is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Sweden and everyone found it very interesting. The museum is dedicated to the Vasa, a Viking ship that was built in the 1660’s to much fanfare. Unfortunately it did not make it out of the harbour during its maiden voyage and sank within 15 minutes. Centuries later, crews were able to resurrect the ship and create a replica that is 95% original. It really was a fascinating stop and a view into an era 300 years ago.
From the museum, the girls were forced to go shopping in the main shopping district of Stockholm. Somehow they suffered through it. We are lucky enough to have Sarah’s dad Mohamed with us; he is from Sweden and provides free tourist tips to us. We had some lunch along the way and then boarded the bus to go to our first Exhibition game against Tikkakoski, a team from Finland. It was quite a sight to our girls walking into a rink dressed in their Canada sweaters. The Finnish team was made up of a variety of ages, many younger than our girls and the game was very one-sided as Richmond Hill won 11-1. Sarah Esmail was selected as the Top Richmond Hill player of the game. The game started with both the Canadian and Finnish National anthems being played, which was a new experience for our team. The Finnish girls were very excited to have played Canada and had many questions for us. At the end of the game, the Finnish girls were in our room getting their sticks signed and were just outstanding sports. It was an excellent experience for our girls, even though the game was not very competitive.
We arrived back at the hotel, showered and had a late dinner at the hotel. The girls played together for awhile and then went to bed.