Today was our first day on the ice! We got up and went to breakfast as usual and then headed over to the rink. It is a nice facility and the ice is wider, but not longer, than an NHL sheet. The longer rooms are nice as well and we will be keeping our stuff there for the entire week.
The American and Russian coaches collaborated on a practice plan last night and ran the kids through a series of skating sequences to get warmed up. There were some obvious differences in styles and you could tell pretty quickly which kids had done skating specific training. After that we moved into some passing and shooting drills and even worked in a shootout game before we resurfaced. We split the girls and boys up for the second part of practice and did some 3 v 3 and other small area games. It was a good practice - good pace and there are definitely some skilled players in this group!
After practice we ate lunch and headed out on a bus tour of Moscow. The Russian kids and coaches joined us and the kids are quickly becoming friends. Our tour guide pointed out several historical sites, like Moscow State and we stopped in a couple of places for pictures. This city is beautiful and full of so much history. The picture below is taken from a stop called Sparrow Hills.
Our main stop, however, was at Red Square. We explored, shopped and took pictures for a couple of hours - this place is incredibly amazing. We did have a couple of nearly pickpocketed kids, but luckily the group handled those situations and everyone was fine.
At about 6:15pm, our bus picked us up and we headed to our first KHL game of the week. HC CSKA Moskow v SKA St Petersburg. In addition to Bryzgalov and Datsyuk, the game also featured NHL'ers Kovalchuk and Prucha. It was an awesome game with SKA winning 4-2. Datsyuk had two points and Kovalchuk had a hat trick and an assist.
After the game, we were ushered down to the media waiting area where we were presented with two jerseys - one of which was signed by the entire team. We also got to meet and take pictures with Ilya Kovalchuk! It was an awesome experience and he was so nice to our group.
The American and Russian coaches collaborated on a practice plan last night and ran the kids through a series of skating sequences to get warmed up. There were some obvious differences in styles and you could tell pretty quickly which kids had done skating specific training. After that we moved into some passing and shooting drills and even worked in a shootout game before we resurfaced. We split the girls and boys up for the second part of practice and did some 3 v 3 and other small area games. It was a good practice - good pace and there are definitely some skilled players in this group!
After practice we ate lunch and headed out on a bus tour of Moscow. The Russian kids and coaches joined us and the kids are quickly becoming friends. Our tour guide pointed out several historical sites, like Moscow State and we stopped in a couple of places for pictures. This city is beautiful and full of so much history. The picture below is taken from a stop called Sparrow Hills.
Our main stop, however, was at Red Square. We explored, shopped and took pictures for a couple of hours - this place is incredibly amazing. We did have a couple of nearly pickpocketed kids, but luckily the group handled those situations and everyone was fine.
At about 6:15pm, our bus picked us up and we headed to our first KHL game of the week. HC CSKA Moskow v SKA St Petersburg. In addition to Bryzgalov and Datsyuk, the game also featured NHL'ers Kovalchuk and Prucha. It was an awesome game with SKA winning 4-2. Datsyuk had two points and Kovalchuk had a hat trick and an assist.
After the game, we were ushered down to the media waiting area where we were presented with two jerseys - one of which was signed by the entire team. We also got to meet and take pictures with Ilya Kovalchuk! It was an awesome experience and he was so nice to our group.
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