Today was amazing. There is no way to properly summarize the things we had a chance to experience and the people we were able to meet. We started off the day with breakfast as usual. Kids are getting into a steady routine and adapting nicely to the food and meal schedule. After breakfast we headed over to the rink for our ice session and learned that we would be joined on the ice by Olympic Champion Vitali Prokhorov. He was awesome - he put the kids through some great skating drills, emphasizing edgework and form. It is really interesting to see our American kids in these situations because most of them are not used to these types of skating sequences. We are learning a lot about how the Europeans train and I think many of us will be taking this stuff back to our own teams.
After practice, we rushed through lunch and got dressed up for some special events. First, we headed downtown Moscow to the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. The crazy Russian traffic made things difficult once again, but we eventually got there. We were able to walk through the museum and see some incredible memorabilia from Russia's sports history.
Then we were seated for a press conference with the U.S. Embassy and the Ministry. Sergei Shelpakov, Deputy Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, gave a great speech about building relationships through sports and the importance of coming together as a united group for the greater good. Emily Kenealy, Assistant Cultural Affairs Office for the U.S. Embassy of Moscow, also spoke and expressed heartfelt gratitude on behalf of our group.
Lastly, all of the players and coaches signed an authentic Russian jersey to be displayed in the museum.
After the reception, we got back on the bus and sat in traffic for another 90 minutes...you cannot even imagine what this traffic is like. Six lanes, sometimes more, bumper to bumper ALL THE TIME. It is insane. However, it has actually been great for the kids as it has gives our kids a lot of extra time with the Russian players and they are quickly becoming friends.
We arrived at the U.S. Embassy and waited in line to get through security. As we were standing there, a car pulled up and out comes Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals & Dynamo of Moscow during the lockout). That was pretty cool for a group of high school kids!
The surprises didn't end there. The reception, held for our program and in honor of our group taking the trip to Russia, was basically a "who's who" of Russian hockey. In addition to Ovechkin, Sergei Federov, Pavel Datsyuk, Vladislov Tretiak and Igor Tuzik were also there to greet, talk, sign autographs and take pictures with us. It was absolutely incredible and humbling to be amongst such legendary players, past and present.
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