July 19th Update - Draft Day!!

Last night, Northern Edge instructors and Hockey Federation representatives were treated to a tour of the civil Special Forces facilities. These forces are responsible for such things as terrorist threats and hostage situations. Several live demonstrations were provided by the elite group of officers. These gentlemen were very skilled in their respective duties. We suggested they come to rink and 'gear up' for a lesson in hockey! Many thanks to the Federation for arranging the visit.

No formal group activity was planned for the boys last night. Rather, independent activities were planned by their respective host families. Some had a casual night of rest and relaxation while others chose to go out for dinner and find casual entertainment. A couple even decided to get tattoos of the Belarusian bull! These 'free nights' of rest and relaxation are turning out to be a great way for our kids to infuse themselves into the local culture. You will be amazed at the amount of Russian they are using now! If only the instructors were doing as well with the language.

Tonight, the boys will make a repeat of last night and be entertained by their host families. I don't know what is on each one's agenda but I do know some are going to a barbeque by a lake while others are going boating.

Oh, just kidding about the tattoos!!

DRAFT DAY!!

Today was draft day. What this means is that after four days of on-ice and off-ice evaluations, the boys were 'carefully' drafted onto one of two teams. Trades were made and deals were struck. Eddie has been such a good sport on this trip that Todd decided to mess with him - he was purposely drafted last, just after players were traded for pucks and chairs. As usual, Eddie had a world-class smile and played along with the gag rather well! Hats off to Eddie. These teams will compete tomorrow for the Northern Edge Cup. I will let you know the results of the Cup game tomorrow.


I had a chance to walk around a little today so I snapped a couple of pictures to give you a sense of this place. I have added more images to the Flickr website.

Pictures


Cya!