Pryvitańnie! (Hello!)

Many thanks to those of you who have commented on this blog and plan to use it to keep up to date during our trip. Also, many of you have asked me to add friends and family to the access list, which I have done. We now have close to 50 readers with access and possibly more to add. It dawned on me that the 'non-parent' readers may have little information as to what this Ambassador Program is about. I encourage you to read the press release in the initial post below. I thought I'd share some additional information about the program, its sponsors, and Belarus.

The trip is being sponsored by the Ice Hockey Federation of Belarus (BIHF), Northern Edge and Reebok (RBK) Hockey. Northern Edge’s relationship with the BIHF began after a successful 2006 World Championship tournament in which Todd Woodcroft served as an assistant coach and it is evolving into a partnership that affords many opportunities like this one. The BIHF has sponsored our trip in the spirit of hospitality and an exchange of cultures. We will keep this in mind while in Belarus!

The country's Interior Minister, Vladimir Naumov, is the President of the hockey federation and is the one primarily responsible for sponsoring this trip and allowing it to happen. Our gratitude goes out to Mr. Naumov!

Great News!!

In addition to the great group of instructors that will be leading this Program, Todd shared with us yesterday that Curt Fraser will be joining the staff on and off the ice!! Curt played over 700 games in the NHL as a power forward and was known for his toughness. Curt played for the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Black Hawks, and the Minnesota North Stars. In addition, he has coached over 500 games in the IHL, AHL, and the NHL and was the inaugural coach of the NHL's expansion team Atlanta Thrashers. Currently, Curt is the head coach of the Men's National Team in Belarus. His sons Jesse and Casey will be with him in Minsk. Welcome, Curt!

About Belarus

After seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991. The country is comparative in size to the state of Kansas. Throughout much of history, the area which is now known as Belarus was part of various countries including Lithuania, Poland and the Russian Empire. Eventually, in 1922, Belarus became a republic in the Soviet Union as the Byelorussian SSR. The republic officially declared its sovereignty on 27 July 1990, and with the dissolution of the Soviet Union declared its independence as the Republic of Belarus on 25 August 1991. Since 1994, Alexander Lukashenko has been the state's president. Belarus is currently in negotiations with neighboring Russia to integrate both of their economies, among other things, in a plan called the Union of Russia and Belarus.