fridge bUzz: IIHF World Championship Part 2

Going away with field school meant that I wasn't able to go to any of the preliminary games. I did end up going down to Fan Fest with Jenni on May 7th to watch the Finland and Slovakia game which Finland won. I thought there would be more people around. We got some free stuff, like a hat, mints, and entered some contests which I guess we didn't win. After the game it was neat to see so many people speaking other languages and dressed in crazy team colours with crazy team apparel.
My next IIHF action was on Monday May 12th. I went down to Fan Fest with Jenni and Dave to watch Canada and Finland play each other in a battle for top spot coming out of the qualification round. Once again there were not very many people there for the game which was sort of surprising since it was Canada. Canada won the game 6-3. After the game we went outside hoping to get some Team Canada autographs. However the team decided to take the bus out, most likely because there were so many kids around. Some players from Finland came out (Mika Pyorala, Sami Lepisto, Antti Pihlstrom, Riku Hahl, Mikko Jokela, Jussi Jokinen).
We decided to go see how much we could get tickets to the Germany vs. Latvia game that was taking place. People were trying to sell them for $30 each, but luckily Jenni and her charm was able to get us two tickets for free! Then we were able to buy a third ticket for $10.
Right after we bought the tickets Dave spotted Derek Roy and Mike Green leaving the arena, so were able to go get our Canada jerseys signed and some pictures were taken as well. It was neat because there were no other fans around harassing them for autographs.
The game itself was very entertaining. It was a showdown between the two teams with the most colourful and the loudest fans. The Latvian fans were decked out in their burgundy and white and had drums that echoed throughout the arena all game. The Germany fans were also there in large numbers with a variety of jersey's on. Some of them for the national team, and some of them club jerseys from the German league. After exchanging goals for the first 40 minutes of the game, Germany was able to pull ahead and win the game 5-3. It was neat seeing Marcel Goc, Marco Sturm, and Dimiti Patzold play for the Germans.