Rest Day #2

Today we had a bit of a sleep in and since we won the game last night we had no training this morning! At 930am we left by bus to the Blue Lagoon, which is a geothermal spa about 40minutes drive out of town. It was amazing there, such a nice place, the water was really warm, and we even got exfolliate ourselves with the Blue Lagoons natural mud. It was a really good time for us to chill out, relax and have a bit of fun. The water was the most amazing turquoise colour, the down side was the weather was rather windy and rainy. We hung out there for about 2hours then headed back to have lunch and then for the rest of the afternoon it was free time. A lot of the team headed to the mall and hit up town, with all the 2nd hand stores and souvenir shops. Around Iceland a lot of us have noticed there are not many people around. In the malls its rather empty, a lot different to back home. Shopping is also rather expensive, which is annoying cause they have some really cool stuff around. Dinner was at 7pm then most of the team headed over to the rink to watch the South Africa Vs Iceland game. The end result was 5-1 to Iceland but in fact South Africa really gave Iceland a run for their money the first part of the game leading 1-0. We are playing South Africa tomorrow night, big game, we are all looking forward to it! Will keep you updated :)

GAME DAY 2 AGAINST KOREA :)

Today the team woke up, had breakie then headed for the rink for our on ice practice. Pretty relaxed training trying to reserve all our energy for the big game tonight. Training was 50minutes then it was a quick bite to eat then straight back to the hotel for rest time. Had around an hour and half of rest time then we were up and heading to the rink for our game. Before each game we arrive at the rink around 2 hours before the game, to give us plenty of time to do what we have to do and also do have a solid off ice warm up before hand. We had a really good on ice warm up, the pace was good and the spirit within the team was high. We went into the game knowing it wasn't going to be an easy battle and that the winner came down to who was wanting it more. It was a semi physical game, a lot of penalties were drawn from the hollywooding of the Koreans. It was a fast pace game, we had lots of shots on the goalie, If weren't for the Korean goalie we would have scored a heck load more of goals. First period was a little messy, they scored their first goal on us within the first 20secconds of the game. But we were quick to react scoring 2 quick goals ending the period with a 2-1 lead. Seccond period, they came out firing, a very even period, with no goals scored keeping the score at 2-1. The third period was a bit of a different story. ALOT of penalties were called on our behalf, and we found we were playing with 4 or less players the whole period. We got a goal within the last 5 minutes of the game making the score 3-1! The last minute of the game was the most intense minute we have ever come across. The koreans pulled their goalie, meanwhile we had 2 girls, ashley and keri in the penalty box, making it a 6 on 3! it was horrible, but us girls pulled it together, fought hard, and beat them to it. End result of the game 3-1 to the FERNZ!!! go the Fernz. Such an awesome game, we put everything into it, we had sooo much determination, and were not going to let those Koreans take the game away from us. Player of the Game went to Jasmine, who played incredible, and got i must say the most impressive goal of the tourny so far! At the end of the game we were absolutely shattered, but extremely happy girls! We really do now how to stick it together and play some great hockey :) after the game we headed to dinner, then some of the girls went back to the Island vs Romania game and the rest back to the hotel for an early nights sleep. We have our off day tomorrow, with no training, which was promised by the coaches if we won tonight, YIPPEEEEE. The Team are heading the The Blue Lagoon tomorrow, will keep you posted :)

Rest Day

Today was our rest day, we woke up around 8 popped down for Breakfast then headed to our 50minute on ice training. A lot of us were feeling rather sore and slow on the ice from last night, but it was a good training. After the training we had free time for the rest of the day. Some of the team, went and had lunch then headed back to the hotel to rest, then others went off with their parents to the mall, or to town to see a bit of ice land. At 430pm most of the team went to watch the South Africa Vs Romania game. Romania won 3-1, it was a rather slow game to watch, but it was good to see what we are up for. Romania has some rather large, stocky girls which we were quite surprised about. After the game we headed over to dinner, then home to the hotel, into our rooms for a relaxed night in. Big day tomorrow, we have a very big game ahead of us, against Korea, that appear to be rather skilled. Will update you after the game tomorrow :)

ITS GAME DAY BABY!

We were up at around 8am this morning, we then headed over to breakfast and then onto our training at 1045am. The training was pretty easy going, we went over our power plays/ kills which we needed. a quick training for us, the jumped off and headed to lunch. Food here is TOPS!!! we are all really enjoying it, very impressive and certainly getting enough food in. The afternoon was very quiet, with a lot of sleeping and hanging out going on. Preparing and getting focused was our main aim of the afternoon. Left for dinner at around 4pm then headed to the rink to watch the last of the South Africa Vs Korea game, where Korea gave them a rather large beating. Our game started at 8pm, had a really good warm up, really good intensity and fast paced. Good start to the game. We really came out hard from the first drop of the puck. Iceland got the first goal, then we were quick to catchup with a beautiful goal from our fabulous captain Casey making it 1-1 at the end of the first period. The intensity was very high, everyone skated their buts off. Second period was much the same, our structure was good, passing was great and we were really positive ending the 2nd period with a 2-1 lead. the STUNNING goal was scored by Emma assisted by Tara. Third period was rather intense, the Iceland team were really hustling us. For most of the period we were up by one then within the last five minutes of the game Ashley got a beautiful goal, that really topped our fabulous game off, but boy was it nerve wracking. The final buzzer went, we were incredibly happy, speechless. WE DID IT, WE WON 3-1!! it was a fight of a game, but we came out on top we were the dominating team. Unfortunately the NZ national anthem didn't work, soo us being typical kiwis didnt let this pass, we as a team sung our anthem loud and proud, with nothing but our amazing voices, a little off pitch though, but we were one incredibly happy team. Zanzee got player of the game, who played an amazing game, played great defence, and aswell was wearing a completely new set of gear! GO ZANZEE! We have an off day tomorrow, with a training in the morning, will keep you posted :)

Day 2 in Iceland

Today was a pretty chilled day in the Fernz household, we woke up and had brekkie, then the rookies headed down to decorate our changing room and boy did we do a good job of it :) the veterans were rather impressed! We had lunch then went to our 50minute on ice training which went pretty well. After our training we found out that we were not going to be getting our stick bag or Zanzee's bag by our game tomorrow, and as we were all covered by insurance, we headed down to the local hockey shop to do a spender! This meant the girls who had sticks in the stick bag go to go and purchase a new stick, and for Zanzee a whole new set of gear! lucky girl! The whole hockey shop was stocked with Bauer gear though, which some of the girls were not impressed about that. With our newly purchased gear, we all then headed back to the hotel and had a really chilled out night and got some sleep. Preparing for a big day ahead of us tomorrow, soo starting to really get focused and get our head in the game. Big big big game for us girls tomorrow against Iceland, they will give us a good fight. Will post you about the game tomorrow! for now bye bye :)

Day 1 In Iceland :)

Today we had a bit of a sleep in, most of us woke up around 8am then down to the buffet breakfast in our hotel. We then packed for the rink and headed down, for a quick off ice warm up, then straight onto the ice for our last practice game which was against the national woman's ice hockey team. The rink was awesome , it was on the second floor of this massive complex containing a movie theatre and a huge indoor soccer field. It was such an amazing place and the rink was rather nice, with really hard ice. The changing rooms on the down side were a little tiny but that didn't effect us to much. We had a really good warm up, good vibes within the team. First period we came out a lot stronger then our previous 2 games in finland. We had a lot of good play and we were feeling a lot better about ourselves :) Poor old Zanzee had to play in random gear, which wasn't to comfy and easy, but she was very strong and in fact played a rather good game! End result of the game was 5-2, overall we played a really structured game, we did not have one penalty which was a huge step up for us. It was not the full iceland team we played, there are supposedly more players that did not play in the game. Very good vibes within the team about the game, it was a very good game to finish with before going into worlds. BRING IT ON! After the game we showered then headed back to the hotel, had some down time, then we had a team activity called battle ships, which was rather fun, everyone got into it and had a bit of a laugh. Then it was onto dinner down at the food hall and then off to bed, in our tiny lunchbox sized rooms!  Everything is allgood over here in the land of ice, Still no show of Zanzee's bag or the stick bag, so we are keeping hopeful, with all our fingers crossed! Will update you tomorrow!

Traveling to Iceland day

We had an incredibly early start this morning, with a wake up call at 3am. We were up and away at 330am traveling back to Helsinki on a bus, where we all crashed. Our flight out of Helsinki was at 730am . We were all soo tired, but we arrived in London, where we had to go through immigration physically get our bags and then head to a completely different terminal. Unfortunately Zanzee's hockey bag somehow didn't get on the flight and was left bag less. Also one of the two stick bags didn't arrive, which is very inconvenient considering we have a practice game tomorrow. We had a three hour stopover in London, where we spent most of the time transferring terminals, but it all went smooth. Our flight from London To Iceland was only 3 hours which seems so short to us all now compared to the 13hour flights. We arrived in Iceland at around 4pm, Landing in Iceland seemed like we were landing on the moon. You cannot see anything but rock, moss and snow, its unbelievable, no buildings, no nothing. Not a very interesting country to fly into at all. When we arrived Sharee Haslemore was here to meet us! she couldnt join us on our finland camp as she goes to Uni in the states and couldnt get time off. Very good to meet up with her though, then we were straight onto our team bus then headed for our hotel which was around a half an hour drive. We all settled in, the rooms are SO TINY!!! we headed down for dinner at 7pm, very yummy food, soo we are once again very happy :) Good to arrive here in Iceland! Everything is good with us, we are just really hoping The stick bag and Zanzee's bag arrives asap! Early night for the team, have a game tomorrow at 11am playing the actual Iceland womans team soo we are excited for that. Will keep you posted :)

GAME DAY #3/ Last day in Finland

Last day in Finland today :( Woke up for our on ice practice, then rested majority of the day before heading to the ice rink for our last practice game playing against a Finnish team. Our game started at 6pm and we played a rather skilled team. Their players were not as young as the other two teams, their team was rather skilled, they played really well as a team and were really good at fore checking, and hustling on our net. The Fernz started out really slow, and not together. The opposition got an incredibly quick goal with just 12 seconds in from the first period. This got our team rather concerned and worried which really showed on the ice. The end result of the period was a 2-0 lead to them. A really messy periods, we had a lot of really silly penalties which put us a lot off our game The seccond period was a bit better, but still rather slow and not as together as we would have liked. At the end of the period we were still down by 1 making it 3-2. The third period was a completely different period, we went out firing and really awake, we made some really good plays and were focused a lot more. We cut down the stupid penalties and really dominated them. the end result of the game was 4-4, which was a bit of a bummer, we ended the game with 2 men down, so were playing a 3 on 5 which was really challenging and rather hard to score with! The goal scorers of tonight were Ash, Keri got 2 goals and Anjali. The player of the game went to Keri who once again played outstanding.  Well we are off to Iceland. We have a 3am wake up call tomorrow morning ahh! It is soo sad to be leaving we have all had the most amazing time here. Everything has been brilliant, the hospitality, the food, the facilities and most importantly the hockey. Verumaki is such an amazing place, but bring on Iceland....... We are all feeling pretty good about everything. Will update you tomorrow from Iceland :)

Off Day For the Fernz

Today we had an off-day although we did have a quick on ice training in the morning then headed off to Helsinki for the day. The bus left around 1130 and it was an hour and a half bus ride to get to the cities centre. For the first 20mins the bus driver took us for a drive around the city showing us some sites. We saw the Olympic stadium that was built in 1952, we saw the opera house, we saw the frozen sea and we saw many many old amazing buildings. After our little guided tour we got dropped in town, most of us went straight for the shops, Julie and Jan went walking looking at more sites and taking more photos. We were there for around 3 hours, the team picked up a few goodies, the shopping is a lot different to back home, very different stuff. Zanzee and i got our hair curled for free which was cool. Our team did a fair bit of shopping, there was only one hiccup, Krystie and I lost eachother in a massive mall and I have never panicked so much in my life. Here i am standing clueless is to where i am, with no phone or other communication, knowing absolutely no one around me. It was fine in the end after asking about a thousand people for directions we made it back safely to the bus. But holy moly was that scary! We drove back to Vierumaki, where we had a quick dinner, then for most of us early nights. Zanzee had her Finnish friend Parvo, come for a visit to the camp, which was cool :) We are all pretty shattered, but only a day left here in ice land, scary stuff, tomorrow we have a training and our last game here. Will keep you posted

GAME DAY 2#

Early start yet again for us. first on ice training at 930, for an hour and a half. we were a little slow, most of us are getting pretty tired and sore, but we held up and had a good training. Most of the day we rested, majority slept, a rather lazy day in the Fernz household. We left for the rink at 430pm, did a good off ice warm up at the dome, then headed to back to the rink for the game. The team we played was young, fit, very good at forechecking and gave us a lot of pressure. A very good team to play, they really gave us a run for our money. First period, we started off rather slow, with minimal intensity, the end of the first was 1-1 to the opposition. seccond period was a different story, we came out firing, we upped the intensity and really showed them up, ending with a 2-1 lead. The third period, we came out firing even more, with more intensity and focus, but we couldnt seem to beat them, with an end result of 3 all. Nicole/Anna, Jazz and Casey were the goal scorers of the game, with the star player being Anjali who played exceptionally well. Overall we were pretty happy with how the game went, it was a bummer we couldn't pull another goal but we would rather a draw now rather then later :) We have an exciting day ahead of us tomorrow, we are heading into Helsinki for a day! will keep you posted!

GAME DAY

Woke up to a training at 9 in the morning, basically preparing for the game :) Pretty layed back day, trying to get as much rest in for the game as possible. Simon had planned a pool aerobics session, but unfortunately the pool was closed :( to prepare ourselves for worlds we all wore our number ones to the game, looking very flash. We played a team from a town called Lahti, 30km away from Vierumaki, they were the Pelicans, who compete in the Division 1 league in Finland. They were very impressive coming out rather strong. It was a very good game, we played outstanding, our plays were good, positioning was good, and we really gave them a run for their money. We demonstrated a lot of what we have been doing in training so it shows training has really payed off :) first period we were down 1-0. Second period 2-1 up, and the third period we resulted in a 4-2 win! first goal Anjali, followed by Ashley, then Kiri and Jazz. Player of the game went to Krystie, who really played liked a star. After dinner we had a quick warmdown, then into the ice rink showers then straight out to dinner at the country club, where we had a very nice meal. Good day for the fernz, tomorrow we have another training and game, will keep you posted!

DAY 3

Woke up at 7 as usual, up for breakfast then headed to the rink for our first training of the day. After training we had a classroom session where we watched the final of Canada versus America woman’s final. We then headed to the food hall for another yummy lunch. After lunch we had our 2nd ice session, early as we had to get back to have an early dinner and get ready to head to a game against a finland premiere team play against and premiere team in a town called Lahti approx 30km away. It was a very big game, stands were full, the crowd was crazy and the hockey was very good. We all had very good seats just behind the goal. Such an awesome atmosphere, and very exciting. Very good day in life of the Fernz, its getting better and better. We have our first practice game tomorrow, so we are all looking foward to that! will update you all  tomorrow 

DAY 2

Exciting day for Jan and I, our bags finally arrived J first training was very good, we are looking pretty flash I got to admit. We then had free time, where most of us use the free Internet here, which we are very lucky about. We then had lunch then straight into an off ice held at the dome, then onto a classroom session where Corey and Simon talked to us about plays and certain calls. Our 2^nd on ice was good, basically focusing on breakouts and team play. Both on-ice sessions today were an hour and a half, we are getting a lot of ice time in, we are lucky. We headed straight to dinner, meals here are very impressive, and we are certainly getting fed well. By this time we are pretty knackered from a hard day at work, but we are all enjoying ourselves, the team is really coming together we are a family of sisters J got an extra busy day ahead of us tomorrow, will keep you posted

DAY 1

The team woke up bright and early with a 7am start, we headed straight down for breakfast, pretty substantial food and they have the yummiest bread ever! After breakfast the team headed over to the dome, which is a 50m walk from ‘Pihkala’ our accommodation. The dome is an indoor sports hall consisting of a track a few courts and a gym. This is where we do our office warm-ups and warm-downs, lead by Simon. We then headed down to the rink, everything here is walking distance. Good first ice session, really hard ice and flash changing rooms. After ice we had a bit of down time before heading to lunch, followed by a player meeting where the captains and assistants were named. Our captain for 2011 goes to Casey Redman, and the assistants are Tara Tissink and Emma Gray, They are all awesome leaders and the team is very happy. We then had our second on ice for the day at 3pm, a better training for the team, came together a lot more. Still no bags for Jan and I L. I am currently acting as the team water girl, which is rather frustrating, hopefully our bags will turn up tonight. We then headed to dinner and after dinner we had team a pub quiz, where we got into teams and had a bit of fun. We were all extremely nakered, and all had a very early night. Good first day for the Fernz will keep you posted 

Finally in Vierumaki!

Hi all :) 

Sorry for the lack of updates we have had a few hiccups and havent been accessed to a computer. We all had a good flight from Sydney to Bangkok, had a short stop over in Bangkok then back in the air to London. In London we had a 5 hour stop over, then back on the plane to Helsinki departing at 1120am. Well majority of us got on, apart from Jan and I. I stupid enough to have misplaced/ lost my passport. This was a new journey in itself, while i watched the team depart, Jan and I were stranded in London, with no passport. This was a very long,frustrating and costly process. We had no idea what was coming, but we got on with it, canceling my passport and heading into central London to the house of New Zealand to get a new one before our newly booked flight leaving that night at 620pm. Stressful was an ultimate understatement, but after a long nerve wracking process we did it, and also saw a bit of London while we were at it. We left on the 620pm flight, Jan was amazing and i cannot thank her enough:) Mean while the team arrived in Helsinki meeting up with Kerii and Lyndal and busing an hour and a half to Vierumaki arriving at around 7pm. It was an early night for the team, they were absolutely nakered. Jan and I arrived in at around 230am and bag-less, and hoping they will arrive sometime soon. Today we have 2 trainings, Will Keep you updated :) 

Arrived In Auzzie!

First flight is over... 3 hours to Sydney on Quantas. Team arrived at the airport at 915, for check in. a rather frustrating process, as the airline wanted to charge us a total of $1700 extra for our two stick bags. Jan our marvellous manager was not taking this huge amount into consideration, So with the help of Julie and Grant, after a good hour and a half of discussion, got the price down to $400 in the end. A good flight, we are all happy and very excited. Just about to board our next flight to Bankok, 3 hours down, 26 more to go and then a fun bus trip to camp. Update you again soon :)

3 More Sleeps :)

Hi everyone! i have just created a blog site, so that everyone back home, can be updated on the teams great adventures overseas! We will be posting updates everyday plus photos, so you can follow along. Only 3 sleeps now, very excited :)

-Libby-Jean