Regular Season Game #10

The Asnieres Castors came into this weekend on a three game lossing skid and it was time to make someone pay to get back to the winning ways. The Cherbourg Vikings were in town and the team was eager for the challenge of taking them on.

After a focused warm-up, we hit the ice flying in the first period. Our game is based on speed and puck movement, and we certainly were jumping to start the game. About five minutes into the frame, I managed to keep a loose puck in the offensive zone and put the puck towards the net. The rebound went into the corner where Mika Snellman was all over it. I pinched down to support and Mika moved the puck up to me. I gave a pass back to him in the corner before going to the net. Mika laid out a beauty pass for me to skate on to and I had all day to pick my spot. A quick low shot to the blocker side...and he shoots and scores!!! 1-0 for the good guys. Later on the same shift, I intercepted a pass in our zone and moved the puck to Franz Ehrhart coming out of our zone. I joined the rush to make it a 4-on-2. Franz laid a pass across to Andronik, who them set the puck out for me to wire home. Bingo Bango...2-0 Asnieres. Both goals are in the video as Mindy was working hard to capture great images. We continued to press our advantage in the first and notched two more goals by Patrice Kerner and Olivier Ducam. We did give up one to Cherbourg so the period ended 4-1.

In the second period, it was the Snellman & Pfeiffer show as we continued to score at will against the Cherbourg goalie. After a quick goal to start the period by JC Fornero to give us a 5-1 advantage, I found Mika with a pass from our end at their blueline. He made no mistake on the breakaway. Then being the unselfish teammate that he is, Mika decided to help out another teammate by setting him up to start scoring. Guillaume Pfeiffer notched back-to-back goals and we were cruising. Once again, we allowed Cherbourg to notch a goal, so the period ended with us having an 8-2 lead.

In the third period, Mika continued to play like a man possesed. He was all over the ice. Hitting, passing, shooting. It was a great performance. He set up Baptiste Blommaert early in the third before notching his second of the game on a beauty wrist shot. Cherbourg also notched a couple of goals in the third as our defense started to breakdown a little with the big lead. In the end, the good guys prevailled and pulled off the huge 10-4 win.

Mika finished with 2 goals and 4 assists on the night and was a human wreaking ball as well. He tried valliently to set me up for the hat-trick, but I just couldn't convert. I should also mention that even with the lofty score, Tommi Kuru, our goalie, played fantastic. He made some really great saves and kept the game out of reach for Cherbourg. Playing in front of him certainly adds alot of confidence to the guys knowing he is back there. I've added a couple of great saves to the video.

Castors Christmas Party

The team wishes everyone a Merry Christmas as we show off our new gifts.

As Saturday was our last home game before the Christmas break, the team Christmas party was organized to be held right after the game. Of course it fell to the Frat House to play the role of host for the party, a role which we gladly accepted.

Each line was assigned a part of the meal to bring and the boys came through in fine style with a wide variety of delicious dishes. We had sausage, chicken curry, pasta salad, cake logs, and a few other plates ready to be devoured by the mass of hockey players.

We also had a little gift exchange where each of the players picked a number from a hat and then had a buy a little gift for the player with corresponding number. Of course there were more then a few joke gifts and everyone had more then a few laughs. The boys got quite creative and made a big show of presenting and receiving the gifts.

Baptiste breaks out the shakers and then promptly broke into song.

Mika shows off a new hair style (wearing a wig) complete with a french-style beret.

The Frat House was more then a little crowded but everyone had a fantastic time.

Asnieres Arena Tour

It's hard to believe that we have reached the midway point of the season already. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. This video was a little project I have been thinking about doing for the past couple of months, however I never remembered to bring the camera to practice. Anyway, this is just a little tour of the arena in Asnieres to give all of you following along at home a sense of where I spend a large quantity of my time. Enjoy!

More Christmas Windows

Just a few more images from the windows at Galeries Lafayette. They are supposed to be holiday themed, but these ones just are not as obvious as the Macy's windows in New York. Enjoy!

Let it Snow!!!

The remains of an afternoon snowfall in Asnieres...on the green grass.

Although some claimed to have seen snow fluries in the air a few weeks ago, today was the first day I could actually tell it was snowing and not raining here in Asnieres. As one of my students put it "It's so cold outside today". Translated to degrees celcius and the temperature was about plus 1. I know, not quite the frigid winter days of Alberta, but to the everyday Parisien, it was cold.

Getting back to the snow, it fell in big wet flakes for maybe about an hour this afternoon. More annoying then beautiful as the only thing that was accomplished was the complete soaking of everything outdoors. The only places where it lasted more then a second was on the grass or on parked cars. And that was the first snowy day in Paris!

Regular Season Game #9

The final game of the first half of the season pitted us against the Dragons of Rouen in a battle for third place in the North Division. Win and we take third place. Lose and we drop to fifth in the league. Unfortunately for the Asnieres Hockey Club, injuries have continued to plague our team, and those not injured have been battling a flu bug this past week. Our starting goalie and Frat House roomate, Tommi, was probably in the worst shape, but I was also sick as were a couple of the other boys. It was going to be tough match.

We started the game with three forward lines and four defensemen, against a full Rouen bench just itching to take third place from us. However we were not going down without a fight this weekend. They came out flying against us and we quickly matched their speed in the first period, and added a dose of physical play as well. They took the first penalty of the game and smelling an opportunity, we pounced. I kept a puck in play by pinching to the half boards on the power-play and feathered a pass to Andro down low. He promptly found Paul Manushkin (our new Finnish sensation) streaking to the net. A well placed shot and it was 1-0 for the good guys. We continued to play well in the first period, but couldn't mark another goal.

In the second, we finally started to take a couple of penalties as you can't play four defensemen and expect them not to make a mistake sooner or later. On our second penalty, Andro stole the puck from the Rouen defender and rushed in on a breakaway. He beat the goalie with a great little move to the backhand but couldn't get the puck up into the net. Can you say TSN Turning Point? Absolutely. Not thirty seconds later, still on the power-play, a shot from a Rouen defender found its way past a screened Tommi to tie the score. At the end of the second, the score was tied 1-1.

In the third, we took a bad penalty almost right out of the gate, and as is typical with bad penalties, the other team always seems to find a way to score. Another screened point shot and Rouen was ahead 2-1. We pushed for the equilizer but couldn't connect as out defensemen, me included, couldn't add alot to the rush, and our forwards needed some support. At the final buzzer, Rouen pulled of the victory.

The game seemed to be really fast passed as both teams seemed to showcase their speed. Mindy said it was a well paced game with an incredible tempo. It sure felt like it on the ice. Anyway, it's time to regroup and get back on a winning note, hopefully that can be accomplished this weekend when Cherbourg comes to town.

A little strol

Mindy on Rue de Rivoli beside the Louvre and right across from WH Smith (our favorite english bookstore in Paris).

After a week of illness, an unreal hockey game last night (more on this tomorrow), and a Sunday spent gathering ourselves for the week ahead (code for sleeping and relaxing), Mindy and I decided we needed to get out of the house for a few hours. So we jumped on the Metro and headed towards the Rue de Rivoli where we went to our favorite english bookstore, WH Smith. It's actually the only english bookstore that we are aware of in Paris, although I'm sure another must surely exist. We love to drop in whenever we are in the area, if only to browse the titles and discuss which ones we have already read. Tonight we picked up a new book for Mindy and then headed out for a little walk.

Upon reaching Rue de Castiglione, we noticed some very interesting seasonal lights in the shape of huge chandeliers leading up to Place Vendome (can you really call chandeliers Christmas lights?!?). The French sure have a different style to celebrate the holidays. We were intrigued and decided to walk to Place Vendome to see the Christmas decorations in the square. There were four Christmas tree shaped displays of lights and waterfall lights above the stores. It looked pretty neat, and of course expensive, as a display in Place Vendome should. The evening had a coolness in the air and we both agreed that it felt like a December evening.

The chandeliers above Rue de Castiglione.

They were pretty detailed and really lit up the street.

Seasons Greeting from Place Vendome!!!