Game 3

In the word of Jay-Z team USA hockey is "On to the next one".  We beat Spain yesterday 4-1 which pushed us on to the next round of the tournament.  You would think that since we outshot Spain 65-16 over 3 periods the score would have been a little more lopsided in our favor but their goalie is undoubtedly the best in the entire tournament.  For two periods he managed to stifle every attempt we had and it wasn't until early in the third period that he let up a goal and then the flood gates opened.  It was a good game for us as a team because we were able to dominate every minute.  As the final buzzer sounded we were all so excited to be going to the next round and one step closer to the medal round.  But once again we couldn't celebrate for long in preparation for our next game which is tomorrow night the 3rd against Belarus.  Things are going to be really interesting against such a strong offensive team but I can't wait to surprise them and move even further.

After the game we cleaned ourselves up and were told we were going to a traditional Turkish dinner which none of us had ever experienced.  As we drove deep into the city of Erzurum we had no idea  what we were getting into and when we pulled up and saw an old wooden building we all looked at each other with skeptical thoughts.  Once we stepped inside it looked as though we had gone back in time and instantly we were told to take off our shoes.  We were led to a room that had no chairs but only pillows on the floor with small circular tables about a foot high.  It was like we were in the Roman empire as we lounged around and let our attaché's order our food.  Soon the food came in and we couldn't believe how much was put in front of us.  Chicken, beef and lamb with bread and tons of vegetables covered our small tables and we dug in.  The food was incredible and we devoured all of it almost as quickly as it was prepared.  It was a raucous occasion with all of us yelling and hollering at each other laughing and joking around.  It was unlike anything I had ever expected and before we knew it, it had to end and we were led back to our bus by our equivalent of Jason Bourne.  Our guy from the American embassay is a total bad ass and scopes out our buses for bombs and makes sure all cars stop for us in the streets.  It only adds to the feeling of being a celebrity over here and makes us laugh because this will never happen again.

We ended up drawing the 2nd ranked team, Belarus tomorrow night at 7 o'clock Turkey time and I'm excited to shock everyone here with a big win.  Stay tuned for the results and more blogging soon!