This year’s Christmas break provided the team more opportunity for honing its hockey skills than it had ever had before: A week-long training camp at the Sport Institute of Finland in Vierumäki was followed by another week in France, where the team played exhibition games against local women’s teams.
Vierumäki camp
After attending hockey camp in the Czech Republic for several years, the team headed further north this year, to the beautiful white surroundings of the Vierumäki Sports Centre in early January. The team was coached by Niels Garbe, Vellu Gröhn and Juha Teräsvasara of the International Ice Hockey Centre for Excellence. While the two daily on-ice sessions focused on improving individual technique followed by building team cohesion on the basis of a solid set of skills possessed by each player, the accompanying off-ice sessions (both outdoors in temperatures ranging from a mere -8°C to a breath freezing -22°C and in the much more comfortable “bubble”) varied from cartwheels and climbing/jumping over fellow team members to basketball and gymnastics with a hockey stick. They were enjoyed by all – especially those watching.
The gruelling training program resulted in visible improvements in conditioning and hockey skills of all players. The newly found team values of awareness, communication, dedication, fun and teamwork (arguably all encompassed by the overarching value of ©) were tested in a hotly contested final game, in which the team was treated to a veritable lesson on how to play hockey by a motley crew of coaches, their girlfriends, ice rink managers, Vikings players and the brother of one team member. At the end of the game Michelle “Pipo” Bannister was crowned the best player and Nina Raoult the most improved player of the camp. Aside from these awards, all players left Vierumäki armed with Vellu’s synthesis of what playing ice hockey is all about: “Ass down, back straight!”
French tour
The conditions that were perfect for the Vierumäki camp – plenty of snow and freezing temperatures – proved less ideal when it was time to continue the trip to Courchevel via a stopover in London, a night in Geneva and a game in Grenoble. After various adventures with cancelled flights, missing luggage and bus crashes, all players (including alumni reinforcements Jamie Waller (1999-2007) and Mima Boardman (2005-8)) reached the Grenoble ice rink, where they were treated to a stinging 14-3 loss at the hands of the Brûleurs de Loups, which boasts 9 members of the French national team among its roster.
The team spent the following five days in Courchevel pursuing typical winter activities, such as skiing, lugeing, wall climbing, yoga and DJ-ing, not to forget lounging in an outdoor jacuzzi. Everyone enjoyed the magnificent terrain of the Trois Vallées ski area and improved their skiing in the capable care of dedicated instructors. Toni McHugh emerged as the queen of the slopes and Laura Halonen dominated the luge track, but it was unanimously agreed that nobody strutted their stuff on the dance floor quite like Ioana Gagea. During the week the team was taken care of, fed with delicious food and sometimes even clothed by the superb équipe of Maria, Didier, Nico and Ingrid.
The main purpose of the trip was of course to play two further games, one at Meribel and the other at Courchevel against Val Vanoise. While the team lost both encounters (13-4 at Meribel and 9-2 at Courchevel), there was much to be positive about: goaltender Stephanie Simmons put in stellar performances, team top scorer Joyce Meng showed she was still on form (2+1) and in general there was significant improvement towards the end – the team actually outscoring its much more experienced hosts by a goal in the last period at Courchevel. The team rounded off the week with a friendly match on possibly the world’s smallest fake ice against our hosts and ski instructors. Nobody remembers the score, but it must have been tight, considering how fierce the battle was.
Everyone felt the memorable trip will come to much use later in the season, most significantly when the time arrives to face off against the Light Blues on 28 February.
2010-11 Camp/Tour
Who knows where we will be next year?!?
