USA 13, Russia 0

Yesterday was our big Olympic experience - we went to the USA vs. Russia women's ice hockey preliminary game. Maybe the most amazing thing - we walked over to the venue, UBC's Thunderbird Arena, after working in the morning. Yup, microscope counting viruses in the morning, Olympic hockey in the afternoon.

Here we are walking up to the arena after the security line (we arrived an hour early and spent 20 minutes in the line up). There is a bit of crazy camera in the middle before a cute pic.

Our seats were really great. We were able to see the entire ice as well as the Russian goal for two periods. We had some Canadians behind and to the left of us and Russian fans to the right. Everyone had a flag or a jersey for one country or another. It was pretty awe-inspiring. We both had US flags and sweatshirts on. Here are the pre-game warm-ups. Russia is in red, USA is in white.

The US team was in control the entire game. Here is the first goal! We were soooo excited when they scored, and scored, and scored some more.

We ended up cheering for Russia. Everyone was cheering for them by half-way through the 2nd period. You just couldn't not want them to do something, anything. Any time Russia touched the puck everyone started yelling. I do not feel bad for being a bit of a traitor. To me, that is true sportmanship, rooting for the other team when they need inspiration. I must say that we didn't ever participate in the "Go Russia Go" chants, and I always waved my American flag when clapping for Russia.

Jason made it on TV! Follow this link and around 1:30:00 you can see him on the big screen TVs above the ice. While I was in the loo the cameraman zoomed in on him. Such a cutie!!!