If it's Sunday it must be Hamden

A record 16,000 fans were rocking Ottawa's SBP Arena. There has never been a bigger crowd to see a women's game, ever. Three of Team USA's top forwards, Meghan Duggan, Gigi Marvin and Monique Lamoureux were warming up in mismatched equipment that belonged to other players. Any of you readers ever tried playing in someone else's skates? Now imagine using those skates to play against the best team in the world in front of the biggest crowd in history. Hey, that sounds like the classic recurring hockey dream, where you just cant get your equipment squared away before the game of your life. Well, that dream is all part of life on the tour. For the record, the three players got their equipment 15 minutes before puck drop and Team USA excelled, taking Canada to a shootout before falling 3-2 on January 1. To USA coach Mark Johnson, this was just an exercise in adversity, an exercise that Johnson has also been subjected to.

"I've been wearing these clothes (pulling at his tan turtleneck) for the last four days," said Johnson two days later in Hamden. He was asked if it was maddening. "No, I've been around the business, I travel enough, it's just part of what we do. We had three players the other night warm up in other's people equipment and other's people's skates. The equipment finally arrived in Ottawa right after we got done with warmups. So today we had a couple, three kids missing today because their equipment didn't show up. One of them played in someone else's skates and she's almost crying because her feet were sore."

That player was defenseman Kerry Weiland, who described her experience. "I had to play with Jenny Potter's skates," said Weiland after the game against the ECAC All-Stars. "There was no support at all in the skates, so her dad attached this plastic to the sides, drilling holes but leaving the screws in. I was in so much pain, I couldn't even stand in warmups. Coach saw me and said "Facing adversity?" and I said "oh no, I'll be OK."

"Hey," said Johnson in his post game press conference. "Welcome to life. You just have to deal."

Veteran Angela Ruggiero, preparing for her fourth Olympic Winter Games, gets it. "Road trips are fun, but they get exhausting when they lose your bags and that kind of thing. But it's all part of the process. You got to learn to deal with adversity, and sometimes things don't work out the way you want it to, you just got to deal with it and play and show up that day."

Rookie Hilary Knight, an immense talent who is emerging as a quiet leader because of character and awe-inspiring ability, has a mature take as well. "This trip has actually been the hardest trip," said Knight, referring to the St. Paul-Ottawa-Hamden, CT in a 5-day crunch. "Not only are we going back-to-back-to-back all over the place, but we've lost our bags, our coach hasn't had his luggage for five days or something; we've definitely had some adversity over this this trip, but as you can see we definitely keep bouncing back. Against Canada in front of that huge crowd of 16,000 something, some of the girls didn't get their equipment until 16 minutes before the first period. So it just shows you that we aren't getting the bounces right now but we're persevering through all this. It's great to actually see that because we're just coming together at the right time."

Players and coaches are one thing, but what if you are the team's media liaison, someone accountable to the public like Christy Jeffries of USA Hockey? She lost her bags before New Year's, and greeted the East coast media throng in Hamden wearing a stylish black pantsuit. "I borrowed a player's," said Jeffries. Finally, on January 19, a full 3 weeks later, her suitcase made it back in her hands. "I hugged it." The traveling hockey minstrel show goes on, with or without luggage and equipment.