Pre-tourney practice bits

I interviewed the superb trio of Karvinen, Tuominen and Tikkinen together and they were delightful. Saara Touminen is such a special person. We had all three describe their stre;gths, Tikkanen said she was "a sniper" which was hilarious.

I worry a bit for Canada coach Melody Davidson. Twice she stuck her head into the runway to see USA's first practice. I think she was checking out USA super young force Hilary Knight. Knight is moving well and her attitude is top notch after 3 weeks on the shelf. I don't know if she has her timing back, but man what a shot.

There was a drill where two players sprint for a puck on the center ice dot on the whistle from opposite blue lines. It was Chu (fittest player in the world?) against the 30 something Ruggiero. I saw Ruggiero will her fast-twitch muscles to jam and grind the ice, and she was clearly struggling. She beat Chu by half a step and got possession and created a scoring chance. What a friggin athlete. The Americans are SO loose. they've lost 7 straight to the canucks and their superb young forward has been out for 3 weeks and they're having SO MUCH FUN, reveling in their underdog status.

Captain Canada Hayley Wickenheiser looks SO comfortable wearing the C. She deflects the pressure like a bit of a super hero. In essence she is. She and Ruggiero battle like caged animals in the corners, a great game within the game scenario. Today was Picture day and Team Canada unveiled their new jerseys with a dynamite crest. the girls had a ton of fun taking pictures of each other. Mel wouldn't smile in the team pic. She has 3 goalies to choose from, and 4 lines that want PP minutes, and has developed a nasty cold sore. She admits that it's a struggle to manage the minutes because her forwards go 12 deep. It's only day 2 of practice.

Former Duluth FW Iya Gavrilova has been great to speak with, but still seems a bit pained by having had to leave the UMD squad in 2008. She was the only one willing to speak to the media after two Russian teammates got hurt in practice, including their starting goalie. She also admits that the opener against Finland is for a medal. Tough tourney.

4-time Olymmpic defenseman Emma Laaksonen is a focused, tough cookie, someone I wouldn't want to compete with on any level, even Scrabble. Too bad there isn't more depth in this tourney.

Had some great responses from Oulette and Chu about teaming up to Coach Duluth in 2008. Super ambassadors.