They won the final 5-0 and it was very exciting and I was so happy to be there to see them win! At the tournaments, they have a very official closing ceremonies where all of the teams come out onto the ice and medals are given to all of the participating teams, not just the first to third place teams. The players from the different teams and countries talk to one another and exchange pins (from their respective countries) which is really neat to see. After the exciting win of the tournament, the team (and Mom and I following in our car) headed an hour down the road for the next tournament in Bolzano.
They had already played two games of hockey (the semi-final game which they won 7 - 1 and then the finals of the Vipiteno tournament) and they had two more to go in their next tournament. Their first game of the Igor Loro Cup ended with a 20 - 0 win! The high score made it a boring game to watch, but we were very happy to see them play so well. Although Matthias had barely any action in that game (I think we counted five shots), that made for his fifth shut-out since arriving, which is pretty great!
The second game unfortunately did not go as well, with the Austrian Selects (top players selected from all over Austria) being a very good team and beating us 7 - 3. You could certainly see how tired the Explorers were and I hope we get to play Austria again when more rested and see how it turns out. The tournament will continue until Sunday.
We arrived back at our hotel quite late (it is currently 1:25 a.m.) after the four hour drive and we will check out and say goodbye to Bad Gastein tomorrow morning. Then I am going to Frankfurt to stay with my friend who was on exchange in Courtenay first semester (Judi, for anyone who is wondering) for two days and Mom will go to Oberstaufen and check into our next hotel. The first week in Europe has been fantastic and I am really excited about the second week!
Here are some photos from today's hockey games...
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