Today is our last game day in Saltzgitter and just when we were getting used to the cold arena, playing in a beergarden and our unpredictable showers! The drum was back for our game tonight but now that we are the hometown favorites, the noise isn’t as noticeable. The crowd was a little smaller, but there were way more Canadian flags than our game before. Of course our loyal following of parents were leading the charge.

Today we didn’t play as well as yesterday but there were still some great things that happened. Our P.K. and Charlie (Labonté) did a great job in the first so we were able to come out of the period with a 0-0 tie. We finally kicked it into gear in the second, scoring four goals and not allowing a shot on net. The Finns, who are even younger than we are, are a good team and they played really well. Their future is bright and that is a great thing for international women’s hockey.

We are here in Germany on a mission, so we were a little disappointed that we didn’t play as well as we can. Its isn’t only about winning and losing…its about playing our best and being the better "team" each time we step onto the ice. Tomorrow we will certainly play better as a team and do a much better job of wearing the red & white.

Tonight’s game firsts…we managed to not allow a single shot on our net and Brigitte Laflamme & Cassie Turner scored their first international goals.

The coaches decided to cancel practice tomorrow so we get to sleep in – it’s the first time we won’t be up before 7 am. Its still going to be a challenging day as we have to pack everything up and move to another arena-we have no nap time scheduled for tomorrow. Boy, do we ever travel with a lot of stuff!

Tomorrow we leave Saltzgitter, which has been our home for the last 4 days. A big THANK YOU to the people of Saltzgitter, especially the hotel staff, the arena staff and game volunteers, our bus driver and our hosts, Nicole and Jens. It was great to see all of the hotel staff at our game tonight, waving Canadian flags. Saltzgitter is a great hockey city and the people here have adopted us and made it so much easier to be away from home. Thanks also to the Salzgitter Phantoms Hockey Team, as they were the organization that hosted us. Go Phantoms Go!

That’s all from Salzgitter…until tomorrow in Hannover…Gute Nacht!