IIHF Roller Hockey Tournament

July 20-25, 1998
Tournament games held at Disney Ice
Medal games held on the 25th at The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim

Participants
USA, Austria, Canada, Italy, Finland, Germany, Russia, & Switzerland

~~~And the winners are~~~
Bronze Medal:  Team Finland
Silver Medal:  Team USA
Gold Medal winners:  Team Canada


Amanda's report:
I had a blast at the games!  Too bad the lighting at Disney Ice was kinda crappy for taking decent pix..that's why a lot of mine came out dark, grainy or a little blurred (man was I PISSED!).  I think my favorite part of the whole week was when Finland beat Switzerland.  They were so excited!  It was so inspirational...not to mention adorable as hell (I'm a girl..I'm allowed to notice things like that!).  I was impressed by Finland's skills in roller hockey...especially since it's such a new(er) form of hockey for them (according to this Finnish man I met b4 the game).  What sucked for the Swiss was that they had a lot fewer players than the Finnish, so it's possible fatigue was a factor.  The funniest thing I saw was all the Fins sitting together in their matching polo shirts watching the Gold Medal game trying to start the wave....I just about died!
As for the Gold medal game....I can tell you that I had tears in my eyes when USA lost.  Bonvie played a solid second half..but the defense was REALLY lacking....or maybe they just couldn't catch up with the Canadian offense that killed USA :o(  All I know is that after the final buzzer went, I did not see any happy American players...and I have the pictures to prove that!
Final note that I just wanna throw in for the hell of it:  I idolize Taj Melson!  The man is AMAZING!



Here are some photos that I (Amanda) took at a few of the games (please do NOT use these photos without permission!):

Disney Ice Pix
USA goaltender Joe Bonvie with an excellent belly flop save vs. Finland
Bonvie out of the crease with another save (Jay Murphy "in net") vs. Switzerland
USA's Jay Murphy
Team Canada's goalie poking the puck out of the way vs. Germany
Canada's Darren Colbourne (vs. Germany)
Canada's Brian Goudie
USA alternate goalie Rob Laurie sk8ing around during warm-ups
Rob with a great save
Team USA after a win during the national anthem
(IIHF rules state that the Nat'l anthem is played after the game)
The Swiss goaltenders stretching during warm-ups

The Pond Pix
Finnish goalie fixing gear
The other Finnish goalie chatting
The Fins just won...hugs 'n' kisses!
More Finnish hugs & kisses =*
The Fins singing along with their nat'l anthem
Joe Bonvie during warm-ups
Joe taking a breather...or meditating...pick one!
The first drop of the puck in the gold medal game
Garry Gulash in position
A tiny, itsy, bitsy, little scuffle
Canada Wins!!! (to my dismay)
Joe isn't exactly the happiest guy at this moment :o(
Canada's Brian Goudie after getting his medal
Canadian captains and their shinny, new plate

There's a ton of other pix that I took, but these are the ones that I decided to scan....maybe, one day, I'll add some more.


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