First win for NI Tridents 4-2 against UK Firefighters/HMP Tornados

A great win tonight (their first in the round robin tournament) for the home team, Northern Ireland Tridents and their coach, Beni McAllister. The crowd at the Odyssey Arena cheered them on to a 4-2 victory over UK Firefighters/HMP Tornados. Their last match in the world police and fire games ice hockey will be tomorrow at 7pm against Reykjavik Ice Falcons from Iceland. I had time to take a break during this game but saw the third period and the team afterwards were delighted with their victory.

I was the announcer at the other four games today, arriving at the Arena at 9:30am and arriving home after 9:30pm. In the last match at 7pm Las Vegas Guns and Hoses who had proved a big hit with the locals defeated Reykjavik Ice Falcons 7-4. It was the last game for the Vegas side, who have now finished their participation in the games before the official opening ceremony on Thursday!

Las Vegas Guns & Hoses bid farewell with victory over Reykjavik Ice Falcons

This morning the action stepped up a notch or two, with two games at division two level. Both featured teams from Finland. Fire Department New York beat Jyväskylä Fire. In the second match at 1pm, Tempere beat Boston Police Emerald Department. The third game at 3pm saw the return of the dancing Finnish ladies in support of SW Finland Emergency Services. It went to a penalty shootout against North America Blue, resulting in a thrilling win for NAB.

For those five and a half hours I was operating under the guidance of an expert resident team and the help of a few fellow volunteers in the small control area at the audience side of the ice. You have to remember not to try to attempt to cross the ice while the Zamboni resurfacing machine is at work. The ice is flooded after every two periods and the process takes at least 12 minutes, during which time the two goal nets have to be moved and then put back into place: one job I did not try to tackle!

Monday’s five games at the Odyssey (there were also two in the 45+ division at Dundonald Ice Bowl, Trondheim Fire Dept 4  Service Incendie Montreal 11 and Finland Police 4  New York Fire & Ice  3) :-

FDNY (New York)  4   Jyväskylä Fire 5

Tampere Police Dept  8  Boston Police Emerald Dept  5

SW Finland Emergency Service  4  North America Blue 3  (after penalty shootout)

NI Tridents  4   UK Firefighters/HMP Tornados  2

Las Vegas Guns & Hoses  7   Reykjavik Ice Falcons  4

Tuesday’s schedule at Dundonald Ice Bowl sees two division 2 matches:

Windsor 45s  v  FDNY and an all-Finnish clash between Jyväskylä Fire and Tampere Police Dept. The schedule for the Odyssey is:-

11am   Russian Home Affairs Ministry v Trondheim Fire Department (45+)

1pm  Service Incendie Montreal v Finland Police (45+)

3pm  UK Firefighters/HMP Tornados  v  SW Finland Emergency Service  (Novice)

5pm  North America Blue  v  Toronto Courts  (for the gold medal in the novice section)

7pm  NI Tridents v Reykjavik Ice Falcons  (Novice)