Jia Mu Si Tournament - Day 1

So, we got on the train at 7:30 this morning to head 5 hours north east to the small city of JiaMuSi (pop 500,000). The trip was relatively uneventful as we passed similar landscape and villages as on our skiing trip. We arrived in JiaMuSi to the heavy smell of coal. The city has high and very dirty snowbanks lining the road. The “tall man” drove up the bus with all of the equipment that would not fit on the train. He apparently made the trip in only 3 hours in the “Rocket Bus” he drives, beating us by 2 hours even though we did not make any stops on the trip.

We checked into our hotel and had lunch after arriving around 1:30. In true Chinese fashion, our game time changed several times during the afternoon, forcing us into adjusting our plans for pregame meal and warm-up. Finally, a 7;00 p.m. game time was settled on. We arrived early at the rink around 5:00 as it was the first day and everyone needed to get settled in.

Two of the three “boys” teams were playing when we arrived. This is when I found out that “boys” teams actually meant the feeder teams for the Asian league. The “boys” range in age from about 18-26, and they are very good. I was told that it was the TOP team in JiaMuSi the second team from QiQiHar (the first being the Asian League team) and a combination of the 2nd and 3rd team from Harbin. That leave us, in way over our heads, with six games to play this week, two against each of the three teams.

The arena exterior is brand new, with a nice stadium and seats. However, it was built around an old outdoor rink. The boards are still literally “boards” 2x3 boards running from the top to the bottom all the way around. The “glass” behind the goals was a tightly pulled netting, and although there are crazy bounces off of it, it is all in play. It is very interesting to see such a poor rink inside such a nice new stadium. Bonus points for all who can find the “scoreboard” in the picture below


Tonight, we played Harbin. We played very well in the first period and found ourselves still trailing 3-0. We played OK in the second, but the “boys” played much better and it was 9-0 after two. In the third we played all four lines and actually had our best period (3-2) to end in a 12-2 final. Our penalty kill was strong killing 4 of 5 and scoring a shorthanded goal.

It was a long day. Tomorrow we play at 7:00 p.m. again. Take a close look at the boards and netting in the picture below.