SOCHI - The U.S. men routed Slavakia, 7-1, in hockey tonight at the Shayba Arena.

Warning: I am no expert on hockey, but I enjoy watching games here and there, so buying an advance ticket for the game was a no-brainer for me. Slavakia had a fairly large contingent of fans at the game, but surely the fans were disappointed in their team's performance.

 The Shayba Arena, with a capacity of 7,000, was nearly full. It's a pretty nice arena, it being new and all. But it was chilly and I am glad I had a coat. It was fun to root for the USA. I even had a face paint. Send enough rubles and I'll even show you a photo.

Americans were easy to spot with their U.S. garb. l met Tatiana Dudley of Bainbridge Island and her long-time friend Yevgeniy Zhirnov of Poulsbo in Kitsnap County. Both of them are official volunteers in the Athlete's Village and arrived here on Jan. 20 for volunteer training. Dudley's husband will be arriving on Sunday. Dudley and Zhirnov are both Russian-born who moved to the U.S. many years ago. The two will remain here until the Olympics conclude.  Dudley says the accommodations in the Volunteers Village are adequate and they've not had to deal with some of the horrors that visitors have encountered in newly-built facilities.

 Our group concludes it's visit today and we'll be heading to the Sochi airport by the time most of you will see this post. We fly to Moscow, where we will spend the day touring. On Saturday, we're due to fly to Amsterdam. I am arranging to stay overnight in Amsterdam so that I can tour the Anne Frank house. I intend to write a story about the historic site.

 

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