Regular Season Finale

Right now I am sitting at the table in my house having my pasta and getting ready to head out to our final regular season game. We are playing at home against Angers, one of the top teams in the league and a team that just over a month ago, eliminated us from La Coupe de France play. Our final game of the regular season was originally scheduled for this Saturday in Dijon, but since they are playing in the Coupe de France Final against Genoble, that game was played last week, as we skated to a 7-3 victory.

I team has been playing pretty well all year, as we try to go 14-12 tonight, and finish with a winning record for the first time in the club's history. We could have made it easier on ourselves had we won last Saturday in Tours, but we ended up losing in overtime. After being down 2-0 and 3-1, we showed the "never quit" attitude and kept battling, tying the game up with less than 3 minutes to play. A breakdown in overtime cost our team, as 2 Tour players skated in 2 on 0 and a nifty pass across the crease gave them an open net and an overtime win.

This was my second time playing in Tours and from what I remembered from last year, they have blue ice. I was pretty amazed by it last time so this year I brought my camera to take a few pictures. Good thing we only play there once a year because it does get a bit confusing out there when you are not used to the blue ice, as it is very hard to find the blue line and many of our defensmen, including myself were backing in too far, not knowing we had crossed the blue line already.

Nice rink here in Tours, notice the blue ice and the white circles and goal crease. This rink was modeled after the blue ice from SEGA Genesis' NHL '94 rinks video game.


You must be wondering how I could have a problem knowing where the blue line was, since it is so clearly outlined in white paint.

On a side note, since I had my camera with my, I decided to bring this topic to the forefront. Why are there no toilet seats in public washrooms in France? If someone could please answer this for me it would be greatly appreciated. We have seen this over and over again, and when I saw a Tour player being interviewed after the game, and he was holding a toilet seat in his hand, I thought enough is enough.

Typical "Non-Toilet Seated Toilet" in Tours. Why???