Finns on Ice

It has been over a week since I last posted on my blog. I have to blame the weather! We have snow and some not too chilly days. I am trying to spend as much time outside as possible. When you move north of the grits line everyone advises you to get outside in the winter to stave off the inevitable depression. They tell you this while you are stocking up on polar fleece everything. I still haven't found a polar fleece bra, but I am fully outfitted in everything else. Not too shabby for a Georgia girl.

I am taking down hill lessons at Pat's Peak and Joe Ayotte is teaching me how to skate ski. As much as I am willing to play in the snow, I have no urge to play on the ice. Too hard. But where there is ice, there is hockey.

This weekend has been great for hockey here in the capitol city. Just around the corner from our house is the Black Ice Pond Hockey Championship. We have watched our friends, local firefighters, lawyers, you name it, playing hockey on the pond. But I have been in the mood to do something Finnish so we rounded out our day by driving to Henniker (the only Henniker on earth) to watch our favorite twin Finns play hockey for New England College.

I grabbed my large Finnish flag and some more polar fleece blankets so we could cheer Aki (44) and Niko (8) on in comfort. New England College (The Pilgrims) has 3 Finnish players, 3 Swedes and a Russian. There are many Swedes playing hockey in New Hampshire. If you want to see a Svea hat, just go in any local hockey rink. We saw one last night and knew we were in the right place. The large wooden pilgrim was also a clue.

Aki and Niko each scored, but Trinity won in the last second. It was a heartbreaker. While I didn't see NEC win, I did enjoy chatting with the local Finnish fan club.

Joanna Broom (with the Aki sign) and Dominique Grant (with the Niko sign) are both juniors at New England College. They are friends with Aki and Niko, but were asking me questions about Finland. It will come as no surprise to any Finnish readers to learn that Aki and Niko don't brag about Finland--so I did! I told Joanna and Dominique that Finland is Newsweek's highest rated country.

We had a great time rooting for the Finnish Pilgrims despite the last second loss. I hope we make it to another game so we can check in with Dominique and Joanna. It will be great if they read my blog--in true American fashion I can and do brag about Finland.