The Pista de Hielo de Lomas Verdes, where the IIHF Division II (Group A) championship is being held, is a little out of the way. Technically, it’s not even in the Distrito Federal, but in the State of Mexico. From where I live in the south of the city, it takes over an hour to get there, longer if you don’t know what you’re doing. Getting there from my damp but homey little hovel requires a subway trip the city centre (abut 40-45 minutes), a transfer to an east-west subway line (another 30 or so minutes), and then either a taxi or microbus to the arena (about 10 minutes, much more if there’s traffic).
Yesterday (Sunday), I took a cab to the games, but afterwards, I had to flag a microbus to get back to the metro, before it closes at midnight (I made it with about 20 minutes to spare). Today, on the way here, I couldn’t find a trustworthy-looking cab among the myriad buses, so with the help of one of the bus wranglers, I managed to find one heading in my direction – think a natural-gas powered modern VW minivan (Mexico’s microbuses run the gamut from the ultra-modern to those that are kept running through the judicious application of duct tape and sheer force of personality). Mexico’s non-metro transit system is not user-friendly, especially if you don’t speak Spanish. Luckily, I speak Spanish, but even then, it was thanks to a friendly passenger that I managed to get off at the right spot. Victory!
Day Two, Monday, April 12, 2010
Australia 11, Bulgaria 4
This is all a long way of saying that I was late in joining the 20 or so people in the crowd and missed the first period of the Austraila-Bulgaria matchup, and too bad: it looks like it was a corker. By the time I showed up, Australia, which had been shut out the day before by Spain, was enjoying a 3-0 lead and playing with the confidence that I guess comes with a 3-0 first-period lead. Nine minutes into the second period, Australia was up 7-1. The full-throated Aussie contingent were obviously pleased by the result (disclosure: My wife recently received her Australian citizenship, and I find the cheer, “C’mon Aussie!” to be quite charming).
It’s not that Bulgaria played a bad game: Australia had a lot of great chances and were able to capitalize. And while Australia deserves full credit for their victory, I like to think that Bulgaria’s loss was partly the result of karmic payback for Sunday’s crushing of Turkey.
Spain 6, Belgium 1
You’d never guess it from the final score, but this was easily the best, most evenly matched game of the tournament, featuring end-to-end action, a high level of play, fantastic passing and saves, and lots of scoring chances. Only a late-game collapse by Belgium kept this one from being a stunner.
Despite the score, Belgium actually had a great game. They held the game to a scoreless tie after one period, and were down only 2-1 at the end of the second. The difference was speed: while Belgium was able to play with Spain for about 40 minutes, Spain’s explosive speed eventually wore down what is a skilled, disciplined team. Belgium started to fade at the end of the second, and were kept in the game by some fantastic goaltending, but eventually the dam broke.
Belgium and Spain’s national colours are so similar (Black, Gold/Yellow, Red) that the game physically resembled an intersquad match. And kudos both to the Belgian and Spanish fans in the crowd (which had swelled to about 50 people, including the Australian team, who graciously autographed some hockey jerseys and sticks for some local kids). One girl even had a home-made “Vamos España” sign (looks like the team took her advice), though I don’t understand why the Belgian fans chanted, “Go Belgium Go” (not a translation). I’ll avoid drawing any conclusions about what this might tell us about intra-Belgian language politics.
Mexico 9, Turkey 2
And the blowouts continue. In contrast to the overcapacity opening-night crowd, today the rink was about half-full, but no less enthusiastic for the relative lack of numbers. This was an important game for Mexico, as the relatively weak Turkish side represented its best chance to hear the Mexican national anthem at the end of the match. And while Turkey’s skill level was closer to Mexico’s than it was to Bulgaria’s, Turkey had trouble skating with a Mexican side that still displayed all the weaknesses it did in its opening match against Belgium.
The result was a chippy, penalty-filled game, in which Turkey’s frustration boiled over into slashes, holding calls, roughing penalties and even a couple of skirmishes/fights. Unfortunately, the Mexican players gave as good as they got, taking their fair share of penalties instead of taking the high road and letting Turkey implode. The result was eight straight power play goals (Mexico scored three even-strength goals late in the third).
The difference between Turkey and Mexico, and the other teams in the tournament seems to boil down to teamwork. Both teams boast very smart and talented individual players who pulled off some fantastic plays and goals. However, they both lack the cohesion that would allow them to play as a unit. As a result, players seem more likely to try to make individual plays, rather than try for the three-way passes that lead to the really pretty goals; it’s also easier to defend against individual, as opposed to team, plays.
When you think about it, it’s not surprising: we’re talking about two countries for whom hockey is not exactly a national passion. As a Mexican fan pointed out to me, the Mexican team practices only about five hours a week, hardly enough to reach Canadian levels of team skill. From a fan’s point of view, so long as the teams are evenly matched (Mexico was better than Turkey, but not so much better that they didn’t have to give their all), the hockey’s bound to be entertaining.
Final Thoughts, Day Two
As the tournament comes into focus, it seems to be Spain's to lose: they're just too fast and skilled for any other team to keep up for long. I'm still looking forward to seeing Belgium play Bulgaria on Friday, and Australia seems to be a wild card: given their convincing defeat of Bulgaria, their loss to Spain may say more about how good Spain is than about the Aussies' skill level.
Meanwhile, Mexico may have just gotten their only guaranteed win of the tournament, though their match against Spain will undoubtedly rouse the home fans to fine form. As for Turkey, it's a long, hard road to the end of the tournament, and it's not going to get any easier. If they can stay out of the penalty box (if they'd played a penalty-free game, Mexico would have won by a close 3-2 score), they have a chance to stay somewhat competitive.
And coming soon: pictures! My camera's batteries died on Sunday and I wasn't able to get replacements for Day Two. But Wednesday is another day...
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