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Training day is over.

Both Czech teams completed their training portions today. Both men and women trained in their respective arenas at approximately the same time. The women had five 12-minute sessions while the men had six 10-minute sessions. Our pre-tournament training has included similar sessions for many years, the purpose of which is to become familiar with the ice, understand its properties, and translate the results of our exploration into a game plan that will lead to winning games. So far, the swing in the A rink seems to be around five feet and the ice speed is slower, but we don't take that too seriously because we know that will change. The guys in their rink have a swing of even slightly over six feet and the speed is similar to ours. Before practice there was a mandatory team meeting for all A group participants. Betsy managed to win the toss, so we have a second practice tomorrow against the Latvians in the opening game, which is better. We tried the local public transport bus and it works well. We'll be in the hall in ten minutes. When I came out of the dressing room this afternoon, it was clear to me that the main sponsor of the championship - Le Gruyere Swiss cheese - had already arrived. The smell of cheese wafted through the whole area, so by smell everyone easily found the booth where the same friendly and smiling representative of this brand was offering fondue, pieces of cheese, sprouts and small anti-stress cows. It made the ME a little nicer again.