SLC 2002 Winter Olympics Flashback P.3 - Let the Games Begin!
Just when I thought we'd arrived a week too early, the crowds poured in from around the world, everywhere folks seemed to be hustling elsewhere - I noticed various recognizable media folks and tried to guess where people were from. Safe to say, a predominantly northern/eastern European (read=white) crowd but, cool hearing all sorts of languages as we cruised around downtown Salt Lake.
Up the block, the ticket exchange (read registered scalpers) housed in a busy catacomb of cubicles and small offices, outside the unofficial scalpers were already in full affect - indeed the finest scalpers had followed the games along with the manic pin collectors which seem to be default cheesy human interest story for every news channel.
As the story goes, at the time, I had a notion to write the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) which is only offered 4 times a year, including the opening day of the Olympics (don't worry, I've since rid myself of this urge). To prepare, Dan and I headed to Utah Valley the night before to find friend Marty and crash at his parents which is so close to the ice rink, we could walk there (or so we thought) after the test.
After few hours of killing time, watching the opening ceremonies and drinking mexican beer near the college, we tracked Sundance, Bob Redford's ski area up the canyon a bit. So we pointed the Saab just as the snow flurries began. After a beverage or two, we cruised back home in full frosty, snowy storm action. and I crashed in his childhood bedroom complete with pics of him a tow-headed 12 year old catching skateboard air in a 1/2 pipe plus pottery (community college where incidentally, I did some time studying creative writing with Larry Harper in the late-eighties, and sat in a room of sweaty palmed over-achievers destined for life a corporate serfdom despite the fancy ties and paychecks - but i digress, and despite my growling stomach and anxious checking the time so not miss the puck drop, i finished the mind-numbing test entirely distracted by thoughts of Artus Irbe, and choogled on out to meet Dan and head to the game.
Now, even though we could see the rink from the yard, we were obliged to drive over to the local universities' football stadium parking lot and queue up to load onto a shuttle bus to ride to the security check point and then into the rink. We took the transition time to down a couple of Dick's Imperial Stout and scarf some smoked meats and cheeses and a quick hoot and onward to rink via bus for the 2pm start - really a bit late due to the exam but no big deal.
The Peaks Ice arena in Provo was the secondary ice hockey venue, the new E Center in the West Salt Lake city suburbs was the primary, and this one was a small rink (i had visited the summer before) the size of a big recreation center. To accommodate the games, the reconfigured the whole building and with giant, interconnected tents, basically tripled the size and seating. On one side of the ice was all media, teams, officials, sponsors and the like, the other side and a set of bleachers crammed into the far end, were for the fans.
The rink wasn't packed by any means but we enjoyed the game between Belarus and Ukraine, two of the eight teams in the B pool who have a mini-tourney to decide which two teams jump up to play the A pool with NHL-laden teams.
The teams in the B pool were a bit miffed since the NHL hadn't shut down and as such, countries like Slovakia and Germany couldn't use their high-end players since they were committed to professional gigs. Germany planed to soldier on with the help while Slovakia parachuted in NHL'ers as they became available in some cases dressing only 17 players.
The game wasn't one the ages but it was great be underway and know we had the routine figured out. Chatted (as much as I could) with a dude from Ukraine and cheered along with him though Belarus won, 1-0 (more from these Belarussian later). Cool to the se the differences in the game presentation and rules, 2 line pass, clock counts up, one referee, hurry-up face-offs (which i really liked), and anthem of winner at the end. Flags from all teams hung with promise from the rafters.
Next up, was a 7pm start between Latvia and Austria which Dan and I were both excited about. However, Latvian stars arturs Irbe, Sergei Zholtok (RIP), and Sandis Ozolinsch were not able to suit up due to the scheduling conflict. Austria, a country trying to rise in the hockey world, featured almost-NHL'er Reinhard Divis in goal. Dan lived in Austria for a while so he was familiar with some of the players and their club teams as we checked out names during the warm-ups.
The absence of their heros (the goalie Irbe especially is a hero in his homeland for his inspired play against the Soviets in bygone years) did not stop the Latvian fans who were standing the entire game, all done up in their countries sorta plum/merlot-ish national colour, beating drums, singing songs and hooting and hollering the whole time. Unlikely to win a medal but Latvia *really* wanted to move up to to the big-class, their fans certainly are grade-A.
In the intermission, the Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of Latvia did a brief interview with a in-house sideline reporter of sorts whose antics were broadcast on the big-screen TVs. The robust, middle-aged woman in furs declared, "Latvia would win because their players kick ass." This was the former-Soviet, Baltic republic's first Olympics in 66 years or so and they were partying to make up for lost time.
I was hoping to make some Latvian friends but rather dodged them as they headed out like wild mountain goats into the Provo night after a 4-2 win. Incidentally, the other Pool B games that day were the two pool favorites - defensive Germany beating the short-benched Slovakia 3-0, and pool lightweights - Switzerland and France tying at 3s.
We headed out to crash at Ron's and prepare for the onslaught of events coming up after the mellow first day. Our full schedule listed Women's Half-pipe Snowboarding in Park City at 10 til 2:30 (prelims, then a break, then finals), and a 4:00 hockey game in Provo with Austria and Germany facing off. A tight turn around, especially with the drive down the canyon and the security checks but bound to be entertaining spectacles.
