President's Corner from the Rock IV

Bell Aliant just provided us numbers of viewers that are watching our games and it is incredible.  Besides the immaculate power of picture Bell Aliant is beaming across the World our announcers Kris Abbott and his sidekick Trevor Murphy at Glacier and Bill McLean at Jack Bryne have been passionate and consistently excellent in a style that would make Danny Gallivan proud.   We have had close to 70,000 viewers to date.  These viewers come from around the World, and we have very strong numbers from Europe.  We expect this viewership to explode even further as we have not hit our semi-final, and final games as of this writing.  In the interactive online communication that occurs between announcer team and the viewer, we know that bars in England and the USA have put the games on the big screen for patrons.  We have had schoolchildren in classes in places like the Cayman Islands  watch the games in class.  This illustrates the reach of Ball Hockey and the ISBHF family.

Media darlings have been made and created on twitter, and the buzz spread through the webcasts and the 700 players and coaches is something that can only occur when 25 national teams come together.

Speaking of Media Darlings what about the Israel National Team.  Down 4-1 to heavily favoured Cayman Islands who was looking for a chance to win its first medal ever, they sparked a  incredible 4 goal late game rally to win the game when only a win would get them into the Bronze game.  This broke the heart of the Islanders and the team everyone thought would not win a game in the B Pool  find itself playing for Bronze against Hong Kong.  Do we have a miracle on concrete brewing here in the rock?   Or will Hong Kong stop the ever improving juggernaut.  The Italian men's team has also rebounded from a slow start and is playing really well as they look like a real formidable opponent for the unbeaten Bermudians.  In what promises to be Sunday morning games for medals.

We should also acknowledge the effort of our France Men's team whose program played in its first A Pool competition.  The proud Frenchmen battled the much improved Pakistan team only to lose 5-3.  This tournament we hope spurs them on further in the future as the grow their program on French soil.  To hear them sing there National anthem as the ISBHF played it for them was inspiring.

As a matter of fact seeing the passion of players sing there National anthems as they exit the tournament is one of the most inspiring things of experience and watch after the ISBHF World Championship has sapped them of all their physical energy in a quest for excellence for their beloved nation.

At the Women's event we have had our strongest event in our history .  The depth of talent has provided the girls with a great  package of games to challenge themselves as they battle through the event.  The defending World Champs the Slovaks, the Canadians, the Czechs and the USA make for a great final four this evening.  But what made this tournament enjoyable for the girls was the improvements of the Swiss, the United Kingdom, the Greeks and Italian girls. 

Finally as the crowd pours in to Jack Byrne arena to watch the two A Pool men's games.  We expect a wave a viewers from Slovakia to watch their beloved nation play upstart Portugal who has placed themselves into their first Semi-Finals since 2005 in Pittsburgh.  The Canadians will be facing the Czech Republic for the first time ever in a Semi-Final as the winners of 8 of the first 9 World Championships meet in Canadian soil for the second time on Canadian Soil.

The crowd is also going to Glacier in Mount Pearl to watch arch rivals Czech Republic play powerhouse Slovakia.  The Czechs desperately want a medal other than Bronze and the Slovaks want a  Gold medal game  to defend its crown.  Finally Canada wants  a Gold medal game on home soil and they play the USA. 

The beer gardens are a humming as the cups are filling up with brew, the fans are watching in the rinks and the web viewers  are piling up to the 100,000 across the World and now we will have to see who has the special ingredients to make it championship Sunday at Jack Byrne.

It will be left to final six teams that have went through a challenging week of play to reach the precipice of a Golden result to decide Gold on Sunday.

Whatever energy left for the players playing on Sunday and those in the stands will be brought to a culmination in a big St. John's Kitchen party with 700 players and coaches saying good bye with drink, music and merriment as Club One opens its doors for our family tomorrow evening.
Needless to say there may not be another Presidents message until the players, coaches, volunteer committee, referees, friends and family and me recover.