The event is technically held in St. Catharine’s — and I will post about a few spots there, but let’s be honest: Niagara-on-the-Lake sounds so much more fun, even though they are only 20 minutes apart! Soooo anyway, this is actually the perfect location and setting for me to kick-off my blog as I am spending the week in Ontario, Canada attending the IIHF World Championships which to me is like a culmination of so many tournaments, here in North America (US & Canada) and Europe — the best of the best coming together in one spot — as there are over 70 girls from Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic & Russia that have participated in Selects Hockey events, most of them having playing in a LEGACY Global Sports World Selects Invitational over the past 5 spring/summers.  So, in one way or another, all of these 70+ girls have played for one of our Selects organized teams!  There are 9 Canadians and 11 Americans, all of whom played together on either East Coast Selects or West Coast Selects, including both teams’ “C’s” and 1 of Canada’s “A’s” and both of the Team USA’s “A’s.”  So, it’s a great-great time to spend with all of these friends who have become part of our Selects family.

I am spending the next few days with a handful of Minnesota families on Team USA.  Let’s just say there are more than a handful and they are more than a handful in more ways than one — some of you will get that!  But these are some of my best hockey friends!  We have already had lots of verbal jousting and late night “discussions” as each contributor to the debate is willing to agree to disagree as one proclaimed because “he knows he’s right!”  But it’s been awesome to just hang out (albeit with lots of good wine) instead of being stuck in a hotel for a week.  Plus everyone is in for good restaurants and more good wine and of course we’ve been watching lots of hockey.