Last Dance in Sarajevo
Really enjoying my stay here in Sarajevo and I can’t express how grateful I am to those I’ve met here as everyone has been so generous to me . Unfortunately the weather hasn’t been so kind and I need to desperately get myself a pair of boots . Honestly I don’t remember ever travelling with boots and I’ve always suffered by wearing running shoes . Maybe it’s because I’m getting old and feeble or maybe it’s because my shoes smell like old wet dogs now . Regardless I headed out for some new boots in the morning at this place called Deichmann which is in the mall called Alta . When I arrived there by walk of course , I was flustered by the selection and asked for assistance with my eyes already on the pair of Fila boots I noticed . Just need to know if they are water proof and warm ….. they are ! Easy shopping in and out . Bought some warm socks also and paid an extra 3 bucks to water proof . Cheap and cheerful !
Booked a tour the other day which is a 3 hour walking tour so I took a quick nap and gathered myself before heading out . When I got to the Insider office which is the tour company I was greeted by Emina and I found out I was the only tourist on the tour . Private tour sounds great but at the same time I was surprised they didn’t cancel ? It’s happened to me before where tour companies cancel because it’s not worth their time but this company went the extra distance and we wandered around while I learned about Archduke Ferdinand and the Spite House and other historic facts about the city . Not gonna ruin it for you , just come and find out on you own .
After the tour I made probably a bad judgement error and went to KFC . Why would I go to KFC before hockey ? That greasy dirty bird isn’t gonna feel right in my belly while I’m playing hockey is it ? Damn oh well , gotta suck it up ! With a few hours to kill I relaxed and worked with Stro on the website as we noticed some errors but it’s all fixed now .
Called the Crvena taxi which is a great company with red cabs and the driver showed up immediately and was great . Much better and way cheaper then those scam artists called Sarajevo Taxi . Avoid them like the plague , trust me !
When I arrived at the rink I was greeted by a few of the guys while the women’s team were practising . There was a full rink today and everyone was raring to go . Got to the room and noticed I forgot to bring a towel . That sucks . Oh well I will deal with that after . When we hit the ice I immediately got dinged in the head twice and that didn’t feel great and I seriously think that when I wear my travelling goalie mask I get hit more then when I wear my ghetto mask . Someone once told me the nautical sign on my forehead looks like a target and I’m starting to think it is . The goalie coach here was in the MHL in Russia and is a young guy studying here and he put us through some drills . I was never a practise goalie and more of a game play goalie . For some reason I am garbage when it comes to drills and it’s probably my fault but when I think about what I’m doing it’s just too complicated rather then just doing it . And yes I looked like trash and then the rest of the skate looked like a pile of shit in the crease . Not my finest moment and definitely was the worst goalie on the ice . Yes I’m old and these guys are mostly national team players even though Bosnia and Herzegovina are a division 3 country , still that means nothing in all reality compared to a beer league goalie . I’m sure there are goalies back home in Canada thinking they are better then the goalies in these countries and I would beg to differ . Sure I can drink with you all night then put up a good performance at a tournament but these guys don’t do that . They train hard and well I don’t train so hard unless you consider training is lifting a beer to my mouth .
After the skate they did have a beer with me in the parking lot and I said my goodbyes in case I don’t see the guys today or tomorrow . You’ve all been great to me and I wish you all luck at the worlds in a couple months . Dino , take care of that groin ! You’re a hell of a goalie and you deserve to go out in style at your last world championships. Two of the younger lads dropped me off near my hotel and I went in to grab a couple beers for the room but then decided to contact Marko who is one of the Dubai Lions (Aston Villa supporters ) who flew in today . He’s at the Celtic Pub so I went over for a quick beer but he had to leave quite quickly to meet his roommate who had just flown in . So I drank my beer and headed back to the hotel to call it a night .
The end ….. for now :)