I'M ON A BOAT - July 29th to 30th

By: Nic R.

Last night we got the pleasure of riding from Stockholm to Helsinki on a ferry. It was good times indeed! We started out at the buffet dinner, which was delicious. The best part was... All you can drink wine! We definately took advatage of that. Dinner was alot of fun, particularily for Bethany. She was even coming up with clever lines like (touché recipe...with multiple recepies).

Two hours later we were ready to explore the rest of the ship. We started out at duty free where we made some important purchases. Next we headed over to the "fun club" where a couple of us made some elderly friends we shared a couple of dances with. We also met Karl a 15 year old Estonian boy who taught Bethany how to say "I Love You" in many different languages... But not Mandarin. We also met two players from a team in Turku who we will see at the tournament, they were really nice! After more dancing and socializing we headed on down to the karaokee bar. We met alot of fun new people, including a biker group that Steph befriended. We wrapped up the karaokee doing a rendition of Titanic's "My Heart Will Go On" (Beth, Chels, Breann, Marri, Steph, Tami, Jaz, & Myslef) It was beutiful. After singing our hearts out we all went our seperatee ways to bed.

Current Location: Middle of the Baltic Sea (between Stockhold & Helsini) OR I'm on a boat.
Local Time: 11:00am, Friday June 30th

Skansen-July 29th

By: D'Arcy Bain

Further to great trip several of us left to exlpore Skansen, Stockholm's 75 acres of open air living history. Although it was raining we experienced the traditional buildings and farmsteads from all over Sweden (from the extreme north to the skÅne framstead in the south) the 150-200 year old buildings are set among gardens and countryside that are typical of their origins. Guides wearing traditional costumes can tell/pretend to be in former times.

This is an excellent, huge site requiring 3 to 4 hours to do it justice. We experienced rain which shortend our enrichment time but it would be recommended to look at it in the future.

We followed our shortened tour with a light lunch at the sollider restaurant after visiting the notable glass blowing venue, engineering venue '8machines as old as Canada), animals of Sweden (seals, moose, reindeer[Swedish meatballs]), brown beans and farmsteads.

Again, this is an impressive exhibit requiring 2 to 3 hours and good weather to do it justice. Lots of food, souvenir shops, and guided information.

Current Location: Stockholm Sweden
Current Local Time: 3:00pm, Thursday July 29th

Ice Bar! - July 28th

By Nicole M

Being underage. Not a problem when you were with a bunch of 18-20 year olds. Marri, Steph, Kelly B, coach Kelly, Reanne, Nicole, Megan, Teresa, Laura, Breanne, Bethany, Taylor, Tricia, and myself all went into an ice bar. The bar was pretty sweet! Even though Breanne and I were underage here we still got to drink. A bunch of 18 year olds went infront of us and got ID'd but when I went up and told them I left mine at home and the girl said that "it was fine" haha. We went into a waiting room where they gave us jackets with furry hoods and mitts. Once we got into the bar, the music was blasting and everyone just got so excited and happy! (Breanne wasn't complaining) The walls and bar were made outta ice and there was an ice sculpture you can take pictures in. The cups were made of ice and looked like giant ice cubes. The straws were made out of black licorice but I didn't like mine so I gave mine to Kelly. I'm sure my mom would have loved them. Taylor got a sprite to drink and they put a glow in the dark food colouring in it so it was glowing green. It was so neat. Her tongue glowed too.

Well after we were done our drinks, we were pretty much ice cubes ourselves as we were wearing shorts, sandels and tank tops underneath our jackets. Good times at the Ice Bar! I would highly suggest it if you've ever been that you make your way over to one because they are awesome.

Current Location: Stockholm Sweden
Current Local Time: 5:00pm, Wednesday July 28th

Jaz's Blog (a.k.a jessinta) First day in Stockholm

Arena in Stockholm where we had two practices


Greetings from Stockholm! Well well well, where to begin! Our flight from Dusseldorf to Stockholm was a rough one. First off there were no TV's and this blonde family in front of us acted like children. They talked loud and the older boys bounced around and adjusted themselves multiple times. The mom was by far the worst, she took her socks off and started picking her toes, sick!

Once we arrived we met our tour guide Jaakko(pronounced YAK - OH). Nic R. loved her first encounter with him. We then took a tour of Stockholm on our bus. We were all pretty grumpy and tired. Kelly insisted that we DO NOT sleep on the bus. I obeyed her rules... NAT! After our tour was done we checked into our dandy little hotel. Again Kelly insisted that we DO NOT nap. I disobeyed her once again. We then headed off to practice! We arrived at the rink and it was quite chilly, like we were practicing in Lortette. Throughout our practice we took some team pictures and did some drills. I also revealed a name my parents were going to name me and got harrassed. No one should name their child Jessinta. While leaving the rink, Nicole R was dying to have a scrimmage against these random men we saw. She really wanted to play shirts vs. skins. She also wanted us to be skins...don't know how i feel about that! After practice, back to the hotel we went! I was quite famished after practice so my dad (Darc) and i went out for dinner. We went to this quaint pizza pace where we enjoyed a lovely pizza together. We also had a quite the view while eating! We watched Gord put out a bike that was on fire. I smell a change in employment Gord! Just kidding. Well big day ahead of us tomorrow, better catch some z's as my good old friend Jen would say!

Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Current time: 11:11

Day 1- Winnipeg Toronto dusseldorf STOCKHOLM!!!

By breann

As per usual going to toronto I cried taking off and leaving. I felt the. Plane ride was very short and time flew by. This could be because ray and I sat together and laughed the whole time. Once in Toronto we all went off and had lunch. I had a great lunch at a place called casey's with Nicole m, ray, magan, Jen, nic r, Chelsea and jazz. After our supposed to be 4 he layover our flt to dusseldorf was delayed by an hour. I was not very happy about this because I hate flying enough as it is. I hated the 7.5hr plane ride. Not only because I had to try to sleep on this plane but the seats were small and squishy. The flight was long and uncomfortable, and most of us barely slept. We had a funny flight attendant who had classic German white blond hair that was all shaved except his bangs. Dad you should try out that hair style!
I found the turbulence bad on that flt but I really hate flying so it might not have been so bad.
On a happy note, the sunrise was so beautiful.
Anyways, family if you're reading this see you soon, I miss you guys!

Note from coach kel: everyone made it safe and sound with only a few minor hiccups. We'll try to post some pics later and get the next post about our first day in Stockholm
After our practice.
Current time 4:45pm tuesday July 27
Current location Stockholm, Sweden

in 12 hours...

we'll be boarding the plane, and all the planning and stressing will be over. We had a great exhibition game today, sort-of inter-squad but with some awesome "randoms" who came out to make it do-able. It was a blast; things are looking good, no one got (too) hurt, and everyone got their skates sharpened and last-minute equipment from Pro Connexion... Paul and his staff have been awesome in the last few weeks!!! thanks!!

Over the weekend everyone got their jackets and pants... big thanks to Jacqueline and Ron at Shippam who helped us with the jackets, they are incredible! The pants also look great, Jenn at TNM did a great job! The Believe patches all got sewed on to the pants (thanks to my wicked awesome Mom who turned around 19 pairs of pants in less than 12 hours!) Some of us spent the evening last night at the Bain residence, who hosted us for a BBQ - it was a nice relaxing evening and the weather was great!

Now we're really down to the wire... text messages are flying with last minute "remember..." and I'm running around my house like a chicken with my head cut off (a handi-capped chicken I guess, since my back is uber-sore!) trying to round up the last bits of stuff we need.

At the game today we divided the next two weeks into bite-size pieces, so you (our loyal followers) will be getting a summary of all the days/nights/events we experience in the next 14 days. Altho we may not be able to post every day, there will be an entry from every day and we'll get them posted as quickly as possible.

Thanks for your support, and keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next two weeks!!


Coach Kelly

here is a pic of the stitching on our jackets... the script is on the front and the logo is on the back

#11 Jen

Hello everyone my name Jen and I m 19 years old! I have been playing ringette for probably about 10 years! I originally started playing in Calgary and hated every minute of it! Once my family moved to Winnipeg it took a lot of convincing for me to play again but I am so happy I continued to play or I would not be going on this trip! I can't
wait to go!
Last year I took the year off from ringette and travelled to Germany to be an au pair! I worked for a German family with 7 children, just out of Stuttgart (which is 2 hours away from Munich). It was very overwhelming at first, but my family was very welcoming and spoke perfect english which was extremely helpful! I have to say it was a great experience and I learned so much!
I am so excited to be going back to Europe especially with such a fun group of girls! I cant believe we are leaving in just three days i don't where the time has gone, need to start packing but.... i know that is not going to be started till the very last night! Oh man Diane is going to kill me!

"3 DAYS!!!" - Taylor

Hey! My name is Taylor, most people call me Tay. I'm going on this trip as an honorary player. I'm 10 years old- almost 11. I've only been playing for 4 years, but play in winter, spring, and summer camps, so it feels longer. I started ringette when I was 7, played 1 year each at bunnies and novice and age advanced to petite at 9. I was hoping to age advance again this year to play with that same team since I've had 2 years of petite, but now I'm looking forward to the merge and trying out for an awesome A team. This is my first trip overseas (mom's too), and I feel special to have been picked out of all the junior players. I'm looking forward to the ferry cruise between Finland and Sweden, but not so much to the plane rides. To get ready for the trip I got some new clothes, new backpack, books and stuff for the plane, and emptied out the memory card on my camera. I've asked for early birthday money so that I can buy a cool new ringette stick in Finland.

the Manitoba Inferno BELIEVE!!!

just a few days before departure... the Inferno have jumped on the "Believe in the Goal" patch program, supporting the cause started by local hockey player Todd Davison.
(Please see http://www.believeinthegoal.com )

We have benefitted from community sponsorship to help us take this once in a lifetime trip to play the sport we love in countries on another continent... and upon hearing about the patch program, nothing would have stopped us from joining this initiative!! We share the same love of being on the ice as Todd did, and supporting young victims and survivors with cancer is something small we can do to show how thankful we are for this opportunity.

Inferno players will proudly wear the TD 34 Believe patch on our pant legs, and hopefully be able to tell the story of Believe in the Goal to the people we meet in Europe over the next two weeks.

Please look into supporting this cause... get a patch or purchase a ticket to the SuperStar Summer Showdown on August 11 at the MTS Centre. Tons of info (including Todd's story and how you can become a BELIEVER at http://www.believeinthegoal.com

#5 Bethany

Hey everyone!
So my name is Bethany, I'm 19 years old and I have played ringette for 11 years, but took the year off last year to coach the Silver Heights Belle A with Kelly. I'm very excited to be playing because coaching is awesome but it's tough to be watching and not being able to be on the ice and play the sport I love so much. All the girls going are so amazing and talented you couldn't have asked for a better group. Lets kick some european butt! :)

I am so not prepared for leaving but I have lists of everything I need to bring and pack, I just haven't got around to getting it all together so this weekend will be a bit of a gongshow trying to gather everything and spend time with those who aren't lucky enough to come with me :)

The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the plane ride. I'm not a fan of flying and I just pray that I can sleep on the way there because our first day will be a very full and long day! So wish me luck!!

#18 Chelsea

Hi there, my name is Chelsea K. I am 19 years old and have been playing ringette since I was 8. Back then I couldn't skate or do anything with a ring.. so it's pretty hard to believe that all these years of playing has led me on a trip to Europe!! I have played out of St. James my whole life, this year I played for Silver Heights Belle A Stars!

It's still so hard for me to believe that I will be on a different continent in 7 days!! I've always wanted to go to Europe, but who would've thought that ringette would take me there! I'm lucky to get to experience this trip with some of my best friends, Mom and radical teammates. Since my mom is coming.. she is pretty much going psycho about packing and preparing for our departure, where as I have not done a thing. I'm pretty excited to buy some new shoes this week, and of course my money bag.. My mom just got one from winners that she's pretty stoked about. Can't have pick pocketers picking my pocket!!

I'm most looking forward to going to Germany.. but I really think every city we go to will be absolutely unreal. I will make sure to report back with a lot of pictures for all of your little eyes to see!

#10 Nicole R. (Nic)

Hey! Im Nicole R and I'm 18 years old. I have been playing ringette since i was about 9. I play out of St. James, this year i played for Belle A Silver Heights Stars. My most memorable ringette moment has to be when my team went to westerns.

Im really pumped about the trip, I think its gunna be awesome being overseas and playing ringette with such a fun group of people. Im also pretty excited to room with the Bains on the ferry, that should be a great time.

GOOO INNFERRRRNOOOOO woooo

July 14 team photo

just missing Megan, Nicole R and Teresa... we'll get a full team photo yet!!

#25 Rayanne L .. 13 days left!! :D

hihi, my name's Rayanne L.! I recently turned 18 and I am the newest (and last, I think) member to join the Manitoba Inferno team :) woo!

I have been playing ringette for 9(or so) years now, and have played at all levels. I played 3 years with the Eastman AA Flames, and the remainder of the years with Lorette or Grunthal. I'm so excited to go to Finland and play the sport I love in a completely new place! It'll be my first time out of Canada. :)

Unfortunately, I haven't started packing yet, so I should probably get on that. The only thing I do have is a money belt, which thankfully my friend's mom is letting me borrow! (Thanks RobbyIrv!).

I remember when Kelly invited me to join the team, and how excited I was then, with MONTHS to go before the departure date. Now that its only 13 days away, its hard to contain my excitement! Thanks mom & dad for everything and letting me go, love you! Go Inferno.

# 6 Kelly B.

Hi everyone! My name is Kelly Bacon and I’m twenty years old. I started playing
Ringette at the age of four so it’s been a large part of my life since before I knew which skate went on which foot.

I’ve played AA as well as A, mainly out of the south end of the city (APFG). Aside from playing, I’ve also done some coaching and instructing. I’ve earned a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal at the Western Canadian Ringette Championships. I was lucky enough to be picked up to play with Team Manitoba at Westerns twice, as well as getting to experience it with the girls I’ve grown up playing with. I’ve done plenty of traveling throughout Canada to different tournaments however I have to say Europe is the most exciting place to date.

I couldn’t be more excited to go do what I love across the ocean with a very talented
and altogether great group of girls. So far I really haven’t done anything to prepare for the trip.., to the dismay of my parents this is a general trend in my life. After a year of fundraising and hard work by many people it is super exciting to finally be this close to leaving!

#12 Steph

Hi everyone! My name is Steph and my blog is only 11 days late (sorry kelly!) I am 20 years old and attend the University of Manitoba.

I started out as a figure skater but quit when I was 8 and I've been playing ringette ever since. I have played at the AA and A level, out of APFG, for 12 years now. I have had the privilege to be apart of Team Manitoba twice,Team Host as well as being placed on the All Star team at the Western Canadian Ringette Championships. I have coached in the past but have been mostly instructing ringette at various camps all over Winnipeg for the past 4 years as a full time job and even made a trip up to Thompson, MB.

I can't believe the trip is only TWO weeks away.. It seems like yesterday when Coach Kelly first asked me if I was interested in traveling to Europe to play. I am very excited.
If you know me, you probably won't be surprised when I tell you I haven't done much planning for the trip yet but I have big plans for the next two weeks.

#13 Megan

My name is Megan Mankewich. I just turned 18 years old and have played ringette for 13 years now. I am from the Interlake so I have played on teams out of Warren and Stonewall. I have also played in St. James and I also played Magic AA for a year.

I have coached my sisters team for a couple years and time keep when the warren arena needed. Throughout most of the winter I am constantly in and out of arenas. The people I have met throughout playing this sport are incredible people and getting the chance to travel with them to Eurpore, is a great opportunity. This trip is going to be an experience of a life time and I am super excited for it.

As for preparing I have not done much. I got a nice light weight suitcase as a grad present and a money belt that was used when some of my class mates travelled to Europe over spring break. For the most part I will probably be super rushed a few days before the trip to get ready. I have never travlled out of North America so this will be a great experience!

#9 Kelsey

My name is Kelsey and I am 20 years old. I have played Ringette for 14 years. I played mostly on A teams in my years of playing Ringette. I never really had a home team to play on when I was younger; I have been bounced around from River East to Transcona since I was 11. I did however find a home in St. James with a wonderful team and awesome people. The highlight of my Ringette career, beside this trip, would have to be when I went to Westerns.

To prepare for this trip so far I have bought a money belt and a toiletry bag. I also replaced my gloves because my old ones were missing the palms. I am most looking forward to going to Prague and the actual tournament.



*Note from Coach Kelly: sorry for the delay in posts. Hope to get back on track asap!