Home, proud and broken

Dear L,

Ten days of bland fried food and several rain squalls a day were quite enough for me, glad to be out of Manchester and back in Stockholm.  After important wins against the Czech Republic and Wales and a loss to Ireland, we were awarded 10th place in the world.

Doing my best to keep this Czech defender at bay as I run the ball downfield.

Observing the Swedish national anthem before playing Wales, which includes belting out "Yes, I want to live I want to die in the North!"  Would be a lot more intimidating if the Welsh could understand Swedish.

Final results:

1. USA
2. Canada
3. Australia
4. Japan - they're tiny but as this play shows they are tricky
5. England
6. Germany
7. Scotland
8. Netherlands
9. Ireland
10. Sweden - woohoo!
11. Wales
12. Finland
13. Czech Republic
14. Poland
15. New Zealand - the haka, their pregame ritual
16. Spain
17. Slovakia
18. Bermuda
19. Italy
20. Latvia
21. Austria
22. Hong Kong
23. Switzerland
24. Norway
25. South Korea
26. Denmark
27. France
28. Argentina
29. Mexico
30. Iroquois - sorry, guys (the passport controversy)

Then comes the unfortunate story of my shoulder, which kept me from playing in all but two of our games in Manchester and far from my best in those.  I thought it was just sore but apparently I had lost one or two ligaments in Back from the hospital.  By the time we played the Czech Republic on the 21st, I was tired of and embarrassed by sitting on the bench the whole time so I played through some slight discomfort.  No problem.  But it only took a small hit from a Welsh defenseman the day after to tear the only remaining ligament holding my collarbone down to my shoulder.

Not in lot of pain, but with an ugly bump on my shoulder.

The x-ray shows that the problem is worse than the pain suggests. The scribbles are a repulsively crude representation of what the surgery will entail.  It'll be a two-part surgery (once to insert the screw and once a few months later to remove it) and will happen once the internal bleeding is under control.

Time to shift from physical goals to mental ones for a while!

Love,

D