From the Games - Dan Church

China has been an amazing experience. It seems like just yesterday that we were
unpacking our suitcase for what would be a long two weeks away from home.
During my time in China we practiced eight times and played seven games, culminating in
a gold medal win on Friday night.

The hockey was excellent. We had very good competition and I was pleasantly
surprised by some of the teams we played like China and Slovakia. The two
games we played against China were awesome. The stands were full and every
time the Chinese touched the puck, the crowd roared with enthusiasm.

However, the hockey was only a part of the experience. China was a great
cultural experience. First, the volunteers and attachés were extremely
hospitable. Everywhere we went there were smiling faces greeting us. The
Chinese sports fans also held a sense of wonder for our athletes and coaches.
We were asked many times to take photos with the volunteers and minor
officials. Apparently, in China, whenever you take a photo with someone it is
customary to give the peace sign. It became a habit that even our girls got
into.

Traffic was very different then in Canada. Lanes are more of a suggestion than
a rule of the road. It isn’t uncommon to see a car or bus veer across several
lanes of traffic to make a turn. Vehicles communicate with a cacophony of
honks and high-beam flashes. Honks in Canada usually elicit a look of contempt
or an angry fist shake or some other impolite gesture, but in China the honks
and light flashes are an accepted form of communication. “HONK, honk, honk,
flash” means, “ I’m coming up on the right hand side, watch out for me” and
“Honk, HONK, flash, honk” means, “look out pedestrian, I’m coming through!”

Should you ever travel to Harbin and plan to drive you should become familiar
with the right of way here. In Canada, pedestrians always have the right of
way but in Harbin it is completely the opposite. Buses have the right of way
over cars, cars over motorcycles, motorcycles over bicycles, and bicycles over
pedestrians. Therefore, if you’re crossing a street even if you have a green
light you need to watch out for cars and buses. Every day on our way to the
rink we would turn right onto a busy street and not once did he stop to see if
was clear. He just turned and everyone else gave way because they all
understand the rules of the road. It’s quite amazing actually.

It's also amazing to watch street cleaning after a snowfall. They don't have a
huge army of snowplows like we do in Canada. Instead, large groups of workers
work together to sweep the snow off the roads with traditional Chinese brooms.
They chip away any ice with scrapers and they clear away the snow and ice with
small wagons. When they're done, the streets are complete bare and dry. It is
definitely different from Canada.

Probably my favourite memory of the city of Harbin was the Ice and Snow
Festival. The average temperature in Harbin at this time of year is between
-15 and -25 degrees Celsius. The people embrace the winter here. On the
outskirts of town they have this huge park where they build massive ice and
snow sculptures. These structures are 20-25 meters tall and you can actually
walk inside some of them. This year the theme was buildings. They have
replicas of Notre Dame and the English Parliament.

At night they are lit up with neon bulbs of every colour. It’s quite
breathtaking.

Harbin has been one of the greatest experiences of my sporting life. If the
opportunity to coach another Winter Universiade comes along again I would do it
in a second.

Dan Church - Team Canada Women's Hockey