2011 World Hockey Championships

The 2011 World Hockey Championships are going on right now in Slovakia. They are being held in Bratislava and Košice (the second largest city in eastern Slovakia). Hockey is taken seriously over here. The Czechs are the defending champions and everyone is going crazy over the competition.

Various artists were commissioned to produce 21 larger-than-life statues of hockey players representing the participating countries. They are scattered all over downtown. Of course, the Slovak player got the prime location in front of the Presidential Palace.

I was in Bratsville for a seminar and on the walk from the office back to the hotel I managed to snap a few pictures on my iPhone.

The statue for Norway was kind of different. I thought it was cool that the statue for Sweden had its face painted to look like a real person. I was pressed for time so I never made it out to find the statues for the USA or the ČR. I hope that doesn't jinx either team's chances.

Last night on the 6th, the Czechs beat Slovakia 3-2.

EDIT: On the 11th the Czechs spanked the USA 4-0 in the quarterfinals. I caught a little bit of hell for this one at work the next day. But the Czechs are the defending champions and the USA has a very young team here. Not making excuses or anything...just saying.

EDIT: It's all over. The Czechs had the best record of the tournament and only lost one match to Sweden. Last year, the Czechs beat Russia for the gold but, with the way it worked out, this year they got to beat Russia for the bronze. Finland (who the Czechs beat in the earlier rounds) took the gold over Sweden.