In February, Vancouver hosted the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and I had the opportunity to work as a Event Services Host volunteer at Canada Hockey Place (aka GM Place). I spent 12 days back in the lower mainland, many thanks to Aunt Pat and John for letting me stay in their place and of course to Mom and Dad M for chauffering me to and from airports and of course some wonderful home cooked meals.
Here is a look back:
On my 1st shift at the Olympics, I met Alexandre Bilodeau and his family (Canada's first Gold medal winner at home), saw the Slovakian men's hockey team warm up and even got 1 free ticket to the USA vs SUI game for the following day at noon (the ticket was passed onto my brother as I was already working that game :)!
Day 2 at the Olympics. I met Walter Gretzky, got my brother into the USA vs SUI game where he got to sit in a suite and met the premier. I watched USA beat SUI and saw the biggest cowbell ever, then watched CANADA crush the Norwegians and spent 45 minutes picking up hats afterwards (way to go Iggy . . . even if you are a Calgary Flames player)!
A recap of my Day 3: I saw the set of the Stephen Colbert Report, held a torch from both the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics, met Jeremy Roenick and Richard Branson (owner of all things Virgin) and got to watch the SWE vs GER and the Czech vs Slovak games from the Captains Room on the 200 Suite level!
On my 4th shift, I watched the filming of the Colbert Report outside Science World (aka the Russky Dom), met Ryan Kesler after the US beat NOR 6-1, finished off the day in the 300 level watching the CAN vs SUI game and then the RUS vs SLK game . . . oh and I met Pavel Bure.
Day 5 had me meet Marc Denis (Olympic host and former Montreal goalie), met Brendan Morrison's mother (and worked the entire shift with her in the Premier Lounge), watched Czechs beat Latvia 5-2 and then Finland crush Germany 5-0!
My 6th day was a biggie. I met Vladislav Tretiak, gave him directions to Molson Canadian Hockey House and he gave me a pin!!! I also met Tom Selleck (he's taller in real life - my mom will be so jealous) . . . and I even got to yell through the bullhorn between games directing people as a spectator marshall!
On Olympic day 7 I met Jon Montgomery (Canada's gold medalist in skeleton), watched an amazing Russia vs Czech Republic game, then had to bear watching Brodeur and Canada's defense losing to a brilliant Ryan Miller in the US goal, and cheered on the Sedins and Ohlund as well as Salo and Jarkko Ruutu as Sweden beat Finland.
I met Haley Wickenheiser on day 8, and was on CTV when they interviewed Tessa Bonhomme's family during the CAN vs FIN game (1st period, 1st stoppage in play), and was able to watch the entire game from the 100 level in tunnel 116!
I spent day 9 doing a full 15.5h shift! Met Cuba Gooding Jr. and Chad Kroeger, Brian Williams (NBC) and got a pin, met Steve Yzerman and got a pin, met Mikhail Grabovski (Belarus hockey player from Toronto Maple Leafs) and got a pin from him too . . . and oh yeah I watched all three games today from various levels of Canada Hockey Place!
Day 10 looked like this: I watched the USA vs SUI game on the internet (Hiller really is a great player, I was sad that Switzerland is out but happy not to have to play them again!), then once at Canada Hockey Place I met Pat Quinn, watched Canada trounce the Russians (first time in 50 years of Olympics), met the King and Queen of Sweden and watched an amazing game where Slovakia just edged out Sweden.
Day 11 = my best day yet! Bronze medal game to Finland, and inside the suites level for the gold medal game. I met and escorted the following people to their suites: Wayne Gretzky, Stephen Harper, Gordon Campbell, Michael J. Fox, Donald Sutherland, Mark Messier, Clara Hughes and Maelle Ricker. Also saw the entire Canadian... men's hockey team in the upper level suite watching the game (and apparently taking notes).
My final Olympic day 12: met Jacques Rogge (IOC President), Tarja Halonen (Finnish President - and an avid hockey fan), and I am now on a first name basis with all three Aquilini brothers - Paulo, Roberto and Francesco (after trading pins with their kids). I got lots more press pins and watched the US slaughter Kiprusoff (and the Finnish defense) in the first period (never mind the rest of the game it didn't get better).
That was it for my Vancouver Olympic experience! Travelling back was crazy, every airport was filled with crazed Canucks and thankfully the WestJet TVs played most of the Olympic coverage. Once I got back I was able to watch the Men's Gold Medal Game with Aaron ... GO CANADA GO was heard loudly outside our windows and on the streets of Halifax, and I can tell you that nobody was prouder than the entire province of Nova Scotia when Sid put the game winner behind Miller.
Then it was back to the reality of work ...
Racheal
