End of Day one. What a great start!!

After a very long day of travelling, we arrived safely and in one piece in Helsinki about 4pm local time. It was a quite flight for most as everyone seemed to hit the wall and have a sleep. We got a first taste of winter upon arrival. It was -4C and light flurries at the airport. The only, we hope, small setback was PC's and Ian's hockey bags did not make the flight from Heathrow to Helsinki. We are told that they will arrive by morning. Fingers crossed.

Maarrt who is Greg's (our tour leader) counterpart on the Finnish side, met us at the airport with our coach driver and got us all sorted and en route  from the airport to the hotel. We arrived at Soko Presidente our hotel about 5:30pm.

Everyone unpacked and we met in the hotel restaurant for a great team dinner.

Following Dinner, Greg, the boys and most of the parents went on a wonderful walking tour of downtown Helsinki. It was great to get some fresh air after a long day.  The following pictures were taken in the market area of Helsinki.

After close to 24 hours of travel and settling in, the boys and most of the parents  :) called it an evening around 11pm.  Big day tomorrow. We have a team breakfast at 7am and then board the bus for Mantsella at 8am for our first puck drop at 10:10am.  Look for live tweets during the game @JamieLougheed

All the boys head home with their billet families at the end of the day tomorrow. 

Have a great day everyone.

Jamie