World Selects Invitational, Chamonix May 3-12 2024
Just after we came back from Tours and the Bauer World Cup I got the opportunity to go back to France and play for Toronto Elite in the World Selects Invitational in Chamonix, France from 3 to 12th of May
Worst start ever!!
When we arrived at Geneva we realized by checking my Airtag that my hockeybag was back in Copenhagen. Fortunately I had packed my skates in my cabin luggage and my sticks arrived as planned. We had to buy everything (!!!) else new, and the fist game was against Slovenia at the same day at 6PM. With a lot of good helpers we ordered everything from a store in another village and got it brought up to Chamonix. I had never met my teammates or coaches before, and went on ice five minutes before the puck was dropped - still with the labels hanging on my gear. To make the disaster complete, the pants I got from the team was terrible small (picture in the middle above) and could hardly skate!!! I have to admit that this start of the tournament affected me for many games. I will never play for a team again without having practised with them before the tournament, and never fly in the same day as the tournaments start.
The Tournament
There was Select Teams from US (2), Canada (2), Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Tsjekkia, and the Alps.
The outdoors in Chamonix is amazing
Chamonix is an old Olympic Venue with a population of almost nine thousand people. The first winter olympics was held here in 1924, and the city is situated at an altitude of 1000 m above sea level. The city is probably most known now for it´ s tourism and since the town is located by the foot of Mt Blanc the scenary around Chamonix is stunning. Our team took the gondola to Mt Blanc one beautiful day.
An amazing area for Mountain Biking
We had some hours off on Saturday morning and rented mountain bikes and had a marvelous trip up the valley. We were all up by the snow and the trails were funny but some steep rocky parts.
The final days of the tournament
The tournament went from Tuesday to Saturday, and there were many good teams and good players in Chamonix these days. The Slovakian team which we met on the training game won the tournament and we succeeded to win our last two games in spite of having few players available. Great fun, and this gave inspiration to train harder.