Day 4

Saturday, March 12

Riga, Latvia - 11:00

Snowflakes fall and our bodies scream - Latvian caffeine! Or at least caffeine in Latvia. Kitija graciously escorts us to a downtown cafe to meet fellow hockey player, Matiss Freibergs. Although a stranger to us, the familiarity of stick and puck instantly melt any unbroken ice. Matiss breaks into favourite Latvian men's national hockey team stories and shares his dreams of a World Championship #1 finish, which is generally thought of as against all odds given the size of the country and number of registered hockey players.

We finish our mocca and step out of land of dodgy internet connections and into a winter wonderland - breath-taking city squares and cobblestone streets. Dressing Matiss in helmet, gloves and stick, I position Matiss amid golf ball size snowflakes and in front of proud Latvian architecture. The picture for the daily blog is snapped and in a snap, Josey and I bid our good-byes and follow Kitija back through city park to our parked car.

Time is, again, of the essence and we fight our way through traffic and head for highway 4 (E67), which will be our apparently safe 5 hour path to Tallinn, Estonia.

Tallinn, Estonia - 20:00

Night has fallen and Toivu Viinapuu (coach) and Adam Kombe (player) have waited patiently for our arrival at their arena. Unfortunately, the snowy road was slow going, and we are too late to watch any hockey. We conduct interviews with both the guys. Luckily, 13 year old Adam's brilliant English skills and understanding of the game see us through and bring us closer to yet another hockey fanatic - long-time coach Toivu. For 22 years, he has been at the helm of many teams and is involved heavily in Estonian hockey.

Estonian hockey is alive and well within the hockey community, however, the interest in hockey itself is limited by a number of factors, one of which is the price of equipment in relation to an average Estonian salary of approximately 600 Canadian dollars per month.

Adam remains positive and is excited about his future in the sport, albeit recreation and fun with his pals is the main driver behind his enthusiasm. He has scored 4 goals so far this year, 3 of which were a recent hat trick.