The teammate froze for a moment with his stick on the puck. Though the puck could have easily been stolen by a Monaco opponent or rescued by one of his fellow teammates, both sides let him be for a moment until he pushed it forward a couple feet. Finally in play, a Monaco player swept the puck away. The Turkmenistan player threw his stick in frustration, but one of his teammates retrieved it for him, patted him on the back and calmed him down. They celebrated with hugs and gave thumbs-up to cheering fans.
Competition begins today.
Following the game against Monaco, team coach Magomet Bashirov said the team was just getting used to the time change. They suffered serious jet lag after traveling for more than a day, he said. The highlight so far was seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger at Sunday's opening ceremony. McDonnell said there is another highlight, maybe not so appreciated by team coaches. A friend of McDonnell's dropped a Sega Dreamcast video game system off at the Barratt Inn, where the team is staying.