Ryan Kuwabara is the captain of Japan's national ice hockey team currently playing at the Pool A World Championships in Germany. Kuwabara, a Japanese-Canadian who was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens and now stars for Japan Ice Hockey League champion Kokudo, has agreed to keep a journal chronicling some of the team's experiences while in Germany.
Our second game of the tournament was against the Finns. We knew coming into the game that they were a great skating and passing team so we had to play well defensively and try to score on our chances when we got them, because there might not be that many.
We were a little tired after playing Slovakia the night before, but once we got to the rink everyone seemed to be ready to give their all. After warmups, we all headed back to the dressing room for a short meeting before we went back out for the start of the game.