{"id":308,"date":"2022-12-20T21:33:04","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T20:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praguesbarrel.eu\/artikel\/2022-finally-a-full-year-and-what-is-ahead-of-us\/"},"modified":"2023-01-02T11:08:47","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T10:08:47","slug":"2022-finally-a-full-year-and-what-is-ahead-of-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/praguesbarrel.eu\/de\/artikel\/2022-finally-a-full-year-and-what-is-ahead-of-us\/","title":{"rendered":"2022 summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

2022: Finally, a full year and what is ahead of us?<\/h2>\n

After 2 years of pandemic was 2022 again a year full of Prague\u2019s Barrel. We also celebrated the 30th annual football tournament and 100th tournament in our history. Yes, the first one was in 1993 and our boss Peter was already there together with our good soul Leo\u0161, who was firstly a participant. Look back with us over this amazing year.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Spring ice hockey<\/h3>\n

First tournament of 2022 was dedicated to ice hockey. Spring tournaments are very popular, unfortunately because of the invasion in Ukraine a lot of teams cancelled their trip, therefore we have welcomed only 6 teams in March. It was also the first time we did not have any Russian speaking team in our ice hockey tournament. The temperature was still around 10 \u00b0C, but it was nice and sunny for city walks in Prague. First three places went to former Czechoslovakia \ud83d\ude42 and our colleague Iva fell in love (wait for it, that will continue\u2026).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

April’s tournament was a bit bigger, 9 teams from all over Europe and two brave teams from Great Britain and the Netherlands (not traditional ice hockey countries). These two classified as Prague\u2019s Barrel survivors \ud83d\ude42 but made a great friendship out of it. We have also welcomed a few freshmen such as Finnish team who adopted two Latvians from Sweden. The spirit of the whole tournament was amazing and the final ceremony was an absolute blast.<\/p>\n

Sweet Caroline 4ever<\/h3>\n

Who does not love that song, right? It is our main song of the bowling tournament every year. We have welcomed mostly our longtime friends here, 14 teams all together, but for instance\u00a0 the tournament was won by freshmen from Germany.. Lucky guys. Another first time, we hosted two great bowler women from Bulgaria who each joined other teams. Unfortunately, even for April it was still kind of cold, but we enjoyed it despite the weather.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

30th annual football tournaments<\/h3>\n

It is unbelievable, some of our participants were not even born, but really, we started with football tournaments in 1993. As Peter was talking about it in a previous article<\/a>, it was a totally different universe back then. They have sent paper invitations via post and fax! Can you imagine?<\/p>\n

We have started the tournaments with a perfect celebratory gift \u2013 reusable plastic beer cup with comics of our history. It was amazing, everybody really used it for their beers, really thank you for that.<\/p>\n

First time<\/strong> we hosted 20 teams in June, it was pretty good weather the first day, but of course, as ill luck would have it, we played football in the rain for two days. But guys were tough and made it without harm. We had to divide for two boats, but it was fun the same! We have also prepared some funny games to cut your waiting time between matches \u2013 beer pong and beer puppeteer, which was very popular. The winner\u2019s trophy went to Portugal. Somehow on the bottom of the classification were 3 Norwegian teams\u2026 I guess they just love beer too much! \ud83d\ude42 See the video memories<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Second time<\/strong>, at the end of June, we \u201cwatered\u201d 32 teams, an amazing comeback after pandemics. Unfortunately, we couldn\u2019t open the women\u2019s category this year. People came from 17 different countries, the atmosphere of the tournament was amazing. We have celebrated the 20th anniversary with our longtime friends from Riva Black Sharks. Their captain is the first one who competed in all three disciplines – football, ice hockey and bowling, amazing dedication. For the first time we also hosted a team from Malta, amazing from which places you can still come!<\/p>\n

Winners were from Denmark, a team who has been coming for multiple years already. First time they came in 2002 as employees of Maersk and in 2017 a few friends from this team created a new one – Happy Feet. And quick ones, we dare say! \ud83d\ude42 You can again revive the memories in the video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last football tournament<\/strong> took place in August with only 8 teams, but it was a great atmosphere to close the football season. We had 4 teams who were already in the tournament in the past and 4 newcomers, a very good combination. We were blessed by very nice summer weather. Even though Romania might not be seen as a great football nation, their team won our tournament for the second time!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

2022\/2023 ice hockey season opening<\/h3>\n

September<\/strong> was finally a full load ice hockey tournament with 12 teams from 7 different countries. In addition, the first team from Scotland came! Wow, amazing. We were still pleased by the great summer weather which was very nice after getting off the ice. The finals were thrilling but the trophy went to Latvia. Last match was a beautiful United Kingdom derby between England and Scotland, the dedication of both teams was amazing on both the ice and in the final party, the title Beer King went to Scotland\u2019s captain! Have a look at how it went in the video<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We continued with smaller November tournaments. First, in the <\/span>beginning of November<\/strong>, we hosted 9 teams from 8 countries, very diverse. And then it happened, when you think that nothing can surprise you anymore at Prague\u2019s Barrel, our colleague Iva got engaged during the tournament. Lots of love to them. <3 Scandinavians\u2019 teams tried really hard but the trophy went to the mixed team of Slovakians and Brits.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the second November<\/strong> tournament we welcomed friends from Slovenia after a while (also non-traditional hockey country) with 7 other teams. The 100th Prague’s Barrel tournament<\/strong> did not start well because on Thursday 17th was the national holiday, we were expecting some delays in transportation in Prague, but we had another issue. Fire close to Prague\u2019s airport caused reduced visibility and therefore malfunction of the guidance device. We only had 2 big groups coming by plane, but of course they were dispatched to Berlin and Vienna. First Swedish team went with a bus from Vienna without a problem, just with a delay. Another group from Finland was stuck in Berlin and the aero lines decided to go back to Helsinki, but they refused and managed to escape the plane to go by train to Prague, but without their hockey gear. They landed in Prague around 10 PM and their luggage was supposed to arrive only around noon of\u00a0 the following day. Real adrenaline finding hockey gear and skates for 13 chaps for the next day during a public holiday! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

They played the first game in borrowed gear which was probably not comfortable, but they still managed to win. For the second game on Friday, they already wore their hockey gear and they were so good that they amazingly won the whole tournament in a very tight final with the Slovakians. But that did not end for them. Because of a strike in Finnair their flight on Monday was cancelled. But luckily everybody is home now!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

2023 waiting for us<\/h3>\n

We have started great in 2022 and we are expecting even more from 2023. It looks like we will reach an amazing 11 tournaments that year. To most of them you can still register your team and experience 4 amazing days in the beautiful city. We will look forward to seeing you there!<\/p>\n