Wight Jewels headed off to Marconihallen, the home of Bäcken hockey club, this morning for two hours of practice. Marconihallen is virtually brand new, having opened in September 2011, providing enviable facilities compared with the Jewels’ home rink.

The practice rink is the backup practice rink for the JWCC, whose main pads at Frölundaborg were fully booked. Some of the teams at the JWCC have already been in Gothenburg for several days, putting in hours more practice as well as acclimatising to the area.

French team Black Diam’s were the only other team at Bäcken HC’s rink and while they were on ice, the Jewels warmed up in the cafe area.

The session is yet more invaluable time to practise changes made to the programmes since the Spring Cup in Milan last month. Video analysis of that event has allowed coach Terri Smith to tweak the programmes to try to get more elements called and therefore improve the Jewels’ scores. But the effect of the changes will only become known on the days of the competition itself – so there will be a certain amount of anxious anticipation among the British camp tomorrow.

Practice went well. “Our girls trained hard this morning, trying out for the first time on an Olympic-sized rink the changes we’d made since Milan,” said IW head coach Terri Smith.