One of my favorite hockey-related things to do was tournaments. I went to a couple as a Raven, but several as a Blade. Many were local, but I had the pleasure of traveling to Brampton a few times for mega-tournaments. One such trip I earned free for selling lots of subscriptions to one of the Blades sponsors’ magazines.
Of course, one of the fun parts of the tournaments (aside from being satisfyingly sore and drinking tons of beer) was the professional-style photographs that they sold of each player. Usually the pros captured us in such a way that we looked like what we were doing! Of course, people who know about hockey love to point out that my photos show really bad form. But, oh well. My family was impressed.
I remember some great things from those tournaments.
On the plane to Toronto, one of our coaches made us sing “O Canada!” until our throats were raw. He insisted that we learn it in French, too.
We visited the Hockey Hall of Fame, ate at Gretzky’s restaurant, and hung out at Don Cherry’s bar.
Right before my second experience in Brampton, my soon-to-be-Husband got me a Palm Pilot. Although I have gone through many Palm-compatible devices since, there is one memo that remains. I have never had the heart to delete it.
The note is entitled “Maple Donut,” a reference to the unfortunate situation where I was craving a maple donut, yet couldn’t find one in Canada: Maple. In Canada. Nada!
I wrote down other little snippets of my adventure that I would have written about had I been blogging at that time. “Cab driver pulls out a map, scratches his head when asked to go to a major hotel” “Arrived at the hotel at 1:02 and room service closed at 1:00,” and “You know you’re in trouble when your airport gets hit by lightening.”
Documented are some similarities between our team and our opposing team. Two players looked identical to our players and wore the same numbers. The coaches both had the same glasses, spiky hair, and dark leather jackets. I called that team the Bizarro Blades.
Other notes make absolutely no sense to me. They don’t jog any memories. Frankly, they read like spam email, which is hilarious: “Why would someone leave cake in the rain - after seeing a lost ponytail holder” and “Phallic ice-cream cone, Happy Guerrilla cartoon on Mexican Restaurant, Supermodel Pizza, car dealerships with donuts: Boston Crème but no maple.”
I have only been to Canada a handful of times, but my trips, to Toronto for the tourneys and to Montreal for relaxation, ended up being very hockey-centric. Yay!
Comments (2)
I love tournaments, mostly for that "satisfyingly sore" feeling you mention. It's SO MUCH FUN to play so much hockey in such a short time. My favorite, hands-down is the Vancouver Women's Tournament that happens over the U.S.'s Memorial Day Weekend. Hope you'll join us this year!
Posted by Lori
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January 10, 2007 12:06 PM
Posted on January 10, 2007 12:06
Very cool, Kari. All these hockey memories are really fun to read about! I think you were probably saying you even tried car dealerships to find a maple donut, but they didn't have maple, only Boston Creme...which is ironic, because Boston Creme should be in the US and Canada should have some maple donuts! *lol* Just my theory. :)
Posted by Kyla | January 10, 2007 7:49 PM
Posted on January 10, 2007 19:49