Keep Sending The Invites

Alrighty so there is no chance i am bumping this trip out to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok , but i can be persuaded to go elsewhere if it fits the budget ....

ECG Scanning is planning on sending a team to Montreal in August and i might just want to go , i mean who can pass up having Schwartz's Deli , bagels , poutine and enjoy all the great beers ON TAP like St. Ambroise mmmmm.... Yeah i know a few Habs fans that are scratching their heads now , well i hate your NHL team but i love your city :)

Anyhow this is just the call out to put the team together so it is not set in stone , but i am already making plans . This will be an easy little 5-6 hour road trip , not sure if i will be going solo to this one ... so there might be room for you if you want to come . Yes you the one who can score a ton of goals or the one that will block shots for me .... well if its not you then don't bother , what i am saying is there might be space in the car . ECG Scanning is a class act team to play for , trust me if you want to come let me know and i will put you in touch with John .

Seems like i get invites to play out of town more than i do at home , kinda weird since this is pretty much the center of the hockey universe. Oh i know there are a few of you spitting on the screen now because i said that but don't be so jealous our hockey universe is big , all i'm saying is Toronto is the centre of it .... hope to see you pissed off hockey players in Montreal ...GO LEAFS.. oh yeah next season hasn't started yet :(

Land Of Smiles

Planning for my next big overseas tourney went into full swing this week . The Land Of Smiles Tournament is in Bangkok, Thailand from October 26-29 . This is a PARTY tournament , we are talking all nighters and then trying to play LOL ! Anybody that likes to travel for hockey tournaments has to go to this one at some point in their lives .

I have been trying to go to this tournament from the day i found out about it way back in 2005 ... Yes i have skated on the ice there but it was just a scrimmage with some locals and some of the Farangs . I have been invited by a few teams to go out there but have never been able to work things out since i have been taking long trips through Europe the last couple years .... this year i return to Asia.

Originally i thought Rainer was going to enter his team but it looks like he isn`t so we are in search for a team ...Today i was contacted by the Hackers run by Robert Holtet . We might have found a team .... if you read my blogs leading up to Hawaii you will know that i was officially on 4 rosters prior to gametime , 1)Augsburg team from Germany 2) Rejects team from Hawaii 3) PLT Hockey from San Diego and finally ECG Hockey from LA .... PLT basically joined with ECG to form team but went under ECG name gladly :) thanks again Tim and John.

So in a dream world we will all sign up for the Hackers ...all of us meaning Rainer , Tim , Vooch and myself and we can start planning our beach holiday for after the tourney . I know i WILL be going to KL before BKK to play some hockey with some Ghetto Malaysians ... practising with the Malaysian National Team would be a thrill ...

If you are interested in joining us to Bangkok let me know , i am pretty sure the Hackers will put in an A & C division team if they get enough skaters ... the more the merrier and trust me this is one you won`t want to miss ;)

Wishing My Friends a Good Time in Tachov :)

Yesterday in my blog i mentioned how the Hawaiian Tournament was lacking the social aspect . Please don't get me wrong the hockey was great and i did end up hanging out with a bunch of new friends from the ECG Scanning A & B teams , we travelled around in packs . Today one of the biggest social events ( tournaments) in the world starts , in Tachov !

One of my closest friends in the overseas hockey scene is Rainer , seen above about to get licked LOL! Rainer runs this spectacular tournament in Tachov which is in the Czech Republic right near the German border . It is a really beautiful little town , that comes to life when Rainer brings his hockey camps and tournaments there . This was what the rink manager Petr Vrana had told me over a few drinks in one of the local 24 hour bars.

It is a pretty amazing group of teams that i see scheduled to be playing there this year with alot of my friends, i am really hoping to see most if not all these teams i know there to make the experience that much better when i bring the Ghetto Blasters there for next years big tournament .  I see the Qatar Qanucks , Squali Cortina, Ice Devils from Finland, Island Monkeys and of course the Rainman All-Stars are all going to be there .... i can't even imagine how much madness will be going on at the disco there LOL . Hopefully there is enough Jaegermeister for Rainer ....

I am really jealous and i wish i was there with all of you , it is the ultimate experience partying with Kackvogel Rainer :) Good Luck to all of you , remember the winner is the one with the most memories forgotten !

Comparing Tournaments

A couple of the guys had asked me in Hawaii how this tournament stacks up with the others i have been to around the world... Tough question to answer. I have definitely never been pampered as much as i was by a team like i was with ECG Scanning Hockey Club. John Nasuti runs the team and he runs it well ... we are all fitted with hockey bags ( mine was custom made in Kitchener and flown directly to the hotel !) , we are also given golf shirts with our team logos , had beer and water in our dressing rooms for every game , pizza & beer party , and to top it all off a Catamaran Booze Cruise . So this was a definite hard question to answer ...

Obviously you would not want to tell someone that has given you all this stuff that this tournament is not as good as others , so i kinda beat around the bush . The truth is that this tournament was lacking the social element that most tournaments that i end up loving have . I don't think it is a fault of the organizers they are doing a great job and i have no complaints just suggestions.

What i think is that playing 1 game a day 4 days in a row kinda takes us away from the rink , which means we are not meeting other teams hanging around . Whenever i am at a tourney overseas i always have at least 2 games on the same day , and usually i end up hanging out with another team in the parking lot and making new friends with like interests ...HOCKEY ! Now all our games aside from the first day were early in the morning which meant most of us did not go out or go hard , when my games are at noon you usually will find me stumbling to my room before the sun comes up :) 

Also there was a bar there but it didn't seem to get much push and there were no events planned by the tournament like drink specials at certain clubs or bars . I know in other tourneys you will find this and basically you end up drinking with the guys you just had a battle against , i know in Singapore this lead to all the gambling on games LOL!

Bottom line is i would suggest to any of you to go to this tournament as long as you are over 30 . It is such a beautiful island and i DO plan to go back there again if my gracious teammates would have me as their keeper again . It really caught my attention when Kathleen asked me why everyone was so tame as she does know things can get a little crazy at these tournaments .

My next big trip is not until the end of October , unless i end up at the Las Vegas tournament . Until then i will be playing alot of Ghetto hockey , with a few tournaments in there as well . Andi will be visiting Toronto and playing some Ghetto hockey along with some surprise guests, there is bound to be one of you readers here someday ( soon hahaha) .... Looks like Malaysia to visit Gary , Eu Jin and the KL Cobras & Bangkok Tournament will be the time of my life , now i need to work and make some money :(

Mahalo Hawaii !

The Comic Strip

About a month ago i was approached by the editor of the Summit Magazine , Jennifer Lovegrove...she had told me that everyone was hoping to have my blog put into a comic strip and immediately i knew who to contact . Kalle Malloy is an amazing artist and has a wonderful blog full of art ( look him up at http://madmalloy.blogspot.com/  ) , Kalle and myself are former teammates and it was great teaming up with him to get this going ...thank you so much Kalle ! 

The comic strip ended up in the magazine and it seems to have gotten great reviews , and hopefully i can convince Kalle to do one for my Hawaii trip .... i don't want to pressure him , but if he says yes i would be happier than a pig in shit :)

Hope you all enjoy it ! Thanks also goes out to the GTHLA for giving us this opportunity to do this . Keep the Good Times rolling :)

Can't Win 'Em All

So my tournament in Toronto came to an abrupt end yesterday losing to our arch rivals Easy Company in our last round robin game being eliminated by the team we had beaten because they give out half a point for penalty free games .... disappointed is putting it lightly but what can i do . Still very tired from my jet lag due to travelling all the way from Hawaii (22 hours in transit ) , playing 10 hours after landing at 1 AM .... basically playing 3 games in 28 hours after that , totalling 7 games in 7 days with all the travel in between , today i will rest . I missed all the tournament festivities due to this , you can call me a pussy or say what you want ... let me know how it feels when you try it before passing judgement .

This tournament here in Toronto is an artists tournament . If you did not know my Ghetto Blasters team is full of people that work in the "arts" like in film, or music . Every team has to participate by performing a rink rock , live during a game . Brad Keller is a guitarist and Iain Grant is better known as DJ Standfast , this past weekend they performed a live set during a game ( Morningstars vs. Master Hunter) . Pretty much all our team was on hand to watch these 2 perform a very interesting set highlighted by a rockabilly version of Billy Gene , i am posting the video on Facebook :)

Like the title of this post says ...can't win 'em all . Well we didn't win as many games as we should/could have but this weekend i think we were all winners . It was fun and the competition was great , also all the free burgers at Neil's on Friday after our games were great . Thanks goes out to his better half Candace for being an awesome hostess .

Waiting to hear when our playoff game is this upcoming week ... we play Easy Company AGAIN !!! Now i am going to go have an early bbq with some friends , drink some FireRock Beer i brought back from Hawaii and hopefully enjoy a nice day out . Happy Easter to you all and Good Luck to all the teams that qualified for their respective championships this weekend ;)

Still Alive & Kicking

It's been crazy jumping time zones to play hockey this past week ... when i woke up yesterday i felt like shit . Basically went to bed at 2 AM woke up around 730 AM and had a game at 11 AM . When i got to the rink my teammates were trying to feed me coffee i looked so rough but i had already had a cup of Kona Coffee i brought back from Hawaii :)

Our first game was vs. Boom . We beat them in the championship game last year and i have had some great games personally against them , they are definitely a really good team ! As usual they came out gunning , not sure who the little waterbug they have on their team but he was buzzing us alot . Had to keep an eye on him the whole game . Ghettos jumped on them and we had a 2-0 lead going into second , Boom was outplaying us but i was on my game .... this did not mean it was anything close to over . Right off the bat in the second Boom tied it up a 2's and we pounce back on them pretty much immediately to go up 4-2 .... third period they looked a bit tired and we controlled the centre ice zone basically padding our lead to win 5-2 .

There are 2 games a day at this tournament so our next game was at 2 PM ... we had some laughs in the dressing room and then hung out mostly in the parking lot talking about our game . It was good to see all the guys having fun . Next opponent was Le National from Montreal ... they were champions from lower division which moved up a division this year . We knew they had beaten Sgt. Rock and that is something we have yet to do so they must be good .

Entering the ice i did not think much of them as they looked like an average team . It was weird , like we just were playing half assed or the other team had twice as much energy ? not sure , not trying to offend anyone by saying that either , what i mean to say is that they looked friggin determined . They peppered me ... i think they had more shots on me in the first period then we did on them the whole game . Well unfortunately i gave up a goal in the first period and held us in there as long as i could . The second goal came with under 2 mins left in game when i was pulled at a bad time , they scored an empty netter and then we gave up a shitter as everyone did their impressions of the statue of Liberty ... not happy but what can you do , we lost 3-0 .

Usually you could queue up the crazy insanity that follows , instead i decided to keep my cool and carry us into today with some positivity . For once i listened to the guys warning me not to freak out LOL ... you know who you are ! It was Neil's bday 2 days ago and Kellers bday yesterday , Neil had us all over to his place for a bbq . His fiancee' was a great host , i hit a wall .. no not physically . Basically i jammed a few beers and burgers into me and felt like i was going to pass out so i had to leave early . SO that being said i was asleep at 8 PM , my internal clock was telling me it was 2 AM and i woke up at 2:30 AM this morning meaning i missed the Hootenanny last night at the tournament :( , not sure if my body will get me to the Hoot tonight either .

I almost forgot to mention that Iain & Brad performed their Rink Rock during a very exciting game ... Iain was dj'ing with Brad rocking out on his guitar ! Pretty sure that is a first for this tournament ? It was entertaining ... Today we play Easy Company ... winner goes on to playoff later on . Wish me luck ;)

From One Tourney to Another

Got in late last night after a horrendous trip home .... well not all was bad . Bumped into Marc Hickox at the airport in LAX just before getting on flight . It was kinda a funny feeling telling him i have to board because i am in first class .... and yeah the seats on Air Canada in first class are AMAZING !!! They reclined into beds and you can only guess how my flight home was ZZZZZ...

When we arrived in Toronto i gave Marc a lift over towards my house which is only a streetcar ride home ... hope you didn't wait long Hickox , it was great bumping into you ! As usual i am up at a ridiculous time for another hockey game . Today the Hockey Summit of the Arts starts , the Ghetto Blasters are defending our Eh! Division Championships and it won't be a cake walk . Today we have 2 games ...BOOM this morning and Le National this afternoon with a big rival game tomorrow vs. Easy Company .

The weather here is such a complete 360 from Honolulu ...it was 0c when i arrived here in Toronto and 29c when i left Hawaii . I will keep you all posted with the weekends highlights ... sorry i didn't take many pics yesterday as i was quite wiped out from my 22 hours of being in transit .... 5 hours sleep . and 3.5 hours until gametime = PRICELESS

Hawaiian Champions

Championship game was bright and early at 8 AM ... the team that we were playing was Prime Evil (Alberta) . We played them in our first game and had won 7-2 . We knew they were going to come harder this time as they did alot of whining after losing the first time . Once the game began we all put our game faces on .

Now i have to let you all know i had a stacked team in front of me with 3 of the biggest defenseman i have ever been blessed with having in front of me . Dom , Paul and Martin St. Amour were my defense ... all over 245 lbs. , nobody had an easy path to the goal . Our forwards were awesome too with Vooch, Tim , Tanzer ,Matt, Jay , and Pineapple ( LOL ) . All the games up to this point were won by my teammates and i had little to do in helping . This game was going to be different!

We came out flat , the first period was really close . Prime Evil had a breakaway quite early that i stopped with a glove on the ice near the post :) , not too shortly after that we scored our first goal . A nice tip in ( i think ) .... Going into second period we had a 1-0 lead . Throughout the tournament we had avoided having the ice cleared between second and third periods because the rules say that the game has to be within 2 goals and we were determined to keep our streak in tact. After the second it was 3-0 ....

The third period was hectic and i had to make yet another breakaway save . We had to kill alot of penalties as we were all tired and the refs were calling everything . They broke my shutout with about 4 minutes left in the game but it did not bother me , i was determined to stay focused ! Almost immediately we went down the ice and scored again to bury them :) .... final was 4-1 ... ECG Scanning Hockey Club A Division Champions !!!!!

After the game i had to rush to my hotel to dry out my equipment and pack my bags. I hung around the hotel until 1 PM and checked out with my bags and left the car in the hotel parking lot .... shameless plug , check Aqua Hotels if you are ever in Hawaii ... best prices and service !!!! After i packed car Toby and myself went to our favorite bar in Honolulu , Legends . We grew to really like it there and had to have one last beer there and visit the regulars there .

We went for lunch at Duke's on the beach and then went to meet the rest of the gang at the Sheraton hotel to go to our banquet . The banquet was totally uneventful , basically said bye to the guys on the team and gave Terry a ride to the airport with us as he was on our plane .... thanks for pitching in on gas Terry !

The person above is my guardian angel , his name is Daniel Laplante ! Basically i am in LAX now confused lost and pissed off beyond belief ( again ) . When Toby and myself arrived here we knew he had to catch flight early and i had later flight . Toby is gone and next thing you know someone at the front desk here asks me to wait then they tell me i am being put onto another flight in a middle seat in Economy . I said i am Business , i was tired and have not slept in over a day now .... basically they failed to tell me my flight was delayed and were trying to move my bags . I said no unknowingly .... when i got to gate and checked about my bag the agent said i was on standby for another flight and my bags were going onto that plane . WELL i went to get onto that plane and they did not let me on ???? I am going to be really blunt about this so close your ears children .... the people working here for Air Canada must be inbred or something , WTF ! They won't confirm my seat and i couldn't even get into the Lounge ??? policies changed in the last week apparently , and the bitch at the front desk really was no help and turned her back on me ... right now i would love to hit her with a shovel or something ...... back to the pic above, Daniel saw me in disarray and came to the desk and said hi to me and pretended to be my friend to get me in :) yes what a great gesture . I wish i could buy him a beer but it is free in here HAHAHA.....

Anyways my flight is delayed by about 4 or 5 hours now and not scheduled at all for now ... so i am in limbo , i don't know when i will arrive and i will be lucky if my hockey equipment makes it with me . Next thing i am doing is filing a complaint as today is not exactly in line with the term customer service.... if you are playing in Summit Tournament this weekend then don't expect to see me at the Hootenanny , so tired . Hope all of you are having a better day then me .... i miss Hawaii !

Quiet Last Night in Hawaii

Woke up really early for another game .... picked up Andi and Vooch and headed to the rink . So far i can say that this tournament is pretty good aside from the awful hours that we have to play hockey . Usually at tourneys we play 2 or 3 games in one day , but for some reason at this one we play once a day at an ungodly hour . Sure we have the whole day after our games to do whatever as long as it does not mean getting loaded . Every night i was forced to turn in early so i could wake up at 5 AM like i just did today ... yes it sucks to be me LOL .

Yesterday we played a team called Kapakahi and we beat them 5-2 to go undefeated in round robin play .... Really we should have beaten them worse but their goalie stood on his head . I don't ever remember playing on such a dominant squad . I was lucky to have 10 shots on me , with one of them being a nice breakaway save :) After the game we headed back to the hotel .

It was Kathleen's last day in Hawaii so i took her out for lunch at Duke's which is a great bar on the ocean front with good food ! i would suggest it to anyone that comes here .... after our huge meal we decided to stroll around the beach together , then we went back to our room where she had to pack her bags and i had to get ready to go for my catamaran trip with my team . Hope you had fun here Kathleen ;) see you at the airport in Toronto Thursday night ...

The catamaran trip was fun and very boozy .... after the team decided to go to some fancy restaurant , when i got there i was happy but when i saw the menu i lost my appetite and left . Seafood , sushi , YUCK!  so i went to grab some food to bring back to my hotel room , which i hardly touched .... anyhow this morning i have to pack my bags up and get my gear together for our Championship game vs. Prime Evil .... they were the team that got the most shots on me so far , we beat them 7-2 but that can change in the blink of an eye in the game of hockey . Hoping for a great result to come home with ! wish me luck :)

Game 2 : Pearl Harbour

Another early day , this time it is for hockey . Game 2 was vs. Cutters .... kinda embarrassed by the first goal i let in as it was a softie . We were already up 1-0 and i guess i was being way too confident on a shoot in which i played lazily with one hand on the stick , didn't drop down to a knee to control it properly and i feel like an idiot because i shouldn't be doing this on ice surfaces i don't know too well . So yeah the puck hit my  stick and started to do an inward spin and kinda curled itself into the net .... yeah it was a shitty feeling seeing the puck spin in off my stick . Game is now tied 1-1 and i felt like a total heel .

Making up for my mistake was the main concern and not giving up any other goals any time soon . Cutters wanted to and they tried .... not even 5 minutes after the goal there was a breakaway , and yes i stopped it ! We skated down the ice and scored to make it 2-1 . It was a good game in the end as we went on to beat Cutters 5-2 , with the win we qualified for the Championship game on Wednesday as only 2 of the 4 teams in our division will go to final . This morning we play the team which has lost there games so it should not be too hard on the body .i hope.

After the game we decided to go to Pearl Harbour as it is only a 5 minute drive from the arena . Everyone should go pay their respects and learn more about history ! Some people i know gave me the ho hum stories about how boring it is but it isn't if you put it into perspective .

When we arrived there the parking lot was jam packed full of cars . I drove our vehicle around for a good 15 minutes looking for a spot and got one WAAAAY at the end of the lot . Andi , Vooch , Tim ( significant others ) and myself had a great day in the beautiful sun there . For $10 we got to go on a submarine and check out how people functioned on these underwater monsters . Not exactly the life for me as i did not see an ice rink there :)

After roaming around looking at memorial plaques trying to find Vooch's uncles name ( he died on the USS Arizona ) we got into line and waited to get on the ferry to go to the memorial grave site where over 1100 men are buried still to this day in their watery graves . It was an eery feeling knowing all these men were just below me all dead underwater .... i think it really struck a chord with Vooch and we all were very respectful towards his families loss .

When all was said and done we jumped into the rental car and drove back to our hotels . When i got back i ate and relaxed for a few hours then we headed out to our teammate Matt's house here for a team BBQ . Our team is actually 2 teams representing ECG Scanning . I am on the A team and there is a team in the B division , all great guys .... will have to do a writeup on our teams organizer John Nasuti as he has been over the top gracious .

We ended our evening early as we all have to play this morning , our game is at 830 AM and right now as i write this it is 620 AM so i should probably get ready to go kick some ass .... you can bet your bottom dollar i won't be playing any pucks in the lazy fashion i did yesterday ;)

Add Hawaii Officialy to List of Places Played

What a great day it was yesterday . When that light bulb went on at 430 AM and i saw Kathleen getting ready i decided to go to watch her do here Run Like A Diva 5 K run.  I have never went to watch people run around in a big group like this ... something like 2500 fitness freaks running around Honolulu . It was way too early but like i said most of them are freaks ... don't get me into it , LOL ! You honestly should have heard the announcer there i think she said WOO about 300 times and every time the crazy lady did it there was massive feedback HAHAHA.

We took a cab over to Ala Moana ( or whatever that area is near the mall ) and easily got one back. Once i arrived at the hotel room i contacted John only to find out that he went to scout the competition already . Knowing the other people at my hotel wanted to go for a cruise up to the North Shore i knocked on Andi & Toby's door and we went off ....first stop was the arena as it was on way north . We checked out the other A division game that was going on and then we got back on the road .

We pretty much drove aimlessly . Stopping randomly along the way to snap a few pics . The main place we really stopped at was Waimea Falls . It is a beautiful park with a waterfall in it ... honestly the $13 is a bit pricey to go walk through a park but i guess that is how it is ! I personally did not go into the water there as it was a glorified piss hole for children .... but it was beautiful . We stayed there for a good hour or longer , passing a lizard , a couple roosters and peacocks . The peacocks were absolutely magnificent . But this is not why i came to Hawaii , i came to play hockey !

We were hungry and everyone raved to me about stopping on the side of the roads to eat up in the North Shore ... well lets just say the people that told me must not know that i don't eat fish and every spot on the route was basically selling shrimp YUCK ! I was driving which meant our choice was McDonalds ;)

   I was getting kinda tired of driving as i had started the trek around 9 ish and we did not get back to our hotel until around 3 or so , which is when i shut it down and went to sleep .

I should have taken more pics at the rink and i will today ! When i woke up from my nap i got dressed and went to play our first game which was apparently vs. the team to beat . I THINK they are a bunch of firemen from Alberta with the team name Prime Evil . Finally i got to meet the rest of the team and see Tim & Vooch again , i met them both in Fussen, Germany this past year at yet another tournament . Pretty sure the other team had around 15 skaters to our 9 , but we had the better team . We beat them up pretty good with a 7-2 score :) i had the shutout until the 3rd period when i gave up a tip in goal that barely squeezed by me , followed closely by another nice goal that went off my blocker . The games here are long ! Periods are 20 minutes run time and there are 3 periods .... games take up most of 1.5 hours with flood between 2nd and 3rd periods . I don't want to say too much about what is going on as the tournament is continuing today and i don't want to jinx anything . It is almost 7 AM here now and we will be leaving for the arena in just over one hour for our second game which is vs. Cutters which i think is a local team ... game time 10 AM . Wish me luck ;)

Another Day in the Sunshine

What a beautiful day it was yesterday .... we started our day by going down to the Apple Store and Kathleen and i both bought Ipod Touch(es) . Great little machine .... Andi took off snorkeling and we did not see him until the evening while Toby slept , due to his soreness in the neck . It was a very chill day .

So so hot ... i had to go out and buy a ball cap as my forehead was taking a beating . Red as a lobster i got myself a University of Hawaii cap because i was planning to go to the ballgame ... well that didn't happen unfortunately . We had a team meet n' greet at the Sheraton Waikiki in John's 1200 sq. foot suite right on the ocean . Once we arrived we had planned to stay only for under an hour but we ended up getting talked into staying and missing the game ( sorry Tony ) . Tony is the guy we met at the bar that we were supposed to meet to go watch the game . We called you Tony ! And we even called the bar and they said you were not there ? Anyhow we'll probably see him again :)

Wine and beer and pizza overlooking the ocean with a bunch of hockey buddies was not a bad choice but i still would have liked to go watch that game which Hawaii won . Yeah i know it is late in the day back home but i have had a day full of activity today and now just have the time to write this as i am in my pre game downtime .... probably should cut this short and take a much deserved nap , i will fill you all in on today's events tomorrow morning before my second game. Tonight we play the Prime Evils ... lets see what they got !

Hawaii Is So Beautiful

Woke up yesterday after my first decent sleep and i felt good . While i was writing my blog yesterday i was checking my emails and there was an email from our team GM John ... he was wondering if we were here yet , i replied let him know that we were and about to go for a coffee . He invited us to join him and some of our teammates for breakfast ... knocked on Andi & Toby's door but it was not even 630  AM and they were both out cold still . So Kathleen and myself went out to go meet John and the gang at this great breakfast joint called Eggs & Stuff . It is a very popular place here ...

I had mentioned to John that the 4 of us were planning to go drive around the island and he was really into it so we came back to our rooms and made plans to rendezvous with our teammates . John has been here many times and was gracious enough to stop us at all the spots to get good pictures ....thanks John !

Obviously we were all thirsty and John led us over to this great little restaurant that made the craziest Mai Tai i have probably ever had .... 4 different kinds of rum :) yeah 4 oz. of booze, i was driving so i only had 2 LOL .. the place we went to was called Buzz's . Not really sure where we were on the island as i was just following John in our car , basically staring at his license plate most of the ride and seeing John wave us to look at certain things while we were driving .

After Buzz's we headed back to Waikiki to go watch some NHL playoff hockey .... this is when the fun begins ! Basically we went off to meet at John's room at the Sheraton Waikiki , he has this unbelievably large suite there unfortunately no hockey game could be caught on the tv there so we headed to a couple bars and surprisingly they were both jam packed with Canucks fans ... we wanted to watch the Ducks vs. Preds game . So we convinced John to join us back near our hotel at good ol ' Legends , this bar is not anything special but its starting to grow on me as i have been there every day so far .

When we got to the bar it was packed as well , mostly with guys here for the tournament . The refs were trashed as usual ( hahaha) ...it is almost customary that the refs are the guys leading the party charge . These guys were hilarious . The guy in the pic above with me is Tony ! Met him chilling at the bar , he's been living here for 4 months now and we made plans to meet at the bar today to go watch an NCAA baseball game . Should be a great time!

As the evening was ending due to being super drunk ... yes super drunk LOL! This guy comes in the bar and starts doing these cool tricks , kinda like Mysterion back in Toronto. This guys name was Alex .... when we decided to go we went to a food stand to get some food , pretty sure we both had Chicken Shawarmas and then went back to pass out ...today is gonna be another fun filled day ! Peace Out !

Facing Fears : Hawaii

So far i can tell you all that i love Hawaii :) the food , the weather , the people and atmosphere are all great . I am so happy to be here with Kathleen and 2 of my good buddies !!! Yesterday was amazing aside from my waking at 4 AM local time due to jetlag etc.... When we got up Kathleen and myself strolled over to Starbucks for coffees then came back to the room we shared with Toby ( now he is in room with Andi ) . When we woke Toby up we went for a really good breakfast .

After our meal which was so unbelievably filling we went on our " location scout " , just to see things and figure out what is where ... on our wander i was looking for a place to get some nice new kicks (shoes) and to check out an Ipod Touch , yes i am going to buy one shortly :) On our wander we came across some great deals on shoes but none of us really purchased anything aside from me grabbing a sew on patch of the Hawaiian flag for my hockey stick bag !

The weather was amazing yesterday and the sun was beating down on us ... this is my first trip that i decided not to bring a hat so the sun kinda got me abit yesterday LOL .... so we had to go pick up Andi at the airport as his flight came in around 130 PM , i drove there and had no problem finding my way but when we got there it was a tad confusing and we kept driving in circles looking for a good parking opportunity , then Toby suggested i reverse into an exit for a parking lot so i did . Toby jumped out ran across the street and Mr. undercover airport security came over with badge in hand and said " do you realize you made an illegal manoeuvre to enter a parking lot you should not be in " , my reply was " i am Canadian and lost sorry " somehow someway he bit it and i got away with my charm and even got directions from him and was also allowed to wait for Toby to come back .... hoping this is my one and only encounter with  THE LAW here .

Once we got Andi we hurried back to the hotel , and rushed down to Legends bar to watch some hockey .... yes i hate you Montreal Canadiens , i hate you with all my heart ! but regardless we had a good time and got a pint into us to start the day .... then we decided to pack my backpack full of ice and grab beers and coffee mugs and go down to the beach for some public intoxication ! Now i want you all to know that i am scared shitless of open water , this means no swimming in lakes , rivers  , seas or oceans . A few beers in and next thing you know i am dunking my head into the ocean ... honestly i was scared but i went through with it and survived . Now i can say i have swam in the ocean all be it not so far hahaha.

The sunset was amazing !!! Beer in coffee mug we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner , we ate at Chili's which i must say was amazingly fast service . Unfortunately at this point the sun and booze mixed up to make me so tired so i crashed at around 930 PM .

Just woke up , today's plan is to drive up to the North Shore and watch some surfing and eat at some good restaurants we have heard of from friends . Can't wait for this tournament to start , i am itching to get some ice ! 

Honolulu

What a long ass flight ! The Air Canada flight was great ... sat in first class , big seats, free meals , drinks flowing and then we got to LAX where it was just confusion multiplied by a million ! Getting off the plane there is no where to find out where to go to your connecting flight . Basically Toby and myself got off the plane and were lost with absolutely no help . So we asked everyone that looked like they belonged and pieced together that we had to go to a whole other terminal. LAX honestly from me to you - YOU SUCK !

Trying not to harp too much but when i got on my connecting flight after clearing security and all the other bs , i find out that my first class seat is so small ... no video screen in front and the plane was packed with children ( i hated everyone of you ) . well maybe not hated but i would have gladly pushed you out if i could have LOL . Either or being on that United flight made me feel like i was in the 80's as the planed was so outdated . There was actually a phone attached to my seat , yes believe it or not .....

Arriving in Hawaii instantly the heat slapped me in the face and i took off my hoodie and proceeded to the baggage claim . Picked up my bags and went to the Hertz desk to pick up my rental for the week ... ended up with an Impala ( not bad ) . Packed the car in and headed directly to Waikiki , which is where my hotel is . Driving in Hawaii is not that easy ...especially since half the streets are not marked , and it was dark to boot . A couple missed turns and a few u-turns and we were at the lobby of our hotel ...Aqua Aloha Surf & Spa , sounds posh ? cheap and cheerful ! Kathleen was waiting in our room , we dropped our bags and basically went out for a beer . Ended up at a Legends bar watching NHL hockey and hanging out as late as we could .....

Today i am up early as early can be , sitting in the foyer of the hotel in this muggy weather . Really humid ! In a few hours we will head back to the airport to pick up Andi Tanzer ... i think we should start calling him the Tanzmanian Devil LOL .

Hope you all are having a great weekend ... oops it is a Thursday for most of you but for me it is an extended Saturday , with jet lag and heat :)

Maple Leaf Lounge

Once again here i am in the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge alone.... Toby wasn't really into paying $15 to get in here so i came on my own . Since i am flying Business class i have free entry to the lounge , and i am about to take full advantage of it :)

Lineup to get through customs was crazy long ... and to make things worse David Miller was just behind us in the line . I must say he even smells like a scumbag , personally i am not a fan of politicians ( liars) . It was kinda better for me as usually my hockey bag is the center of every one's attention but with mr. politician around it kinda took all the attention away from my hockey bag .... there was one person though that asked how many bodies were in my bag , i said 2 and they are both dead HAHAHA!

So i have 4 more minutes and i can officially drink here in the lounge which gives me about 15 minutes to down as many beers as i can ... not sure if there is any scotch around ... might have to pull a hustle for some LOL . Toby is gonna meet me at the gate and hopefully we can convince them to let him up into first class with me ... i shaved , and i smell good ... not sure if the smile will cut it though , we'll have to find out soon enough . 2 minutes now until the booze flows legally here , off to fill up my first pint !!! Hawaii here i come ....

4 days until Hawaii :)

And the countdown brings me closer to take off date ... Yesterday i received the team itinerary and it looks good , we are going on a catamaran ride which i am a bit leary of as i am scared of open water . Only time you will find me anywhere near water is when it is frozen ! It will probably freak me out beyond all belief but i am gonna go through with it regardless ..... aside from this fear of mine the itinerary looks pretty safe :)

Today i have to go change some money to American dollars , hopefully i can find some around here . Apparently due to the rise of the Canadian dollar ( at the moment we are 1.04 to US $ ) there have been alot of people going out and changing there money . Fortunately for me i don't live in a super posh neighbourhood LOL ! Pretty sure that Andi Tanzer left Germany by now and is on his way to San Francisco ... have a safe flight , see you in Hawaii Andi :)

The last few days have been really hectic with work and i have not had any spare time to get on the ice . Today is actually my last day off before leaving so hopefully i can get enough stuff done today instead of waiting until the last minute :) My last icetime is tomorrow after work with a bunch of friends , should be alot of fun . For now i better get ready for a day of running around ... hopefully not in circles ;)

Hawaii : all is booked

Yesterday was filled with tons of researching and trying to maintain a happiness amongst 4 people is not easy .... For myself and Andi i know that we would have been happy to "sleep under the bridge " as Andi told me yesterday LOL ! Not too sure if Kathleen would like that ? I think Toby wants a pool to relax near since he is injured and not even bringing his equipment ..... Yes i did look up prices for the hostel there and no Kathleen was not interested in staying there HAHAHA . Kathleen and myself began looking for hotels the moment i found out we could not get a room for all the dates we required at the other hotel ( which i won't name ) . We basically needed somewhere with a pool , parking spot , and close in proximity to the rest of our teammates ..... we settled for the Aqua Aloha Surf & Spa http://www.aquaresorts.com/our-hotel/oahu-hotels/.... cheaper prices , has a pool , close to Waikiki beach and as Google Maps put it a 33 second drive to our teammates hotel .

Along with getting our hotel booked we also finalized our plans for transportation .... i looked around the internet scouring for a really really cheap place to rent a car , so much crap to go through . When booking a vehicle they always give you a price at the end which does not include Insurance ! So obviously i spent alot of time doing the math myself , which is such a pain .... at the end of it all i decided to just book with Hertz , it is at the airport and should be simple enough to get once i arrive in Honolulu. There are tons of dodgy websites for rent a wrecks , i was not really interested in giving my info online to any of them so i settled with the more popular rental places ....

I also received news on package #3 that was to be sent to me .... apparently John did not have a goalie bag on hand for me , so he is getting one custom made and sent to his hotel in Hawaii !!!! How amazing is that ? I need a bag too , and was actually planning to go buy one this weekend .... thinking i might just hold off and take my beaten up bag there to its final resting place where i will gladly toss it away in favour of a custom made bag :) hopefully it has wheels .... now i can chill out and count the days until i leave , 8 !

Being Picky

Travelling on a budget is not easy ... lets start it at that . Today waking up i check my email to find my hotel reservation for Hawaii . Unfortunately it is too expensive for my taste and not booked for all the dates i need . This is a problem ! With 1 week to go i now have to research to find a hotel in Honolulu for Andi,Toby,Kathleen and myself ...

Kinda hoping that Tim doesn't think any less of me but i just can't afford to pay $130 a night to stay in some posh hotel . We were told it was going to be $50 per person per night , this is not including the prime time Friday and Saturday night which the 4 of us will need + the days beforehand . At the moment i have not cancelled anything but have emailed the hotel ( hoping for a quick reply) , if anything i will get a calling card and call them around noon . With 1 week to go this kinda freaks me out not having a room to stay .... Yes $30 for a night does not seem like much but when you add it up it is and extra $240 for my stay , that is too much , way too much !

Hopefully Tim will understand and we can find somewhere else ... i highly doubt they will switch their hotel , but we are going to . Its gonna suck being in separate hotels then the rest of my team , and if i were travelling without Kathleen i would probably resort to staying in a hostel like my other trips . Today is gonna be stressful trying to find 2 rooms with under a week to go ....yes i am sure there are worse things to be doing on a Monday like working ... hahaha .... maybe if i was working i could afford the hotel i am booked to stay at .

Another Package Arrives ....

Yesterday i knew that at least one of the two packages i am excitedly waiting for would arrive and one did . Waiting for the mailman to knock on the door ( never happened) i decided to check the box . Opened it up and there was a package stuffed inside with some other crap . Grabbed it came up to my living room and looked at the label to find out who it is from ?

When i figured out it was from Stuart Girdler i knew what it was going to be but had no clue how it would look , so i tore into the oddly packed package .... was that a garbage bag Stuart ? LOL ! Once opened i saw that it was a golf t-shirt with Ice Hawks logo , Army logo , and my name and # on the back of it !!! Very classy touch , it will be part of my wardrobe in Hawaii .... i am going to try to bring as many hockey tshirts with me as possible . More than likely i will add some more to my collection while there , or at least i hope to .

So now 2 of the 3 packages i had been waiting for have arrived , both of them i knew the contents and both of them i thought would have arrived after this package i am waiting on from Los Angeles . The package from Los Angeles is sort of a mystery as it MIGHT include a shirt and a hockey bag with some other shwag as well ???? Guess i will have to wait to find out .... as of today i will be leaving in 11 days , next weekend i will visit my friend Luke Attard at Source for Sports to do my pre trip hockey shopping :) and hopefully get my gear washed too . I do need a new bag but i might just use the piece of crap i have now , if there is a bag in the package from LA and it is big enough then i will obviously use that ....more than likely it is a small bag if there is one at all . This mystery will hopefully unfold in the very near future .

Oh yeah one more thing .... HAHAHA yesterday i posted on Facebook that i broke my hand .... April Fools LOL !