Running My Own Tournament

Last year i was sitting around with Chad ( Chip ) and we were talking about having a tourney between our friends teams ( Whales,Toros , Ghetto Blasters ) . So we ended up renting ice at McCormick Arena and began working on trying to get these teams out .... it never happened :( instead one of our teammates Bryce decided to put his own team together to play us in a 3 game series , which they swept us but we all had a ton of fun with lots of drinking and eating involved.

This year i decided to put some more work into this and get more teams . And we moved the date further into the summer June 24-26 ( fingers crossed that it won't rain ) . I was aiming to get 8 teams and i have booked enough ice to accommodate that amount of teams but unfortunately the defending champs Brockton HC aka the Brockton Bananas have pulled out along with the Juggernauts leaving us with 6 teams .

Any of you that read my blog should know that i like to drink and have a good time at tournaments and that is what i have been gearing this tournament to be ...basically a summer party tournament . BBQ across the street in Chips backyard , of course there will be beer :) , we have our sponsor bar booked ( The Midpoint ) with DJ's that are competing in our tournament performing all weekend .

This week i need to get my tshirts printed , and begin working on our tournament booklet ... the teams that will be competing and hopefully having a good time are all from our artist league here in Toronto ( GTHLA ) we are hoping to see our friends from Europe ( Rainman AllStars ) next year along with hopefully some other friends from overseas coming over here to play . I am pretty sure that we run the only summer tournament within walking distance of downtown bars !!! This could be a recipe for disaster , i know that i won't be making it home that weekend and plan on camping out at Chips across the street from the arena .

Can't forget to mention that the Ghetto Blasters will have some MORE German friends coming over to play for us in the tournament and in some of our summer league games . Andi Tanzer is coming back and bringing his friend Marcus Mooseder , we are hoping to get our name onto our trophy this year as it is always nice to win the tourney that you host .... my main goal is to make sure that the party keeps rolling at this tournament and to make sure that everyone has fun!

Apocalypse ?

So apparently the world is gonna end this weekend or some mumbo jumbo like that ... haven't posted anything here in a few days so i might as well post 1 more just in case :)

Past couple of weeks have been rough , been working alot , saving alot , and did i say working alot ? Aside from that crap i have been in a tiny rough patch on the hockey side of my life . Ghettos got knocked out of playoffs , on the bright side we went 2-1 at our last "tournament " and started summer off with a W . But as other seasons have begun there are always the pains of collecting money and having people quit or not show up , only making more work and pains for your favorite travelling goalie :(

This past week also had a team drop out of tournament due to lack of players AFTER i called them asked them to OK their schedule AND added an 8th team with the promise of paying up only to have them drop out .... so yeah i have to find a hockey team to play in our Ghetto Classic on June 24-26 or end up having to either 1) put another team together 2) drop a team 3) come up with some whack job schedule to accommodate everyone either or it looks like i will lose some money as i have learned over and over that breaking even when running a hockey team is almost impossible .... any sponsors interested in plastering your names across my jersey or buying your name before Ghetto Blasters please inquire !

At least i am starting to save up for my trip to Asia in October . Unfortunately today i found out that the team i was contemplating playing for at the Bangkok tournament is contemplating using 2 goalies . Not really my cup of tea so i opted out and am currently available to any team in need of a goalie at that tournament .... obviously i would prefer to play A division but will settle for some good times in exchange .... sorry Robert but i just can't leave this city to split hockey games with someone else , defeats the purpose .

Life goes on i guess , as long as that apocalypse thing doesn't occur ....

Ghetto Seasons

Can't get this sour taste out of my mouth .... we had yet another epic loss to arch rivals Easy Company . For some messed up reason we ended up playing these guys 9 times this season !!!! and we lost 8 of those matches , mostly by 1 goal . This past Saturday we had the chance to put that record to rest by knocking them out of the playoffs in our 3rd game of a best of 3 semifinal series ....but we didn't :(

We fought hard and went out swinging , Easy Company is one hell of a tough team to beat . Now you must be wondering how is it that we are still playing hockey . Well we play all year long with tournaments and a winter and summer season which we compete in . Unfortunately this winter season gets dragged out super long due to some odd scheduling .... so our winter season just ended last weekend ,this weekend we have a tournament to play in and the Tuesday following we begin our summer season !

Summer is in a different league and we play on Tuesdays rather than weekends . Most people that live in Toronto enjoy leaving the city on weekends to head north of the city to go to their cottages or for camping weekends . Weekend hockey in the summer is not often .... Last season we won the championship in the lowest division for summer so this year we have moved up a league , and we have strengthened the team . Hoping for some good results , as i said i have this sour taste in my mouth from losing in the semi finals for our winter league .

The only real summer event i have planned aside from leaving the city for some R&R is the Ghetto Classic which runs from June 24-26 , we are still looking for an 8th team .... if you are interested in entering a team please contact me by leaving a comment below . I should go hunt for some work now , so i can start saving for my next big trip .... and yes Andi i work ;)

Vegas Cancelled

Can't say i didn't think this would happen...

This tournament in Las Vegas is about 3 weeks away , really short notice to put a team together but we came close . It is really hard to organize travel teams ! With this amount of time it almost seemed impossible but i still have to thank Matt for giving his best effort to try to make it happen , hopefully we will find another tourney to go to at some point this summer . I was really looking forward to hanging out with Matt, Vooch , Schwanke and meeting some new friends at the same time .

My first effort to take a travel team to a tournament started about 6 months ago , the tournament i am planning to take a team to is Tachov . That is next April ! My plan is to get the guys hyped up and give them enough time to save ...at the moment i have 8 skaters + myself makes 9 which is all we can fit in the bus we are renting . The truth will come once i actually begin to see people booking flights , which i can almost guarantee will not be the 8 guys that have said they want to come .

There are people that say they want to go and there are people that go . There are not that many people that actually frequent these tournaments which makes it a huge challenge trying to convince people that say they want to go to go . Once you do end up going you probably will get hooked as i have never met a guy at a tournament that was not having fun !

Maybe i should wait to post this as i am getting some updates that we might add a couple skaters .... ahh whatever i am posting this . If anything changes it gives me reason to make another post LOL ..... hoping you are all having a great weekend ! cheers :)

Las Vegas or Bust ?

Looks like half the guys in the picture above will be going to Las Vegas for the Gambler Cup from May 27-30 , i am one of that half...

Matt Gilbertson is running this team , a resident of Hawaii ...this team will be called MGA Tsunami so expect to see a bunch of us in another picture with different jerseys . Along with myself and Matt will be superstar DJ Vooch and one of my favorite big bruising defensemen Paul Schwanke ,this is gonna be alot of fun . At the moment we have 7 skaters and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that we can get 3 more .

Right now i don't even have a flight booked , and in fact i am waiting to hear by Friday evening ( in Hawaii ) if we are in fact going or not . If the result is good then i will book my flight and begin to look for hotel rooms , kinda hoping not to lose my wallet on this little weekend warrior trip . This trip will be a solo adventure which i am sure will be better then The Hangover movie .... maybe i won't end up in a trunk :)

SO if any of you reading this are interested in coming to this tournament with us then let me know ... we are hoping to play in A or B division . Both sets of fingers crossed hoping we go , and i don't even gamble !

May

Not in the greatest of moods this morning ... last night we ( Ghetto Blasters) had a semi final game vs. our arch rivals and lost 2-6 . Deciding game is next weekend . Right now i am so glad that April is over ... Ghetto Blasters went 2-3 but it wasn't all bad for me ... i guess going to Hawaii and winning the championship there wasn't so bad ;) and yes i know i can't win all the time . Not to say i am not going to try ...

The other highlight of April was playing in the Summit , well not so much the hockey since we didn't do much . The camaraderie was great ! Iain and Brad performing a live Rink Rock set , going to Neil's for team bbq , that stuff really made the Summit a great event for us to attend . April just had to end the way it did :(

So i am on my way to McCormick Arena ...took Lakeshore all the way to the first entrance to the Ex which leads to Dufferin .... driving up Dufferin there are streetcar tracks and beside the tracks are these awful potholes ! Regardless to say i was on the tracks and obviously did not want to stay on them so i slid off the track into this mad insane pot hole ( which basically runs all the way to King Street ) . POP ! pulled car over , called Kathleen got the info for CAA ...called Iain Grant to get a ride to rink , lost our friggin game and went back to sit near car for an hour . It wasn't all bad , i got home in time to watch the last couple UFC fights online ....

The shitty part about blowing that tire out last night is that it is Sunday , Kathleen is running a marathon on the other side of the city ...can't drive that much on the dummy tire .... taxi = $70 !!!! Hopefully May will be better ? This month we should finish ( at some point ) our winter season , which runs ridiculously long and should be shortened . Summer hockey starts May 17 and we are in a charity tournament on May 13-14 , hoping May is better for the Ghetto Blasters and for the car ....