Ghetto Classic 2011

Friday night the Ghetto Classic began ... our second annual event but really our first time running an actual tournament with more than 2 teams ! The Ghetto Blasters opened the tournament playing the Chart Attack Hack ... our only prior meeting led to a 3-3 tie and we were expecting this team to do much better as they had added a couple good skaters we know . Once the game started the result was going to look bad , we jumped all over them and ended up beating them 11-2 .

The second game of the evening was the real treat for me and my co-host Chad Dobbin ( Chip Dubois ) . It was the first game we had organized that was not a Ghetto Blaster game . It was probably the best game of the whole tournament as the Bloody Knuckles and The Animals fought hard for a 2-2 tie game . This was a 6 team tournament so on Friday there were only 2 games played , and then we went to The Midpoint to be entertained by DJ Standfast . That night the bar served up some Southern Fried Chicken and Chili Cheese Fries YUM ! Quite a few of us showed our faces at the bar and some of us got piss tank drunk .... one of us even slept behind a dumpster :)

I slept at Chips place, he lives directly across the street from the arena ( thanks bro ) . Unfortunately this was our last time holding an event and using Chips place as Ghetto central as he has to move in the next couple months :(

Day 2 started off great . Easy Company showed up and played their game and i was standing outside during their game when the Sgt. Rock guys showed up . The Juice showed up and i started to wonder how good they will be now that they are stacking their team .... then Jeff Marek shows up , he is with someone with a ginormous smile on his face . Going over to Jeff i ask him who is this ? He looks really familiar , and with that Jeff Marek smirk he answers that it is Brad May !!! First thing i said was MAYDAY ? He looks at me calmly and says yes . WOW .... unfortunately i did not hound him for a pic and he only showed up to play against my Ghetto Blasters . We were nervous , this guy had a great career in the NHL for years .

Basically what i figured was that the winner of this game wins our group and goes automatically to the semis . We wanted this game as we have never beaten Sgt. Rock , but they have Brad May .... once the game started we seemed to play off that energy , i can almost say that that was probably the best game we have ever played . We totally controlled them and went on to a convincing 6-3 win ....and we were all really happy for this . Now it is time to get smashed , thanks to our beer sponsors Mill St. & Labatt's courtesy of The Midpoint . There were about 11 cases of beer when the day started ... there was 0 when we headed to the bar at the end of the day ( around 9 pm ) . Every team one by one came by to the barbecue we held in Chips backyard and gobbled up all 120 hamburgers ... it truly was a great day ! Thanks to all the teams that showed up , but really still can't believe we had the chance to play Brad May :)

Semis were on Sunday at 10 & 11 AM . Chip woke me up at 9:15 and honestly i still have no clue how i made it back to Chips couch on Saturday night .... lets just say i was as drunk as i would have been if this was a tournament with Rainer LOL ! The match ups were Ghetto vs. Chart in rematch and Easy vs. Sgt. Rock . The Ghetto game was actually our teams 100th match which meant alot to me as an organizer . We went on to win 9-0 , i got a shutout AND an assist , i don't get many .... Easy Company manhandled Sgt. Rock and got themselves into the final against us . There was a 1 hour break between games and the rink staff gave us a double zamboni run to make the ice better , thanks goes out to them also ! Lets just say that the Final was not the fairy tale ending for the Ghetto Blasters , with the first goal being scored on by my d . We lost 5-2 but the main point was reached as everyone had a great time !

I have been hounded to do another tourney soon , but i think i should keep this to a once a year deal for now ... it is alot of work but it was totally worth it . CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Easy Company , great tourney !

Warmup

The zamboni has just finished clearing the ice . I step on go to grab the net and place it on its pegs , then i skate around to limber up and then place myself near the bench to do some stretches . After stretching i step into my domain ...The Crease

This is where most of you hockey players are lost . Do you all realize that most if not all goalies like to build their confidence during warm up ? Probably not ... seems like the majority think that at this time it is the perfect opportunity to light up your own goalie right ? Go top shelf a few times and make your goalie look shit ? Not a good idea kids ....

The warm up is for all of us , to get ready for the game to come . Now if you score like 15 goals on me picking corners then i am more than likely to be a little puck shy or to say fighting the puck . If you step up and just shoot pucks in my bread basket for 5 minutes then i am more likely to gain confidence and probably will end up having a better game :)

Don't take this as a rant , lately i have been asking guys to do this and they have been telling me that they never thought of it this way . It only makes sense that if i perceive in my mind that i can stop everything in warm up that i can do it in the game to follow whereas if i let everything in than my confidence might be a little shotty .... believe it or not if you guys all do this for your goalies it will help .

So the next time you are in a warm up try to hit the goalie instead of the water bottle .....

Ghetto Classic Merch

Today is the day ! In a couple hours i have to go pick up the Ghetto Classic tshirts that i ordered , very anxious to see how they look . The problem is that the logo looks great but sometimes does not come out so well on tshirts unless it is printed to be the right size and placed properly . Having been through a few disasters makes me anxious . Having dealt with the Merchguy before and not being disappointed makes me feel alot better , but you never know ... i seem to have the bad kind of luck :(

Also got awards for the team that wins , saw pictures but have yet to have them in hand . Pics look great and i have no doubt that the winning team will appreciate these . I never seem to understand that most tournaments don't give anything to the players when winning anymore . As someone that plays in alot of tournaments i can honestly say that there is a sense of feeling gypped when you win a championship and have nothing to show for it aside from your team getting some big trophy or getting a plaque with your team picture .... players like trophies plain and simple ! If you run a tournament and you want your players to be happy then give them trophies trust me :)

Since i am on the subject of trying to make players happy there is the stats issue . Yeah i know they don't matter in the whole scheme of life but there are some if not alot of players that want to see their names on a board with their stats . Obviously there will be stats collected for the Ghetto Classic ( wish i had a website for the tourney , project to work on for 2012 ) , with those stats we will determine the tournaments top forward, defense, and goalie . Lets be frank , without stats all you are playing is a glorified game of shinny . Some people don't get it , they probably never played hockey ......

Obviously stats will make players compete , and they will be competing for hardware . It all makes sense doesn't it ? so why don't other tourneys do this ? Not too sure but best bet is that they are being cheap .... now i am not knocking or mentioning any tourney names but maybe you should all take notice and step it up . Make the tourneys more fun !

If all of this does not work in making players/teams happy and wanting to come back then there is always the free booze and burgers :) The highlight of the weekend should be on Saturday when we invade Chips backyard for our tournament BBQ .... free beer makes everyone happier , the burgers should put this tournament on the map for next year . I can't wait until next weekend !

It Goes On ...

Yup, this week we got smoked ... i got so lit up i think i got a tan :( Sucks cause i know i could have done better . That is why i am so happy to see my German buddy Andi Tanzer coming from Germany , now i have someone to go play shinny with ALL THE TIME :)

Andi is not alone he is here with his friend Marcus Mooseder ( another good hockey player ) . Unfortunately Marcus was there playing for the Ghetto Blasters in the thumping we received this past week . Andi & Marcus are here for pretty much 1 thing only and that is to play hockey . Hopefully i will get them to have a few beers at the Ghetto Classic , but judging from the form that Marcus held at the Midpoint on Wednesday during the Stanley Cup Final i would say he is not so big on drinking . I kinda got shittered .... Rock N Roll quote from a coworker named Hunter aka Fubar .

Anyhoot tomorrow i am gonna meet up with ZE GERMANS to play some shinny out at Mississauga Iceland Arena .... usually there are a whole lotta skaters and goalies so hopefully it is not a waste of time for us , midweek shinny is a must as i have a couple days off , hoping some extra ice time will help me stop a puck or 2 more in my next game . That last one was a shit show , this weeks team is even better than the last so i better get ready . This time next week the Ghetto Classic will be in full swing ! So excited :)

Community Service?

Stupid enough to run a hockey team i have no clue why i am organizing a tournament LOL ! This past week has been getting busy work wise , in the jobs that i actually get paid for . Kinda has kept me from the organizing of hockey , but somehow i need to pay for all this stuff ...

In the last week i ordered trophies ( Paid For ) got my t-shirt order in (Paid For ) even though i am still waiting to see both and very anxious too since i have had some terrible product made for my team before . Wish i could remember that dirtballs name that sent me those piece of shit hats that i ended up giving away for free , when i remember i will make sure to post something about you ...scam artist !

Back on track :) the tournament is in 11 days , still have to collect more money , pay off the rest of the cash to arena and my refs & timekeepers and then i am done .... maybe , aww shit i have to make sure it runs smoothly too . Well that is where alcohol will come in handy !

*** Note to self : when walking into other teams dressing room make sure i have beer in hand ! ***

Did i ever mention to you that i am doing this all for free ? Some will call it charity work and for those of you that got in trouble when you were young it would be community service ... i am ghetto so community service it is ! I guess the best i can hope for now is that everyone has a good time , right ?

10 Countries I Would Love to Play In

Summer hockey is a quarter of the way into the season , work is keeping me busy and now it is time to start daydreaming about places that i really want to play in .

10) Mexico - There is an outdoor rink that is built there every New Year in the Plaza de la Constitucion !!! http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/article/mexico-wins-in-and-outdoor.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=231&cHash=6e70295b25

9) Puerto Rico  - Found out about the rink there a few years back now , and had a very interesting email exchange with one of the guys there basically asking if i liked stiff drinks and loose women LOL ...apparently you are more than welcomed there if you do ! Pretty sure there are 2 arenas there and they have hosted 1 if not more NHL exhibition games there .... i know for sure that 1 rink is right on the beach !http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/browse/3/article/will-ice-melt-on-puerto-rico.html?tx_ttnews%5BpS%5D=1220220000&tx_ttnews%5BpL%5D=2591999&tx_ttnews%5Barc%5D=1&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=187&cHash=394e90a0bd

8) South Africa & Namibia- Rainer and myself had spoken of doing this trip together someday , apparently there are a few arenas in S.A and Namibia is not too far off to travel to if i ever do have the opportunity to go down there . http://www.saicehockey.org.za/

7) Russia- Seriously how friggin crazy would that be , for me to go to Russia would definitely mean at least 1 tournament ... playing against probably some of the best hockey players in the world would be a treat !!! This one will probably happen in the next 5 years ... no need for any links i think no one is amazed that there is hockey in Russia LOL

6) Brazil- Its been a few years now that i have been trying to make contact with someone down there , just recently i was notified that there is ice down there as all i knew was speculation that there was and there is ...this and that really with no real answers , this would have to be the start of a long trip with other South Americans countries in the mix .

5) Greece- There was a moment this past year that i was actually planning to head out there after the tourney in Italy that i was hoping to go to , but i am not :( This trip is still on my mind with stops in Croatia,Serbia, Albania, Macedonia , i was planning to do it via train but the deterrent is dragging my bag around . Might be an expensive trip to do in the next couple years by car :)

4) Philippines- Damn i have been always intrigued with Philippine people , so friendly with such great food . Couple years ago i was sent an invite to bring a team there for a tournament , this year i think it was cancelled ...hopefully the opportunity will come around at some point to make my way there .

3) Slovenia- I was there ! Begged for hours to play , camped out behind the arena for a full day ... never got on the ice ... next time i will get on , next time ! Loboda you better get me on that ice before i lose my mind LOL it bothers me so much that i never got to play there as i watched others come and go there to play ...

2) Morocco- This is a trip that i would definitely do for New Years with Kathleen at some point in our lives ...

1) Malaysia- Kuala Lumpur is somewhere i have always wanted to go to ... hoping to head out there this year in October . The plan is to practise with the Malaysian National Team and to hopefully get in on some league games while i will be staying an elevator ride from the arena which is in the hotel i will hopefully be able to afford to stay at .

Don't get me wrong there are other places and trips i am still dreaming of like the one where i drive around the whole UK playing in Scotland,England and Wales , this list is of countries that i have never played in .... i would definitely give an honorable mention to playing in Australia and the Barcelona Tournament in Spain which i have always wanted to play in .....today it's raining here in Toronto , don't blame me for having the time to daydream ....