Packing For Road Trip

Good Morning World !

This morning i have to start getting ready for my trip to New York City . Really looking forward to this but today i have to get down to business .

My ride will pick me up at approximately 730 AM tomorrow and as of now i have not packed a single thing . Tomorrow we have to get to New Brunswick , New Jersey by 4 or 5 PM as we are going to an NCAA football game ... we will watch the Rutgers vs.North Carolina Central game , yes i know they are 2 power house teams we have all heard of LOL . Regardless we should try to get there to enjoy the pre game festivities ( tailgate party ) as it is the season opening game and it should be an insane atmosphere to experience .

Back to packing ... to make it there on time we will have to avoid stopping aside from gas stops . This means today i have to go shopping for some food to pack a cooler . Best bet is to make sandwiches and pack a bunch of waters in a cooler . I might up the anti and make cupcakes ... yes i fucking bake do you have a problem with that ??? HAHAHA ...actually it is the easy stuff , just mix and throw in oven so i actually really don't bake right ? whatever !

This weekend will be retarded , i hope my liver can hold out ...5 days of debauchery . I am not allowed to bring my gear so unfortunately no hockey but lots of travelling and sporting events / hip hop festival . Lots of pics to come , i will probably do a daily blog on my travel regardless of the lack of hockey :(

On a hockey note , i think i am in the worst slump of my life . Last night we lost 4-3 in a REALLY close match . 2 more minutes and we would have tied it up for sure ... alas the puck seemed to have eyes last night with 1 deflected by one of my defense man and 1 taking a funny bounce off my stick to go in . Regardless next week i am hoping for greener pastures . If we lose our summer season ends .

I should start packing :)

Working For Vacation

Good Morning ... 430 AM and i am awake on a Saturday with no reason to be awake . Now is a good time to write a blog ! Or sleep more ?

Last couple weeks there has not much to be written about ,  my team over here in Toronto is marred in a bad losing streak finding ways to lose seems to be the summer theme. But alas everyone makes the playoffs and the second season begins next week against a team that i know we can beat . That idea leaves me upbeat .

Winter season starts in a few weeks and the team is totally new . We are playing in a new winter league and i can't wait to begin . It has been alot of work adding skaters to the Ghetto Blaster roster but this is something that has to be done when guys start chickening out and dropping out to either play for far weaker teams or other lame excuses . You all know who you are ... pussies ! I don't have much to say about guys that don't respond or leave teams hanging and this year i have made sure to avoid them . Adding guys if people don't respond much to their dismay if they decided to play in the end . Last year i lost a substantial amount of money because of guys that bailed out after the season started , this year this will not happen .

Not much going on in the travelling to play hockey department aside from having some plans to go to a tournament in Estonia ( still not a for sure trip ) but there always is my trip to Czech Rep . in May ( which i will be at 100% ) . It has almost been a year now since my epic trip through Europe and obviously i am thinking about it more and more and miss all the friends i made while over there ... hopefully i will have an opportunity for a trip like that in the next year , we will have to wait and see .

Next week i am actually heading to NYC on a road trip with some friends .... NO HOCKEY EQUIPMENT ALLOWED :( i have been told to leave my gear home as we are going to have a fun filled 5 days of travelling stopping at a game in NJ ( Rutgers Football ) then the Toronto Blue Jays game vs. Yankees with a huge hip hop concert the day after ( Rock The Bells ) and the Pro Surf Tour in Long Island  on our last day of the trip ... sounds busy , probably wouldn't find the time to skate between all these events :)

Today i have shinny hockey with some of the Ghettos ... maybe i should try getting back to sleep .

1 Year Anniversary

It was a year ago that i started to write a blog . It was an idea that was put in my head on my Euro trip in 2008 ,,, i was at the Guinness Brewery in Dublin at the bar having my free pint and i met this guy and we just randomly began chatting , the place was packed . He asked me what i was doing in Dublin,Ireland and i told him i was visiting a friend and was there to play some hockey . He was blown away and immediately told me i should be writing a blog about this and it stuck in my head for quite some time .

Last year just before i left on my trip to Europe i decided i should write a blog and what better time to start it then before my trip so i could write a daily about what i am doing , who i am playing with and against and where along with some other crazy things that go on during my crazy ice hockey trips .

At first i began writing about my older stories , and i still have a bunch i never wrote about so someday if i slow down on my travels i will begin to share them ....obviously not the really crazy stories for all you guys that meet me ;) The past year has been fun writing about my trips and i will continue to write about anything related with travelling and hockey .

Travelling through Germany,Czech Rep., Finland, Austria,Italy,England,and going to Hawaii in the last year has been quite the slice of pie but i hope and wish to do more in the coming year ... i didn't win the lottery last night unfortunately so my dreams of leaving here in the next 24 hours will have to wait until the next lottery draw LOL ... hopefully i can get my gear out of country around the Christmas Holidays or else i might be waiting until April to really excite my readers ... yeah you !

Can't wait until my next trip ......have a great weekend and keep your head up :)

Am i alone ?

Just wanted to let you all know that i am not the only goalie travelling the world playing hockey .... Last night we ( Ghetto Blasters ) had a scrimmage and i invited Robert Gray out to be our other goalie .

Rob is a goalie that i met in Dubai .... i was there playing in their tournament with the Malta Pirates . We had a game vs. a team that wore yellow and unfortunately my team wore yellow , or actually they had other jerseys but they didn't have a goalie cut for me so i was stuck with yellow . Most time refs don't care but for some reason on this day they did and asked me to change my jersey . I was livid and took things harder then i shoulda ( goalies can be quite emotional ) .

I told the ref i didn't have another jersey and when i looked over to the benches i saw Rob waving his jersey around , so i skated over and he said i could borrow it but i had to make sure to keep it lucky LOL .

So at the time Rob was living in Dubai playing for the Mighty Camels and teaching , now he is back in Canada down near St. Catharines . I never had the chance to play against Rob so it was inevitable that i beg him to come out with us .... and let me tell you it was more satisfying hanging out with Rob then it was playing opposite him . He is just that good !

I know i had a great time sharing stories with Rob about travelling here and there . Rob has probably played in as many countries as i have and is not slowing down . Hopefully i can get him to come out again in the future as it is always a pleasure having these skaters/goalies out to skate with my team here .

wearing Rob's jersey in this pic

So if you are or were wondering at some point if i am the only one doing this here is your answer : NO . I just seem to be the only one writing about it . And also if you are wondering about last nights outcome ...it was a tie :) everyone was a winner !