The Apocalypse

Apparently the world is going to end tomorrow , so today with my sore shoulder i am going to go out to the rink and get some ice time in .... i think if the world were to end the one place i would want to be is at the rink . If we are gonna die anyway i might as well go playing hockey :)

If it does come to fruition then i guess i would die kinda happy seeing and meeting all the great people i have met on my travels but i would not have seen the whole world and played hockey all over it thus leaving my legacy as a failed one .... i don't actually believe the world is ending tomorrow but just like everyone else i will humour myself thinking about it as it is a hot topic these days . I guess i would play drunk , i am guessing most of you reading would die drunk IF there were an apocalypse ... mainly those of you that i have been drunk with at one of those crazy hockey tournaments .... hmmm i wonder if there is an apocalypse tournament somewhere this weekend ???

So how is this all gonna end ? maybe this is a precursor to an end to the NHL lockout LOL ... probably not ! Seems that the world is coming to an end here in Toronto , usually at this time of year it is all hockey hockey hockey talk and right now everyone is talking about the Blue Jays . Yeah friggin baseball . *On a side note to all those coming for my tournament in June , it looks like going to a Blue Jays game might be a good idea , pending the apocalypse *

What do you think ? is it over ? are you planning to do something tomorrow to commemorate the end of all existence ? Is this gonna be a morning thing or is it an afternooner , do i have time for a nap ? Also is this on Australian time , because if it is then the world might end soon ... i better go pack my hockey bag just in case :P 

Cancelled Trip

Kinda disappointed ... i was planning to go visit Puerto Rico in a week , but i can't ! I am kinda stupid for even trying to book something at this time of year as it is time to pay the piper ... if you don't know i run a hockey club called the Ghetto Blasters in Toronto . At this time of year we have to finish our team payments and as a team organizer it is my duty to make sure we are all paid up OR i have to pay out of my pocket to cover guys that have not paid in full yet . I know you are wondering why and i had this chat with one of the guys that runs the league i play in and he said that if my team ever couldn't pay up and he had to take someone to court it would be me . Don't take it the wrong way he wasn't being a dick to me or anything it was a question i asked him before i decided to cancel the trip ... so with all that being said i had to cancel !

When i told Phillip ( my contact in Puerto Rico ) he was not too disappointed as the local government there is up to their old tricks again pissing him off to all belief . The first thing he said when i told him was its ok there is a Christmas Tree in the middle of the rink now , at this point i knew i made the right decision . Yeah in some countries it seems that local authorities don't know what they are doing with these rinks ... i am guessing it is going to be a big hit for pleasure skaters around this time of year ??? and i am sure if someone ends up tackling that tree i will be one of the first ones to see a picture of it LOL . i don't even doubt this happening ...

Onward and upward , i guess when i collect all this loot back from my team mates i can get my savings started for my big trip to South America . Still trying to get a solid answer from the friends i have made down there , the language barrier is pretty thick between us and i am pretty sure they rely mainly on translations online ... some don't seem to be getting good translations but regardless we are communicating which is amazing ! i have been trying to make contacts down there for quite some time with no replies ... and i am still trying to make a contact with someone in Montevideo , Uruguay ? i know there is a rink there , get me on it ! if its there and i can skate then i will come :)

At the moment i am dealing with teams from overseas that want to play in my tournament here June 21-23 , trying to figure out dates for this tournament in Ushuaia, Argentina and trying to get my team organized for an Easter Tournament ... just another average day for the Travelling Goalie .

Puerto Rico get that tree off the ice ! 

Last Day in Quebec

Woke up after a good night of drinking with Les Stingers , i was in Etienne/s basement ... rolled over looked at the clock and saw the time was 11 AM !!! we are supposed to be on the ice at 12:30 so i better get my stuff together . When i leave the room Michel is no longer passed out on the matress on the floor ... Michel is a former Montreal Canadiens draft pick , amazing guy ! good laughs :) check out his hockey db http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=29628 . I head upstairs and Michel and Etienne are chilling out and i then find out that it is actually 10 am and the clock had not been turned back LOL ... that makes me feel better as this morning we have our semi final match and i need all the energy i can muster up . Yesterday beat the hell out of me , 3 games in 1 day is tough ... playing the 3 teams we played was even tougher . 

We were short a skater because Vince got hurt in the first period of the first game :( yeah it sucked and i hope Vince is better ( i think he pulled his groin OUCH ! We have a guy named Patrick Groleau http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=33217 on our squad and he has a brother that played for the Montreal Canadiens named Frank http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=2044 it was only natural that we bring him out , the rules for the tournament state that players playing in the championship game must play at least 1 game before the final , this was the semi so he was allowed to play and would be eligible if we make the final ! 

Before we left for the rink we looked online to check times and found out our game was 1 hour later ! Etienne had to contact the guys to let them know that we had another hour of relaxing ... this was a good thing for all of us as i am sure we were all beat up pretty bad from the day/night before ! We chilled for another hour then headed to the rink ... when we get to the rink everyone is there and the stands seem a bit more full ! no i am not nervous about playing in front of crowds , it is actually more exciting with people in the stands :) 

 We had to play Les Agents Libres again , the team we played first and lost 8-3 to , that was yesterday and it was before i got into the pace of this hockey here ( fast ) i am sure they think they can smoke us but we also think we can do better then our first meeting . We started off well scoring in the first period taking the lead then they tied it up on a good goal which i had no chance on :( then we headed to the dressing room after first period with a tie ... i know i have to play above and beyond to get us this win and i was up for the challenge as i felt really good in the first period . The second period starts and i had a couple big breakaway saves to keep us in the match then there was a mix up in our zone and there was a pass across crease which was meant to be tapped in but i made a big toe save ... unfortunately the guy was alone and got the rebound and roofed it on me as i was sprawled out after making the initial save ... we ended the second period down 2-1 and the penalty parade began ...

There were 2 linesmen and 1 ref and somehow they missed a too many men on the ice call against the other team but for some strange reason in the 3rd period we got nailed for too many men ! Yeah a few of the guys were not please with the reffing and i could understand them all when i got to the bench , i told the guys to forget the refs and play our game . We missed some good opportunities in the first period and in the back of my mind i knew we should have been winning 3-1 after the first but at this point we were know down 2-1 at the end of the 2nd and the refs weren't helping ...

The third period was basically a penalty parade , it was honestly disgusting that refs were calling stuff that would not be considered penalties anywhere else in the world . We had to kill 2 five on three power plays , we killed the first one and we were hemmed in our zone for most of the third but we wouldn't give up ! mid way through the 3rd the other team got the puck to the point and a few guys screening me , one of them got lucky and tipped a puck that bounced in front of me and over my pads ... i was told this happened as i did not see a thing . They went up 3-1 and got a couple more power plays .... we battled but we were all dead from all the penalty kills we had to perform . Honestly we gave it our all and layed it all out on the line , with a couple minutes left in the game i was waved to the bench , we were killing a penalty and put our 5th skater back on the ice and gave them some pressure but couldn't get back into the game . yeah they ended up scoring an empty netter and eliminated us :( 

We all went back to the room feeling rough after the loss , i thanked all the guys for such a great experience ! i really wish i could have got us to the final , but the hockey gods were not on our side today . In the dressing room we all had a couple beers and i finally got to see some funny tricks that were performed by one of the guys whom i won't mention his name LOL ... with the invisible string he performed his penis tricks LOL ... i was hoping to see the other trick called the bomb HAHAHA it is a messy trick that has to be performed in the shower which part of me wanted to see but the other part didn't want to get into the way of the BOMB ! You are all wondering what the hell i am talking about ? Ok ... This guy gets his foreskin and pinches it really tight and takes a piss , then lets go of it and piss flies all over the place HAHAHA !!! with the invisible string the guy gets his penis half cocked , just a bit hard and then pretends to pull a string to make his penis dance around LOL ... yeah this was an interesting group of guys they made me laugh my ass off when they told me about this shit LOL ... i still laugh thinking about it ! 

I had no clue that we were going home right after the game , Alexandre told me lets go and i abruptly left after saying bye to the guys , we headed out to get some cheese curds to bring home . I had to bring home curds from the home of poutine , it does not get any better then this if you like poutine ! trust me ! The ride home was tiring for all of us heading back to Toronto ... i am so thankful that i was able to join these guys on this adventure and i hope to return to play with them again next year .. I want to thank Etienne for organizing this team and i have to thank Alexandre for bringing me there ... Les Stingers you guys are the best group of guys a goalie could ask to play for you guys all play with heart and you definitely earned my respect . 

PS- Les Agents Libres won the championship and apparently we have been told that their game against us in the semi was much more challenging then the final ... it is consolation knowing we could have won it if we made final , but in my heart i would love to try it again next year . 

Aurevoir mon freres . it was a pleasure competing with you all !