The Hockey News

Didn’t want to release any pics of the actual magazine out of respect to the publisher but I think at this point it’s been out long enough for you all to have gone out to get your own copies 😊 anyways I’m sitting on a plane flying to Houston now and I figured it’s time to share the story of how I ended up in one of the if not the biggest hockey magazines on the planet ... no offence to my friends at the Eishockey News in Germany but this is huge and something most of us have dreamt of as I did when I was a young man , I used to get the paperback delivered to my mom’s place back in the day and I never though I’d make it onto the pages of this magazine and then I met Ronnie Shuker who wrote this well written article about me . 

We first met in Ladakh, India where together we set a world record with a group of hockey players from around the globe , I travelled there with the Rainman Allstars but unfortunately never had the chance to play for them and as fate would have it I was asked to play for The Hockey Foundation team which was one of the two teams that played in the world record setting game for the highest altitude . To this day I still think it should have been a tournament since so many people from around the world travelled there to take part in this event but this is out of my control . Before settting the record we were approached by Ronnie who was there writing an article about the event for The Hockey News and he was intrigued with my story , it is kinda interesting isn’t it ? I guess he thought so , enough to stay in touch afterward and pitch the story ! During the world record game Ronnie went on to score the opening goal in our historic win and I was the goalie on that same winning side filled with friends ( and some others ) 😜

When I got back to Toronto I was contacted by Ronnie and we met for the first time at a cafe on Danforth in the east end of Toronto , he pulled out a recorder and we chatted for hours and caught up with each other . I had way too many cappuccinos and then we had to go our own ways but I felt as though I didn’t say the right things and I think Ronnie was looking for more also .... he pitched the story and was told to pit together a two page article and all I was praying for was that they didn’t spell my name wrong like they did in the first article where I was quoted as Adam Mizzi hahaha . We continued to stay in touch and planned another day out and I was itching to get him back on the ice but Ronnie doesn’t have his gear in tow like I do and has many projects on the go such as the one where he got to interview Phil Esposito which was interesting for me to hear about , apparently he is quite intimidating it and those of us that know of his lore from the days of the Summit Series should not be surprised . How cool is it that a guy interviewing these legends is interested in my story ? We planned to meet once again but this time at Cafe Diplomatico on College St. which is more central and again I drowned myself in cappuccinos before we went to grab some wings with Adam Sherlip who was the main organizer of the world record setting game where we met and I had a new friend tag along from out of town who happens to also be a hockey related author who recently wrote a book called Hockeywood and goes by the name Garret Oppenheim , he was driving around the continent selling his books at rinks and book fairs and I met and bought his book in the foyer of De la Salle Arena before one of my Ghetto Blaster games .... yes I’m being a bit long winded but for me it was an impromptu meeting of some respectable hockey people that combined played 0 NHL hockey games . Good conversation and some good wings washed down with some cheap beer made for a nice day out but again I left feeling as though there was more to share to contribute to this article . This is about me and could be the ultimate article about me so I want it to do me some justice and hopefully lead to some other fantastic opportunities.

So once again we planned to meet but this time at Fran’s which is an all day breakfast joint down the road from where Maple Leaf Gardens used to be , it’s just off Yonge St on College or Carlton whichever you wanna say as I’m almost sure the street changes names at or around Yonge . Ronnie was craving breakfast and I think I had a club sandwich and we started yapping away and by this time the comfort level was there and we didn’t record this conversation so there was no pressure to perform or say things or key phrases that I though in my dreams I should be saying just like my nhl heroes did coming off the ice between periods of the big game lol ! I know I’m so corny but put yourself in my position all giddy knowing I am being interviewed for an article in a maagazine I grew up bewildering . On this day I found out that The Hockey News wanted Ronnie to put together a 4 page story and it would be in the goalie edition ... boy oh boy was I pumped hearing that I could be in a magazine filled with stories about Fleury , Luongo and other great goalies .... I sat there wondering if they would peruse the magazine thinking who is this Travelling Goalie guy ? Hey who knows maybe they did .... maybe they didn’t but I’m sure just like any other Canadian boy there was a time in their lives where they looked in that magazine and dreamt of being there also .

When the magazine came out I had friends and family contacting me about it and it’s a well written article so I would like to thank Ronnie for his efforts event though I never got him on the ice with me I’m still hoping to drag him out at some point and I hope to meet up with him again for another adventure . Thank you Hockey News for making the dreams of a young boy come true !