Adelaide to Auckland

It is now Thursday and I’m writing about Monday ... blogging during this trip has been tough but today I have some quiet time alone here in Dunedin so I’m gonna write a couple blog posts and try to get caught up . On Monday we woke up in Adelaide , Australia 🇦🇺 our flight to Auckland , New Zealand 🇳🇿 is around 1 pm or so and the Super Bowl is on so the plan is to get to the airport a bit early to watch the game . Personally I’m not too fussed over throwball since it’s become a soap opera of sport . When we got to the airport we cleared security and that was a mistake because in this international airport there was not a single bar or tv to watch the game on 😒 felt bad for Cam because he had his heart set on this and he puts a lot of effort into keeping us all together and having fun . There is a very good reason this man was recently inducted into the Beer League Hall of Fame ! He’s the man yo ! While we were experiencing the harsh reality of not watching the game a few of the stragglers fell behind and didn’t clear security and watched the game .... and we got the ribbing from the boys lol 😝 

Flight was not bad with Air New Zealand but there was no food offered to us as you have to pay extra and we didn’t and I felt like a second class citizen due to the lack of attention due to monetary circumstances but I did finally get someone’s attention a got a glass of water . That cold refreshing drink 😆 most of you are wondering what the plan from here on out is ? Well , when we arrive in Auckland we are heading straight to the Avondale Square Gardens as it is belovedly known as amongst the members of the Hockey House which is a beer league that Cam Green runs (had to toss his full name out there ) there are franchises and each franchise has a farm team . I’ve written about it before and have always wanted to experience playing in such an amazing league ! So I got my chance to play for BHL team Top Cheese BUT most of the guys can’t play so this team consisted of call ups from their farm team called Sauce so essentially I was playing with a much lower level squad then the team we would be playing . Let me roll back to our landing where Cams good buddy Ty Ireton showed up to pick us up at airport with Cams car driven all the way from Hamilton as they both live there and these two have a good relationship helping each other along the way . Ty is like this bohemian dude with a beard and never wears shoes and rocks the jogging pants like a uniform and from the little time I had to interact with him I realized he’s a really nice fella ... we get to the rink ! Ty is one the Sauce team and Cam is on the Top Cheese ... same franchise . Ty steps on ice and we step into the room to start dressing then we hear Ty broke his arm ! Fuck me it-was gross and looked like it was close to be a dangler 🤢 he was in pain and was close to passing out from it . This was an absolute freak accident where he just bumped into someone and it wasn’t intentional body contact or anything and his bone split and curled upwards . Shit was hectic , this is Cams boy so he had to take care of him and right away his first thought was to get him back to the hospital in Hamilton which is about 90 minute drive and that meant I would have to ditch the game and go also but they need a goalie ? Cam called the official stand by goalie and no answer so plans changed and he took Ty to the local walk in and I dressed ... the walk in called an ambulance and he was taken to a hospital out of the way in Auckland . By out of the way I mean in the opposite direction to Hamilton . And yes for those of you back in Toronto there is a Hamilton in New Zealand . Funnier thing is that Hamilton back home is near St. Catharines where Cam is from so he never really left home 😳 enough of my stupidness . 

So now it’s game time and my only hope apparently is that Justin Daigle lights up the opposition . Puck drops and I am almost sure the first shot was a shitter from a sharp angle that I just didn’t angle out well and they went up and never looked back . I didn’t realize that by end of first we were down 2-1 and I was starting to get into the rhythm and Justin left with a lower body injury ....Cam arrived and got dressed and if they both played the full game it might have been a better outcome but alas giving up all those break aways was never gonna win us a game and we went on to lose my debut in the BHL 9-3 😢 the losing streak continues on my road trip and I can’t buy a win and I have found ways to tab on more losses some how then I’ve ever done before .... I am in a desperate funk right now ....

Now back to Ty ... we had to go to the hospital to pick him up because when he gets released he has no way to get to Hamilton and he’s in a lot of pain . We arrived around 11 pm and first thing we asked when we found Ty ( who to me is a dead ringer for Phil Rea ) was can we take him to Hamilton hospital instead of waiting here all night and they told us he has been prioritized which is something like being told the cheque is in the mail .... yeah right ! Cam crashes in the room as we watched people with bad back and little cuts and coughs get seen and released and by 3 am he was moved to another room . When we got to the next room we started bitching and someone came over and had absolutely no info or answers and he was dumber then wood but through the bitching we assume he was then seen immediately as we are guessing they wanted to get rid of these big bastards making a commotion . They didn’t seem to understand that Cam has kids and he has to be back home .... if we had been able to take Ty to Hamilton at 11 pm we would have had him in hospital by 1 am and we could have went to sleep at Cams but instead money made the difference in keeping him there .... that’s what I am thinking 🤔 

When they brought Ty into the next room a nurse and two doctors had to hold him down as they really worked hard on his bones as they pulled and pushed and hearing Ty in such pain was hard for me to witness . Finally they sorted him and got him into a cast and we left around 8 am and we were all zonked out .... Cam started driving and we stopped at a roadside service station and I grabbed myself a flat white with some other food from McDonald’s and we drove off and Cam started to list a bit as he was driving very tired , I had an energy boost from the coffee and offered to drive and Cam was more then thankful that I could share the load . I drove for about an hour and got us out to Ty’s and we dropped him off before 10 am . Time for us to get to bed .... it’s now Tuesday and the day is pretty much a write off since we are going to bed after pulling an all nighter (without alcohol) ....