Overseas Friends

Running a hockey team in Toronto and having a plethora of hockey friends is really cool ! Guys are always coming here to play hockey and we ( Ghetto Blasters ) always seem to have space for them to play . Obviously i never will invite 16 skaters , keeping it at a max of 15 ....at the moment we have 13 full time skaters , and around 5 subs . For some reason i seem to be always flirting with 10 skaters , this is where my friends from overseas come in !

Last summer was our first official season that we played , and starting the year we had 15 full timers (full team ) then we had to remove a couple and a couple quit :( ,going into the season i knew that Jack could not commit full time so in comes Andi Tanzer . Our first international official member of the Ghetto Blasters . Andi comes to Toronto for around 1 month every summer to play hockey as they close all rinks in Germany at this time and it gives Andi a good excuse to come watch some NHL hockey and Blue Jays baseball games . He will be returning this year , and we are looking forward to adding him onto our roster again !

At the end of the summer i got a message from one of my overseas friends letting me know that 2 Malaysian guys were coming over to practise here and were looking for a team to play with . It was hard for me to get them in for the summer as we were in playoffs ( roster freeze ) . So i got them in for our winter . I had never seen or met Yap Eu Jin or Gary Tan , but we have an open arms policy to internationals . I personally think it is a treat for myself and my teammates to play and get to meet these great people that love the same sport we do ( shedding tear , don't laugh ! LOL ) .

Gary Tan is the captain for the Malaysian National Hockey Team . Some of my friends in Kuala Lumpur had given me a heads up that Gary is a bit of a hotshot ;) .... i don't believe this. Gary has been nothing but gracious and has been very keen to pick up on the way we play hockey here . He has alot of skill and has shown it from day 1 , tomorrow is his last game with us and he will be missed as we have counted on him to score goals and play strong offensive hockey . I can't forget to mention Yap Eu Jin ( Eu Jin ) , who is also on the Malaysian National Team . Eu Jin plays defense and is actually quite tall , good in corners using his size . We can all tell he is having a tough time holding back with the contact as we play in a non contact league and internationally it is obviously contact .... or at least i think so ? ( leave a comment guys if it is not ) This weekend we will saying our goodbyes to these guys as they are heading over to the Asian Winter Games to compete for their national team .... good luck guys , and keep it Ghetto !

Alex Eberhardt celebrating with our championship trophy in Italy

Looking forward i am hearing rumours of a couple other German friends that might be joining us late in February . Alex Eberhardt who i played with on a championship team in Cortina d'Ampezzo,Italy this past September , he is an AMAZING defenseman and i will be super happy to put his name on our roster ! The bigger rumour for me is that my German brother Rainer Schmid might come as well , that will make things alot more fun ....i can't wait to introduce this guy to the Ghetto Blasters! Most of them will meet him in Tachov,Czech Republic in 2012 as he is the tournament organizer there .

If any of you readers are ever passing through Toronto and are looking for a team to skate with then contact me .