Still Smiling :)

An old hockey buddy of mine works for this huge , huge , huge charity tournament called the Scotiabank Pro AM for Alzheimers they aim to raise $2 million from this weekend tournament ... and i don't doubt they will . Rob Weir gave me a call a couple days ago to see if i would go skate in this promo for the tournament . Many of you know Rob from his work with Hockey 4 Heart , he is The Man when it comes to charity work ! I didn't know Rob was working with this tournament and i am sure for most of you that know Rob you didn't know either ....


Anyway he tells me they built a rink inside of Baycrest Hospital ?!?!? Really ??? Yeah they built a rink inside of a hospital , no friggin joke ! It is synthetic ice , very small pad and its to promote the tournament , there will be press and it will be fun .... and there will be NHL Alumni there too . Ok so i have the opportunity to kill a whole flock of birds with one stone :) I get to play on synthetic ice ( never did that before ) , inside a hospital ( really who has done that ?) and hold your breathe ... i get to skate with NHL Alumni including Marcel Dionne and Wendel Clark ??? COUNT ME IN !!!

I drove out there yesterday and as i was told i called Rob when i arrived at the Bathurst entrance dropped my gear and drove to the back of the hospital to park . The hospital is for patients with Alzheimers , the tournament is for undeniably a great cause and if anyone out there wants to make any donations or help out then check this website www.scotiabankproam.com/toronto/ . The rink they built was probably the smallest pad i have ever played on and when i arrived i met up with good buddies Craig Gagnon and Ron Fine ...Craig was there to help out and Ron was the other goalie ... we all go way back ! So we go in the room and Marcel Dionne is there being interviewed , he was so awesome ... i have to say i was giddy like a kid near him , 5th on the all time scoring list the guy is a LEGEND !!! and he carries himself like one , he spoke to everyone and was laughing and smiling the whole time . and i am the lucky one that gets to play hockey with him today WOO!!!

I got dressed and Marcel Dionne sat right beside me , yes i am still giddy about all this LOL ! and beside Marcel sat Dave McLlwain ... Ron sat on the other side and Craig stood around taking pics for us (thanks pal ! ) There was a bunch of introductions and we all sat in the room chatting about things , mostly us asking Marcel and the others questions about hockey and life ... Marcel is intent that we go visit his restaurant in Niagara Falls www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g154998-d2183695-r114711327-The_Blue_Line-Niagara_Falls_Ontario.html check it out if you are ever around there , great reviews ... i am probably going to drop in some day and hopefully talk him into going for a skate :)

As i said this was a charity game so it was NHL Alumni vs. Doctors . When we stepped on this synthetic ice nobody could skate on it ... yeah it is just like i thought , not ice LOL . regardless it was interesting and we all toughed our way through it . Ron had to play for the doctors so had more opportunities to get lit up by the NHL'ers , and yeah they all still have their hands . Denis Maruk , Mark Napier and Kevin Maguire were also there and man was it a treat to play with all of them ... i would love to see them with a real puck on real ice , yeah we used an orange puck so nobody would get hurt . Still somehow i managed to put one up high on Wendel Clark and i am pretty sure i pissed him off , and you wonder how i know this ? well after the puck hit him in the chest he turned around and rifled one at my head :) Yup what can i say i am a dumb ass LOL .... still managed to get an autograph from him ! i forgot to mention the superstar doctor that lit me up ... Bryan Muir i had a feeling you weren't a doctor LOL !

Pretty sure nobody kept score , everyone was a winner ! There were smiles all across the board , in fact i am still smiling ... i know everyone was there for Wendel Clark and yeah he is awesome , but i was really happy to meet Marcel .... we spoke quite a bit as all the media attention was for Wendel so we hung back and let me tell you , i hope that the kids coming into the NHL meet a guy like Marcel and figure out how to be professional . I got that autograph from Wendel Clark for my friend Phil , and i got an autograph from Marcel Dionne for myself ! Maybe someday i will get the picture below framed with Marcel's autograph ....

Thank you Rob Weir for such an unbelievable day , with such great experiences and ultimately for an amazing cause , i know you are aiming for $2 million but i hope you get 4 !!!! Keep up the great work :)