Hockey Tournament in Nashville

The whole reason for our trip to Nashville was for me to play some rec-hockey.

Like usual we brought two teams down from Edmonton: The Ice Devils and the Ice Ninjas. I play on the crappier of the two teams: The Ice Ninjas.

We ended up winning a medal in the tourney beating the exact same team twice (our only 2 wins of the weekend). We're big deals!

Not bad considering the life we lived in "Smashville"

Bonus karaoke fun of Mitzy performing a Rolling Stones classic in the double wide trailer dive, Santa's Pub with a bride to be on her staggette. Beauty.

Ice Ninjas Charity Tournament 2015

For the fourth time in the last 5 years our Ice Ninjas hockey team has hosted a charity hockey tournament.

After taking a year off last year, due to our usual rink being refurbished, we came back with a few changes to our standard tournament structure: We moved rinks from New Sarepta to Josephburg, and changed our main charity from the Stollery to supporting research into Rett syndrome. Nothing against the Stollery (it's a great hospital) but one of our teammates has a special connection to Rett syndrome and as a relatively newly diagnosed disease it can use as much support in awareness and research as possible.

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by the loss of spoken language and hand use, coupled with the development of distinctive hand stereotypies.  This disorder is seen in infancy and occurs almost exclusively in females

The tournament ended up being quite a success with our team raising approximately $10,000 for charity.

For more information on the tournament this year and into the future click the following link.
http://iceninjascharitytournament.com/

Picture highlights from this years tourney below:

 Silent Auction Items:

Beer Pong

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50/50 Shoot-out Competition

Volunteers

Hockey

Looking pretty in my pink jersey

See everyone again next year!

Rec Hockey Tournament in Phoenix / Scottsdale

Each year my rec hockey team heads out to bring our middling hockey and advanced partying skills on the road. I don't always go every year, but when I can make it happen it's magical. In past posts I have documented Montreal, Chicago, and Las Vegas (no pictures!).

This year our extended group consisting of 2 teams and approximately 30 guys selected the Phoenix Cup in Scottsdale Arizona for this years tourney.  Below are some of the highlights. The lowlights will live in infamy through multiple re-telling in the dressing room.

Arizona Diamondbacks Game

My journey to Phoenix started with a 4am wakeup and over an hour long drive in the densest fog I have ever seen. Upon arriving at the airport I passed through all of the security checkpoints, which included a Grant Fuhr sighting, and arrived in the airport lounge for a much needed drink. Soon enough a couple of my teammates arrived and we settled in to wait out the fog and finally depart. 

After several aiport/airplane morning beers we arrived in Phoenix shortly before noon. With 5 guys and equipment traveling together we made the choice to load up a limo as opposed to multiple cabs. After an endless drive to the hotel and back downtown we arrived at the end of the 1st inning at Chase Field.

The Diamondback were starting the always entertaining Bronson Arroyo against SF Giants. I settled in with a beer and a dog to watch some ball.

As good as any game is I find it difficult to sit still for an extended amount of time. Eventually I wandered around to take in the sights including the pool in mid center field. 

Everywhere in the stadium I kept on running into other Canadians. With so many fellow countrymen in attendance it seemed almost fitting that Captain Canada himself, the mulleted wonder,  Ryan Smyth would make an appearance at the game.  After watching multiple groups of people approach him for a photo a couple of the guys made the ask for a picture and he generously acquiesced.

I snapped a picture and set up to take another one when another Oiler (Perron?) asked if I wanted to get in the picture. Without thinking and almost instantaneously I replied, "No thanks, I am a Redwings Fan". Smyth, gracious as always just looked at me like I was the world biggest asshole but he bit his tongue.

Final score of the ball game: 8-5 Giants.

Show and Shine

The people of Phoenix love their cars. With everything so spread out and with optimal driving conditions year round it is easy to see why. Apparently on the weekends there are multiple meet ups and show and shines of all the hot cars. While all were impressive I was truly stunned to see a Bugatti. But I guess if I had one I would show it off too.

Oilers Game

Included in our registration for the Phoenix Cup were tickets to a Coyotes game. As luck would have it for our Edmonton group, the Oilers were the nights opponent (explaining why Smyth was at the ball game). We upgraded our ticket from regular seats and packed our 30 guys into a concourse corporate box. The view of course was fantastic.

 Being a jerk who refuses to cheer for the Oilers I sported my 'original' Coyotes logo.

Final score of the hockey game: 3-2 Oilers in a Shootout

Old Town Scottsdale

A mere billion mile cab ride from our hotel was the premier tourist district of Scottsdale - The Old Town, a district of pretty fantastic restaurants and night clubs. Individually and collectively our team hit up the area on multiple nights where I enjoyed getting free Jagermeister poured down my gullet by living mannequins at Shotgun Betty's and some fine tex mex lounge food at Ricky's Taco's and Beer. But by far the most memorable place was Giligan's Bar which owns the term of best midget bar I have ever been to. My buddy Galen and I hit it up one night in between golf cart rides for some life size Connect 4, Jenga and the infamous Wheel of Booze. 

We spent $7 for 3 shooters and spun the wheel to see what we would drink.

I ended up with a shot that I didn't recognise and I waited patiently as the bartender headed to the kitchen to mix it. The bartender eventually came out with a thick orangish substance in the glass which I assumed was orange juice concentrate. He then poured some Jack Daniels into the glass and passed it on to me. Without thinking too much about it I picked it up and poured it down. Much to my surprise and disgust it turned out my drink was nothing but a raw egg mixed in with whiskey.

I held it down.

The Hockey Tourney

Both of our hockey teams fared pretty well in the tournament with both losing out in our respective championship games. Seems about right based on the nights before...

Hitting the Links

As any self respecting hockey team that loses out we took solace on the golf course. It seems weird that to escape the depressing and dusty landscape of early spring in Edmonton we ventured  to a lush desert setting. But, that is exactly what we did, and it was fantastic. Our foursome at the Ahwatukee Country Club decided to play scramble style and ended up doing pretty good with a score of around -9 over 18 holes. Pretty good for the first round of the year.

We even had a par 3 where we all hit the greens. I probably won't golf better all year.

Next Year?

While I enjoyed the trip down to Phoenix / Scottsdale I don't think I will vote to go back next year. I like hitting up a new city and prefer a more dense urban environment where I can explore on foot as opposed to multiple cab rides. But really, I'll go wherever as long it's with the same idiot hockey buddies.

Hockey Trip to Chicago - Cubs and Blackhawks

Americans love sports. They put us Canadians to shame when it comes to fanaticism and the overall attention that they pay to their collegiate and professional teams. It is because of this that every time I am in an American urban centre I try to attend a game of some sort. On this trip I was lucky enough to get in a Cubs and Blackhawks game.

Almost immediately after checking into our hotel I met up with our larger team to head out to the Cubs game. It was a rainy Thursday afternoon and I was so relieved that they were actually going to play (they were rained out the day before) I didn't properly dress for the occasion. After a quick ride on the train we were at the second oldest park in the MLB.

The slow starting Cubs were playing the World Champ Giants and I was excited to see one of my favorites up close: Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval. Our tickets were just past first base about 5 rows up. I thought they were pretty fantastic.

Pablo! Who is obviously comfortable on both sides of any plate. (Yes, that was a switch hitter fat joke...Heyo!) Seriously though, the guy is freaking huge.

The rain and snow were pretty cold so I made up for my earlier negligence by picking up a tuque and alternating between beers and hot chocolates for beverages. Obviously in the picture below the red nose is from the cold.

The Cubs started the game hot but it seemed an inevitability that they would lose. Living up to expectation the Giants overcame a 5 run deficit and ended up squeaking through with a win.

After some deep reflection on the loss we realized that we really didn't care either way and were in the mood to celebrate.

Pre Epic Slap Fight BFF's

The next night straight from our own games at the rink in Bensenville we headed to the United Center for my Detroit Redwings against the Blackhawks.

Our seats were way up in the nosebleed section where I firmly represented the winged wheel.

The atmosphere in the rink was absolutely crazy. The arena has long been know as the Madhouse on Madison and we fully experienced that right off the bat during the anthem. Everybody, and I mean everybody was cheering, clapping and yellsinging the Star Spangled Banner. It was something to take in. During the game every great play on the ice was acknowledged wildly by the crowd and multiple chants of "Lets Go Blackhawks" or "Detroit Sucks" reverberated through the building repeatedly. Many of the die-hard Oilers fans with me admitted that the atmosphere in the building matched the Stanley Cup finals in Edmonton a few years back. But this game was only just a Friday night game against a division rival. It was amazing.

The hockey on the ice was pretty stellar with a couple of lead changes, an overtime with only one whistle and  a shootout that went into extra shooters. The Blackhawks won 3-2 but my Wings managed to get a much needed point. It was the second best outcome I could hope for on the night.

Even now a couple weeks on I can't help but think how great watching a game at the United Center was. It's almost embarrassing to think that our American friends are better in rink hockey fans than us Canadians -  but it's true and its why I love watching games in the USA.

More on the Hockey Trip - Part 1 & Part 3