Stanley Cup Day '06

Canadians and Hockey. Go figure, eh?

Back in 2003, (I was turning 22) my Dad was doing a 3 month work thing in the Toronto area. I had some time off so I did a 4-day whirlwind tour of the Toronto area with my Dad. The Hockey Hall of Fame is in Toronto and we both went while I was there visiting him. It was my Dad's 3rd or 4th time at the Hall of Fame so he knew where everything was, including the replica Stanley Cup. That holy grail of Hockey displayed oh so proudly in this huge room with history all around it.

Andrew Ladd was only 17 when I first visited the replica cup in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Fast forward 3 years to when Andrew Ladd has now won the real Stanley Cup with his NHL team, the Carolina Hurricanes. And he brought it to our small corner of Canada, Maple Ridge, BC.


The Stanley Cup came to my neck of the woods this summer. Last Wednesday, August 23rd to be exact. After waiting in line for 2 and a half hours, I got my picture taken with it.

The RCMP member right beside me is my parent's neighbour. I grew up next to this guy and his family. Small town, right?

It's probably going to be the only time for a while that I'll be able to be that close to the real Stanley Cup. Not some replica bolted to a pedestal in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Canucks do what they can to win it, but somehow fall short every year.

Andrew Ladd is a pretty cool cat.
Before all the afternoon fanfare at the Bandstand in Maple Ridge, he brought the Cup to the kids in BC Children's Hospital. He also brought the Cup to Canuck Place Children's Hospice and visited with the kids there.
http://www.canuckplace.org/news_events/index.php?id=118&press=1&draw_column=2:2:2

He spent nearly 3 hours in the middle of town signing autographs for every kid that came up to him with cards, jerseys, pictures, and sticks. All this after spending an hour inside our local theater answering questions from ticket holding Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey Players.

Thank you, Andrew Ladd.

Summer Kids Club

Indiana Bones and the Sands of Time starts today. It's the most exciting week of the Summer at my church. I'm so so so so so so so so excited for it to start.

I get to be a leader this year. Last year I wasn't attending the church regularly, so I was just a helper. What a difference a year makes. Now I work at the church, and they've entrusted me to lead 20+ kids around for our version of Vacation Bible School.

This week is gonna rock the socks off of Summer.

I'll be there in a sec...

... Just give me another minute.

I've been working on this video for Church.

And I've been going to a lot of weddings.

And I'm going to the waterslides tomorrow.

And my Justice League DVD's aren't going to watch themselves.

It's the Summer of Mayhem folks, so you're just going to have to be patient.

Hey-Oh!

"It's the best game you can name"

I miss hockey.

The only downside to Summer is that there's no hockey on television.

I grew up watching hockey with my family, so we all really love it. We love watching it, we love criticizing it, we just can never get enough of it.

My Mom has season tickets to the Canucks that she shares with her friend. Of course, this is awesome because it means never having to try and get tickets to a sold-out season.

My Dad has collected hockey memorabilia since hockey first became a sport. He's always on eBay getting a program from some game in the 1930's that mentions some Uncle I never knew I had, but I know now.

Apparently I had quite a few hockey players in my family history. My Great Great Uncle Tony played for the New York Americans in 1936. They were an NHL team back in the 30's.
I'm also distantly related to the first goalie to ever play with a curved stick, Don McLeod. A not-so-famous first, but it was a big change in the way goalies played the game back in 1974. It took a few years to catch on, but these days a curved goalie stick is just 'the way of things'.
These days I have a cousin, Lance Monych, who played for the WHL team the Brandon Wheat Kings. He was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2002, but couldn't make it past training camp. He has gotten lost in the shuffle of minor league hockey right now, but I think he'll make it one day. He's only 23, so there's still time for him to make his mark.

Hockey is all over my hometown. Growing up, the hometown hero was Cam Neely, who played for the Vancouver Canucks in 1983-86. He was traded to the Boston Bruins where he finished his impressive career. They love him in Boston, but nobody who knows hockey here will ever forget that he grew up in Maple Ridge. We had an arena named after him.
Now we have another hometown hero. The one-time Vancouver Giant, Andrew Ladd. He played for the 2006 Stanley Cup winning Carolina Hurricanes. And apparently the Stanley Cup is supposed to be making it's way down our main street in some kind of parade celebrating this accomplishment. Every player on the 'Canes gets the cup for 24 hours, and it's coming to Maple Ridge, baby.

Hockey will never be unpopular in Canada. Even a fully cancelled NHL season didn't deter us Canadians from loving a sport we have come to call our own.

I miss hockey and I can't wait for the season to start.

I'm back

Blog Hiatus is officially over...







This is Me and Mike Bolt, the Keeper of the Stanley Cup. He's got the greatest job in the world, and I got to meet him this Summer at the NHL Entry Draft. If you look closely you can see the shadow of the Cup on the left. It was the real deal baby.