Stanley Cup Day '06
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.
7 comments:
Sweet! :-) Ya gotta love hockey!
I think I may love him. Hey, he's pretty cute!! Maybe I should start watching more hockey.
Also, you don't know how EXCITED I am to see a picture of a Canadian Mountie! I don't even know if that's how it's spelled, but I love it!
Yep Andrew Ladd is quite a guy...he played with my brother a bit, and he is also first cousins with the Bolans (ie Shane, Brenden, Ashley, Vince and Lesley) So they feel quite proud, as do I...the whole home town pride stuff I s'pose.
I think it's awesome that you get to see this stuff. I know you're like in heaven with the stanley cup right? has your cup runeth over? ha! lame sorry.
I am still not too big into Hockey, but I don't hate it either progress right?
time for a new post yo
Are you alive?
Yeah dude, post a new blog already...I'm supposed to be the neglecting one...
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