Hockey Night in Canada 
another adventrure
by Sebastien




As part of our summer holidays, Mommy and Daddy took me and Sacha to Toronto.  One of the fun things we did while we were there was to visit this big hockey museum called the "Hockey Hall of Fame".  Daddy told me that this is where they keep all of the important hockey stuff, and where the really good players get to be remembered after they are too old to keep playing hockey.  There was lost to see and do at this Hockey Museum.  One of the first things Daddy took us to do was to go see the "holy grail" of all hockey loving Canadian boys - the Stanley cup.

     

The Stanley Cup is a big trophy that is awarded to the best NHL team each year.  Every player on the winning team gets to have his name engraved on the cup.  Daddy tells me that my favourite team, the Montreal Canadiens, have won the Stanley Cup more than any other team.

Here we are with the Stanley Cup

     

   

We also looked at lots of other trophies in the museum.  Mommy was especially excited about the one for the rookie of the year that was given to her family's friend Andrew Raycroft (he's the goalie for the Boston Bruins).  I was excited to see that my hockey hero, Maurice "the rocket" Richard, has his own trophy.  It's given to the player that scores the most goals each year.

 
Here I am with the Rocket Richard's hall of fame plaque.

 
I also got to see some Maurice Richard's stuff
 like his old shirts and sticks.


Another neat thing we got to do was to visit a replica of the Canadiens (or as us locals like to call them - the Habs) dressing room.  It's made to look just like the one that they had in the old Montreal Forum.  While we were in there I even tried on some of the equipment.

   
... in the Habs dressing room.

I had lost of fun trying out the interactive hockey stuff too.  I got to shoot some pucks at some targets on a screen (I need to work on my aim).  After that I got to try and block shots from Wayne Gretzky and Marc Messier.


    
Here I am testing my hockey skills.


     
Me beating Daddy at a game of table top hockey.


Sacha seemed to also like his visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame.









Look at these neat goalie masks.
I liked their cool designs.

I got to see some shirts from when
Canada beat the Russians in 1974.
Another highlight was to see the golden one dollar coin (that we Canadians call a "loonie") that was hidden under centre ice at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics by a Canadian who was hired to make the ice at the hockey arena.  Its good luck helped both the Canadian men's and women's teams win gold at the Olympics.

     













...hoping some of the lucky loonie's
good luck rubs off on me


To finish off our day of hockey sightseeing, we had a nice meal at Wayne Grezky's restaurant.  Daddy tells me that Wayne Gretzky is the best hockey player ever.  At his restaurant, not only do they have tasty food, but you can also see some of his hockey souvenirs.

  
Would you believe that Wayne Gretzky's restaurant is located at "99" Blue Jay Way.

  
Checking out the hockey stuff at Wayne Gretzky's restaurant.

As you can see, we had a nice time during our day of checking out hockey stuff. 
I'll write again soon,