37 Rising Stars

Tampa Bay

2007-03-28T20:25:00.000-05:00

Tampa Bay

We had two weeks to get to Tampa from the Raleigh area, so we had planned on doing some sightseeing and taking our time getting to Florida for the remaining two games in our schedule. After another night's stay at the rink in Raleigh, we pulled up stakes and headed south. Our destination for the day was Wilmington NC. It was a pretty quiet drive down highway 40. North Carolina also seems to have the messiest highways I have seen in our travels. Along with the ordinary trash, there were chairs, coolers and lots of cooler lids with no coolers. Maybe they haven't done their spring clean up yet. It sure was messy. We stayed in another woodsy campground near Wilmington and enjoyed the warmer weather. After a great breakfast, it was a short drive to the border of South Carolina. The one thing I noticed immediately upon entering SC, was the palm trees. They seemed to appear out of nowhere and everything was so green and colourful. Myrtle Beach is just a short drive from the border of the Carolinas right on the coast. I have never been there before, so didn't know what to expect. It was very touristy, but mostly deserted at this time of year. I guess the golfers and tourists are mostly present in the fall and the spring. It was a cold day with the wind blowing in off the ocean when we were there, so I can see why there weren't many people around. We stayed at a local campground that was again like being in the woods. If there is one thing you can count on seeing when you are in the Carolinas, it is pine trees. I thought Northern Ontario had a lot of pine trees. So do North and South Carolina. Lots and lots of tall ones. There are also lots of living oak trees. They have leaves on them all year round. They shed constantly and are very messy. At every campground they seem to be cleaning up after them with leaf blowers. And very early in the morning too!!! We headed out in the morning for Charleston as our next stop. We travelled along the ocean highway and saw bits and pieces of the water. The area along the northern coastal area is The Grand Strand. There were a lot of bridges to cross when we got to the Charleston area, but we finally found our campground. It too was in a piney woods area in the north of the city. It was mostly quiet till after supper when we kept hearing gunfire. It came in regular rounds and we found out that we were quite near a firing range. That went on for a couple of hours and then it stopped. Ran out of ammunition I guess. After sleeping with one eye open we made our way to the southern coast area. Moonshine Madness on the radio kept us moving while we got ready to go in the morning. As we left the Charleston area, we passed some beautiful homes as we made our way back to Interstate 95. They were every colour imaginable. They were all surrounded by gorgeous trees and bushes. Some were just plain green, but some were flowering. And most of the trees had Spanish moss hanging from them. It looked so wispy and airy. I read in a travel brochure that there is an old tale about why Spanish moss hangs from the trees, that has to do with a young couple. They were travelling under a banner of trees when they were attacked and murdered on the spot. The locals cut the young woman's hair and hung it from the trees where they both died. Spanish moss grows and hangs like hair from the trees in their memory. An interesting old tale indeed. We were now on our way to Hilton Head, where we planned on staying for a few days. The campground we stayed at was indeed one of the nicest we have been to. I would say it is at the top of the list for me. It was a well established campground with many of the lots being owned by the campers. Much like a condo, only with a RV. The landscaping and maintenance of the grounds was beautiful. There were palm trees mixed in with the living oaks and pine trees. Baskets and beds overflowed with lots of colourful flowers, so it was my kind of place. It made me anxious to get home and work in my own gardens. We had dinner with the Ferriers and the Mansers from good old Elmira on two nights while we were at Hilton Head. It was nice to see some people from back home. The grounds were indeed beautiful, but to maintain them they had the leaf blowers running about six hours a day. I grew weary of that noise after the first day. We rented bicycles for three days and did some major biking. For us anyway. There are bike paths to follow everywhere on the island and the main highway loop in the centre of the island has a bike path going beside it the entire way around. We biked for two or three hours everyday and it was a nice way to get around. We even biked several miles on the beach one afternoon. We haven't had a car available to us when we are stopped and camped, so we have to make sure we get our supplies before we make camp or walk when possible. It was nice to bike to the store and do a bit of shopping. We left Hilton Head and the leaf blowers behind and made our way south to Florida. It was the warmest day of our stay here. When we left later in the morning the mercury had already risen to 76F. The warmer weather was now beckoning. We went as far as Jacksonville and camped at a place right by the highway. It too was very woodsy and had a small outdoor restaurant that served barbeque. There was a huge meat smoker going right beside the screened eating area. Lots of locals came for their barbeque. That is one term I have found funny as we have travelled in the southern U.S. At home where we live, you barbeque your food. And you cook it on the barbeque. In the south, you grill your food and you eat barbeque. Every restaurant has claims to having the best barbeque around. And some of them do. We have had some good barbeque!! The next morning it was back on the highway as we planned on getting to the Orlando area by the afternoon. Today is February 23rd, which is Dan's birthday. It seems fitting that we arrived in Orlando where he played for two hockey seasons and won a Turner Cup championship, on this his birthday. It didn't make the day sting as much. For me, he felt close. We camped in the Disney area and met up with some of the Snyder family while there. Jeff, Jacky, Blaire and Nicole were starting a holiday in the Orlando area and we spent two days with them. Finally, we made our way to the Tampa area. We found a place to stay just near Busch Gardens that conveniently had a huge weekend flea market across the highway. It also just happened to be Sunday, so that made for a good way to pass the afternoon. Also, as luck would have it, there was a shooting range (inside a small trailer) right beside the flea market, and we got to listen to gunfire for the evening again. I guess we are in the south. Guns and Barbeque instead of Guns and Roses. Finally on the 27th we made our way to the St. Pete Times Forum, which is where the Tampa Bay Lightening play. The team arranged for us to stay behind the rink at the loading dock for the night after the game. Graham attended the game day skate and I explored the shops on the waterfront. A good deal as far as I was concerned. Game time soon approached and the Lightning had their hands full with the Dallas Stars. During the first period intermission, Executive Vice President and General Manager Jay Feaster and Community Relations Director Nancy Crane presented us with a cheque for the Dan Snyder Memorial Foundation in the amount of $3500.00. They made the presentation on the Lightning bench and we were very grateful for their generosity. We also had a nice surprise cheque from Russ and Lorraine Snyder. Lorraine found us in the concourse level at the Tampa arena and we then met Russ. They met Dan when he played his first year in Orlando. They introduced themselves at the beginning of that season and Dan said it would be nice to have "family" at the games. They went to see him when he played his first game in Atlanta. He signed their "Snyder" jersey for them. When Dan passed away, they also sent us his jersey from his first year in Orlando. They bid on it at the end of the year and had Dan sign it for them. It was ripped and sewed in a couple of places and had a lot of holes in it. Russ said that it looked just like the way Dan played. Rough and tumble. It was very generous of them to send it to us and is a treasured keepsake for our family. Their donation to Dan's Memorial Foundation was much appreciated and again they showed us their generosity. The amount reflected the numbers he wore. $1519.37. Very symbolic numbers indeed. Thank you Russ and Lorraine. It was nice to finally meet you. The game went to overtime with the Stars coming out on top by a final score of 2-1. That makes our record 18 wins and 11 losses for the home team. This is stop number 29. One more stop to go. It seems like yesterday that it was stop one with 29 to go. The time has passed quickly. I must say though, the warm weather makes the winter go much faster. It just doesn't seem to work that way in the cold north! Miami and the Florida Panthers, here we come.

Graham's Game Report

Feb 27, 2007
St. Pete Times Forum
Dallas Stars vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

This game featured two teams who have been playing well lately. As expected it was a close game decided in overtime by recently acquired Ladislav Nagy of the Stars. It was a tense day around the rink today as teams made a multitude of moves on deadline day. The sight of a player heading out of the rink with a hockey bag and sticks slung over his shoulder just a few hours before the game was a reminder how little control players have over their careers and how it changes a family's dynamic in the blink of an eye.
The Stars got off to a quick start and controlled play for long stretches of time even though the game remained scoreless past the halfway point in the match. Jere Lehtinen notched a powerplay marker to break the goosegg but Brad Richards broke loose on a shorthanded breakaway late in the second period and put a slick move on Marty Turco to tie the score. After a scoreless third period with strong goaltending at both ends the above mentioned Nagy quieted the boisterous home fans for the ony time all night. We were pleasantly surprised by the strong support the Lightning receive in a city not recognized as a hockey hotbed. The Cup win I'm sure is a factor but it feels like the Bolts have found a home in Tampa.
It hardly seems possible but we head south to Miami now to see our 30th NHL rink. An amazing journey it's been but we seem to be running out of road.

Raleigh

2007-03-11T20:08:00.000-05:00

Raleigh
Weekly travel

It was a quick trip home for 48 hours and it was time to head back to the RV in Atlanta. We were able to have a visit with family and friends and of course with my crazy little Robbie man. The dog that never stops entertaining. I can still hardly believe we are finished with the northeast part of the tour. It was a very fast and furious pace and we are both looking forward to slowing it down a bit when we get back to travelling in the RV. We both missed the RV. It is a really neat way to travel. Everything you need is with you. And you don't have to lug your suitcase in and out of a hotel every day. Yes, it will be nice to slow down a bit. We arrived back in Atlanta on February 5 by mid afternoon and by supper time had picked up the RV and were settled at an RV campground. We had been at the same place before Christmas, so we didn't have to go looking for a site. It was nice to attend another Thrasher's game on the 6th and visit with special friends Michele and Scott. We also made a visit to the Children's Outpatient Clinic at Emory Hospital. We were invited to read to some children at an afternoon clinic. Some were waiting to go in for appointments and some of the kids were siblings. A special thank you to Sarah, Brook, and Kris for arranging our visit. The children come to the clinic for any number of different treatments related to their illness. I was honoured to be a guest reader and they were good listeners, and seemed to enjoy hearing the Robert Munsch story, Thomas' Snowsuit. It was always a favourite bedtime story at our house. It was especially memorable for me because Dan had a brown snowsuit and he, like Thomas, did not like to wear it. We had many a struggle getting that brown snowsuit on. It was always a joke at our house over the years. We finished up with a rousing game of red light green light. We stayed in Atlanta for three days and then made our way towards Raleigh for the next game. The Hurricanes are the only team we have yet to see on our travels. Some teams we have watched three or more times, but we haven't yet crossed paths with the Hurricanes. We were finally able to travel at a more leisurely pace. It is about a 5 to 6 hour drive from Atlanta to Raleigh. We took four days to get there! An hour or so a day. That wasn't too bad. Along the way we got to stop here and there and see some of the Carolinas. We drove through the upper northwest part of South Carolina on the interstate to get to North Carolina. We made our first stop near Anderson. We were at a campground out in the woods. Way out in the woods. We went into town the next day and found a couple points of interest. One of them for me was a home and garden show. It was in the local Civic Centre and was obviously a well attended event. We got free tickets at the local visitor information centre. There were some interesting exhibits and we managed to come away with some amazing wire strippers, much to Graham's dismay (doesn't everyone need some wire strippers) for a mere twenty dollars. A good buy I thought. Then there was the magic indoor stovetop bbq. They were two for the price of one, so what the heck, we got two. And believe it or not, it works great. We drove for a bit and stopped at an out of the way flea market. Now that was interesting to say the least. It was a fairly large flea market and there was a good cross section of merchandise available. Depends on what you are looking for I guess. We drove on to Charlotte and stayed at one our more interesting spots. We were at the Lowe's Nascar Speedway RV Park. It is directly beside the Racetrack at Concord NC. It was of course pretty empty at this time of year, but it was neat to see the track where one of Nascar's main races takes place. The park has over 400 sites and on a race weekend, forget about getting in unless you reserve in advance. The Carolinas are the largest producers of furniture for North America. We saw lots and lots of furniture stores featuring locally made products. Just northwest of Charlotte is the town of Hickory which is a large furniture producing area. By now it was our third day on the road and we stopped just outside of Raleigh-Durham at Chapel Hill. This area has a large grouping of universities and colleges. Duke, Wake Forest, UNC and NC State are just a few. The sporting rivalries are very intense with their close proximity to each other. We arrived at Raleigh the day before the game and Graham attended the practice. They were well prepared for our arrival and had a spot for us to hook up to in the arena parking lot. Raleigh also has one of the best ice makers in the league. Donny the ice man. He conveniently lives behind the arena in the loading dock area in a RV. Hard to get away from your job though. Best of all he drives an Elmira made Olympia ice machine. Check out the pictures in the picture blog. That evening we were invited to speak to the Canes Booster Club and enjoyed talking to one and all. They also gave us a very generous donation to the Memorial Foundation for which we are very grateful. We attended the game on Tuesday the 13th of February. The Canes improved our winning streak to 18 and 10 with their 2-1 victory over the L.A. Kings. It's getting close to the end. This is game number 28 for us. Two more to go.

Graham's Game Report

Feb 13, 2007
RBC Center
Los Angeles Kings vs. Carolina Hurricanes

The Southeast Conference has produced the last two Stanley Cup Champions and tonight we saw the defending champs. Just as Tampa Bay did last year, the Hurricanes have struggled with consistency this year. They currently hold down the eighth and final playoff spot and this game was one they needed to maintain their standing. The Kings are playing out the string with no real hope for a playoff spot but they hung tough tonight. The Canes struck first on a goal by their leading scorer Ray Whitney. L.A. answered back halfway through the second to tie it but less than three minutes later ex-Owen Sound Plater and Cambridge WinterHawk Scott Walker notched the winner for a 2-1 Carolina victory. Ironically Walker was assisted on the goal by former Sault Greyhound, Josef Vasicek who had been traded to Nashville for Walker in an off season trade and just last week was dealt back to the Hurricanes. You really never know who you might be playing with when the trade wheel starts spinning in the NHL. It should be an interesting couple of weeks leading up to the trade deadline on Feb 27. The Canes will be a force I'm sure but it looks to be a dogfight for the last few spots in the east.

Detroit

2007-02-28T19:10:00.000-05:00

Detroit

It was another quick drive and we were in Detroit before we knew it. We stayed for one night in the suburbs of Dearborn Michigan. Nearby is the Henry Ford Museum. I remember going there with my family as a kid. Now that was a couple of years ago for sure. We drove into the city the day before the game and Graham attended the Wings practice. I got a much needed car wash for the Escapee. It was black with dirt from the snow storm in West Virginia. I went back to pick up Graham and was invited in for the team's monthly barbeque lunch. Ann Marie, their PR Manager, arranges for a barbeque luncheon once a month after practice. She said no one misses that one. And I can see why. What a spread. If you went hungry, it was your own fault. It was fun sitting and having lunch with some of the players. Dominic Hasek sat with us as did Tomas Holmstrom and coach Mike Babcock. They we great hosts and asked lots of questions about our tour. Coach Babcock remembered Dan well from the AHL when he coached against the Chicago Wolves and said he always admired his competitive spirit and tenacity. After lunch we met Steve Yzerman and had a chat with him also. We talked about his new position with Team Canada and he said he was excited about getting started. He'll do a fine job I'm sure. We were fortunate again to stay at a hotel right near the Joe Louis Arena. Our room faced the Detroit River and it was neat looking across to Windsor and thinking that we would be driving there tomorrow on our way home. Game day arrived before we knew it and with the posters all signed and our visiting done, we didn't have to stay after the game. The Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues to bring our win record to 17 and 10. This is also game #27 and is our last game of our northeastern swing. We have been travelling by car this past month and have seen 12 games in 28 days. And that is also with 5 days off for the All Star break. It was quite a hectic pace and I am looking forward to getting back in the RV and travelling at a little slower pace when we return to Atlanta. Three teams to go. The Carolina Hurricanes, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Florida Panthers. Bring on the warm weather.

Graham's Game Report

Feb 2, 2007
Joe Louis Arena
St. Louis Blues vs. Detroit Red Wings

The St. Louis Blues have come a long way since we saw them back in December and they pushed the powerful Wings to the limit tonight before falling 5-3. Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterburg had three and four points respectively to lead the Wings to victory. Detroit went up half a minute after the opening faceoff on a goal by Zetterberg but Stempniak replied less than thirty seconds later for the Blues. Ryan Johnston's shorthanded marker answered Tomas Holmstrom's second period marker to send the teams deadlocked into the third period. The Blues bounced back a third time to tie the score when Tkaczuk tipped home Dennis Wideman's shot from the blue line halfway through the third period. Kris Draper notched the winner shorthanded when he batted home a rebound of Lidstrom's shot on a two on one break. Daniel Cleary iced it with an empty net marker in the last minute. It was our first look at Detroit since an October loss in Edmonton and they look to be a serious cup contender as usual. I enjoyed spending some time in the Wings room after their practice and left with some good memories and a book entitled " What it means to be a Red Wing." Their storied history is retold by many former and current players. A class organization that has known exquisite highs and devastating lows over the years but continues to persevere. I have a feeling we will see them in the fight right to the end this year.

Pittsburgh

2007-02-15T00:03:00.000-05:00

Pittsburgh

Columbus and Pittsburgh are very close to each other, but we decided to drive as far as Wheeling, West Virginia and stay put for a couple of days. It was great to catch up on some extra sleep and just relax. Our four days in Las Vegas during the All Star Break didn't somehow allow for much rest. Now it was catch up time. We stayed near a very large shopping mall and theatre complex, so managed to do some shopping and see a couple of movies. Graham had to twist my rubber arm to do some shopping, but I managed to go over and buy a couple of things. We left for Pittsburgh on Monday morning and it was a short one hour drive to get there. Graham attended the morning practice, did some media interviews and met with Mark Recchi and Sidney Crosby to get our posters signed. We were once again fortunate to stay directly across the street from the arena. The Mellon arena is definitely showing its age and indeed doesn't have some of the more lucrative aspects we have seen in other newer facilities, such as lots of luxury boxes. There were a few, but not many. It also has the only retractable roof of any arena in the United States. It was built in the early 1960's as a Civic Centre and was host to many concerts and entertainment venues. It evolved into the arena for the Penguins and has served them since they came into the league. It is a very well maintained building and by no means looks run down or dumpy, but it has seen its day and definitely needs to be replaced. Land has apparently been secured directly across the street from where it now stands and I'm sure the city of Pittsburgh will build them a new facility. We have now watched the Penguins play three times and of all the teams in the league, this one to me is the most exciting. With Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fleury, and Armstrong to name a few, they have such a strong youth movement to build on for the future. They are really fun and exciting to watch. You can feel their passion as they play and that is what playing hockey is all about. They make it fun for everyone. Their teammates, coaches and especially the fans. They are definitely the team to watch for the future and I hope for the wonderful fan base in Pittsburgh, they can remain in that city. We were also very fortunate while in Pittsburgh to meet Cindy Himes with the public/community department. Cindy has been with the Penguins for 30 years and has been there for the good times and the bad. She arranged for us to meet with Hockey in the Hood organizer Cliff Benson and coach Howard Smith. What amazing people and what an amazing bunch of kids that attend the sessions each week. The kids are brought by their parents from all over the city and the Hockey in the Hood organization sees to it that they have all the necessary hockey equipment to play the game. They now have enough kids enrolled to have a couple of older divisions like pee wee and bantam and sometimes play in tournaments. The little guys are so cute. They work hard on the ice under the direction of coaches Howard and Monique. They are very passionate and devoted to the Hockey in the Hood program and are able to make a difference in some children's lives. If anyone reading this would ever like to make a donation to a very worthy cause, this is it. It is a non profit organization that lets children play hockey that might not otherwise be able to play the game because of cost. It furthers sport and promotes a healthy activity. And that is what playing hockey is all about. We also were surprised to meet Dave Hanson at the Hockey in the Hood facility. He is one of the famous Hanson Brothers from the movie Slapshot. He is the facilities manager when he isn't on tour with his "other brothers". He was a very nice man and graciously posed for a picture with us. This is stop #26 and our win record now stands at 16 and 10. Four teams to go. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!

Graham's Game Report

Jan 30, 2007
Mellon Arena
Florida Panthers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins have had little success against the Panthers for a long time now but tonight they maintained their winning streak with a shutout victory. Marc-Andre Fleury was outstanding between the pipes and the Pens got all the offense they needed on a late first period goal by Michel Oullet. Moore and Whitney added insurance in the second period to extend their current winning streak and build the confidence of a blossoming young team. It was our third Penguin game and they look better every time we've seen them. Crosby and Malkin are on their way to superstardom already but I've been impressed with youngsters like Jordan Staal, Colby Armstrong and Oullet who get less press but are playing a solid NHL game that all teams need to be successful. This should be a fun team to watch in the future and the sooner they get into the playoffs the tougher it will be on the rest of the league. We enjoyed our stay in Pittsburgh and hopefully this franchise will stay here for years to come.

Columbus

2007-02-14T23:53:00.000-05:00

Columbus

It was a long snowy and yucky drive to Columbus from Washington. We left early in the morning and soon were in Virginia driving through the rolling Appalachian Mountains. The weather would go from clear and sunny to stormy with poor visibility and then back to clear and sunny again. It was a strange drive. It once again, made it very hard to see much of the countryside. We did do a lot of up and down driving on winding roads. I thought for a moment that we were back on the coastal highway on the west coast. The snow soon chased that thought out of my mind. We arrived in Columbus in the early evening and stayed downtown in a hotel right across from the Nationwide Arena. We were told that this used to be a very run down part of the city, and with the building of the arena, things changed around. The surrounding buildings are beautifully constructed and the area is aptly named the "Arena District". This is a case where the entire inner city, with good planning has been built up and is certainly something for the city of Columbus to be proud of. Besides the arena, there is lots of green space, shopping, and restaurants. The arena itself is the cornerstone of the area and is one of the nicer rinks we have been to in our travels. It is very large with lots of open concourse space. It is also a short 5 minute walk from a few downtown hotels so is very convenient. The away teams stay at these hotels and the Sabres were staying at the same hotel as us. There were also lots and lots of Sabre fans. There were a few buses that had come down to Columbus and a many also drove. The rink was loud and very noisy for the whole game and when Buffalo scored, it was amazingly loud for an away team goal. They made it lots of fun and it was a great atmosphere. Columbus won 3-2 giving us a 15 and 10 win record. It's getting pretty even with the wins and losses. In the afternoon the wonderful public relations people arranged for Graham to speak to their sales and marketing staff. It was quite a large group and Graham's message was well received. It was back to the hotel after the game and we were on our way in the morning to Pittsburgh. We continue to get closer and closer to our 30 city number. This was stop number 25, giving us 5 more stops to go.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 26, 2007
Nationwide Arena
Buffalo Sabres vs. Columbus Blue Jackets

The crowd for this Blue Jackets home game was a noisy sell out but the noise favoured both sides fairly equally as thousands of Sabres fans made the trek to Columbus and made their presence known. The Sabres looked strong in opening up a 2-1 lead after two periods with the Jackets getting strong goaltending from Fredrik Norrena, including a stop on a late period penalty shot by Daniel Paille to keep them in contention. Goals from Rotislav Klesla and Dan Fritsche brought the home team back in the third for a 3-2 Columbus victory. Ted Drury netted two power play goals for Buffalo and Rick Nash notched a powerplay marker for the home side. The game had quite a festive atmosphere with fans of both teams battling for vocal supremacy. This hockey only arena is one of the nicest we've seen on our tour and I'm sure some day soon the Columbus faithful will be rewarded for their support of this young franchise.

Washington

2007-01-31T22:35:00.000-05:00

Washington

The driving is easy on this part of the tour, but we move along quickly. We arrive at a place, watch the game, and move on to the next place after the game. I'm having trouble remembering where I am sometimes. But for the people who know me, they'd say that's normal!!!! I'm glad I have a calendar all mapped out with the schedule, or I'd have trouble remembering what day it is. We left Philadelphia after the game and drove part way to Washington DC. It is another short drive, but we stopped for the night outside of the city. In the morning, we drove into the city and Graham attended the practice. It was in one of the most unusual spots I'm sure in the whole NHL. The Caps practice rink is on top of a parking garage that is attached to a large downtown shopping mall. There are two ice surfaces and they are right on the top floor of the parking garage. One ice pad is a public rink and there were a number of people out for a public skate. The other ice pad is where the Caps practice. A most unusual location for sure. The St. Louis Blues have their practice rink attached to a shopping mall, but it is at ground level. Afterwards we checked out the local sights. It was once again pretty neat to see buildings that I have heard so much about or have seen on television, right in front of me. The building that of course stood out right away was the Washington Monument. It rises out of the city like a giant upside down icicle and you see it from everywhere. Nearby are the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Monument. Across a nearby bridge you are in the community of Arlington which is where the Arlington National Cemetery is located. It is also where the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is, and the final resting place for President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Buried alongside them are two children who died in infancy. A guard is stationed at their gravesite at all times and the eternal flame burns constantly. It is a very peaceful calm spot. As you walk around, you see row after row of simple white headstones which identify each soldier that is buried there. The white markers are very similar to the ones in the Mennonite Cemeteries near our hometown of Elmira, Ontario. Our touring ended with nightfall approaching and we returned to our hotel near the airport. Gameday started early. The game was at 1:00 PM. The Caps looked flat for most of the game and lost by 4-1. This puts our record at 14 and 10. Some home teams need to start winning. It is now the All Star Break which goes into next week. We didn't get picked for the all star team, so with this being our 24th stop, we decided to take a break. We have seen 9 games in 15 days. We are off to Vegas. Now that should be a relaxing rejuvenating break. NOT. See you after the break.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 20, 2007
Verizon Center
Florida Panthers vs. Washington Capitals

Today marked the last games before the players and these two tired travellers take a five day break for the All-Star festivities. I had the chance to catch up with a few of the Capitals at practice the day before the game at their practice facility which is located on the 8th floor of a parking garage attached to a large mall. Being a little weary ( and naturally a bit slow) I actually phoned our team contact on the way to the rink to ask where I could park. Doh! I had a chance to chat with three former OHLers with ties to our family. Brent Johnson was the goaltender in Owen Sound during Dan's first two seasons in Owen Sound and Matt Bradley played in Kingston during Dan's junior years and he and I share some fastball connections from the Stittsville area. Steve Eminger also played for the Kitchener Rangers during my brother Jeff's time there as an assistant and then head coach. I also chatted with Guelph native, GM George McPhee, who remembered skating in the old Elmira bandbox for the Guelph Jr B club. Unfortunately Dan's former teammate Brian Pothier from the Turner Cup champion Orlando Solar Bears was under the weather and didn't attend practice. Dan and Brian played their first NHL games together after being called up from Orlando for a late season game against the Ottawa Senators. An exciting time and a cherished memory.
The game was a brutal one for the home team which was very surprising given that both teams have a realistic shot at a playoff run. The Caps started quickly with a powerplay goal from Zubrus but that was all the fans had to cheer about except the spectacular goaltending of Ollie Kolzig. He gave the home side a chance to steal points until an empty net goal with under a minute left sealed the deal for the Panthers who outshot and outworked the home side and left town with a 4-1 victory. Shots were 42-18 Panthers as Eddie Belfour needed to withstand only a few brief Cap flurries for the win. A series of giveaways by both the forwards and defence kept Kolzig busy throughout and allowed Florida many point blank chances including a second period Washington powerplay which resulted in Josef Stumpel's game winner. I'm sure the Capitals will want to forget this one as quickly as possible and start the second half with a fresh perspective.

Philadelphia

2007-01-31T22:32:00.000-05:00

Philadelphia

We left for Philadelphia right after the game in New Jersey. It was about an hour drive so we were in Philly before we knew it. We actually stayed in the south of New Jersey near the Flyer's practice facility. They practice right across the Pennsylvania border in Voorhees, New Jersey. Graham once again attended the practice and I got to have a much needed sleep in at the hotel. I am wearing down on this part of the tour and am not getting enough sleep. We drove into Philadelphia the next day and found the Wachovia Center. This is their new rink and like many others, it is a beautiful facility. The Flyer's organization treated us great. Upon our arrival, Graham did a pre-taped TV interview and then we were given sport bags and hats for ourselves. Very nice. Despite the tough times for the team, there was a good crowd and they were very, very loud and boisterous. I think the horn they blew when the Flyers scored is the loudest one I have heard in the entire league so far. It was ear drum shattering loud. Unfortunately, it didn't get to sound very often and the Flyers lost to the New York Islanders. In the first period we were honoured to be presented with a Simon Gagne autographed jersey and stick by Bob Kelly and Gary Doernhoffer who are ambassadors for the Philly organization. The presentation was live on the jumbotron and the fans were very supportive. These items will also be part of our online auction at the end of the tour. Here it is the 23rd stop on our tour, giving us 7 more stops. Our win record is now 14 and 9. On to Washington.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 18, 2007
Wachovia Center
New York Islanders vs. Philadelphia Flyers

We caught the Flyers at their best in November when they posted back to back wins on the road over Anaheim and Los Angeles. Tonight we saw a team who have lost all confidence. The game was tied after two periods at deuces with Randy Jones and Simon Gagne tallying for the Flyers. The Isles took over the game in the third period when in a stretch of less than eighty seconds the Islanders popped two goals and the Flyers visibly wilted. The effort seemed to be there but these Flyers looked as if they were waiting for bad things to happen and eventually they did. On paper the Flyers look to be a highly competitive team with veterans like Kuble, Gagne, Zhitnik and Forsberg complementing youngsters like Richards, Carter and Umberger. The results however have not been coming this year as Philly fans suffer through their first losing season in many years. I'm sure with the quality of the organization that things will turn around eventually but for now both fans and the team are learning lessons in humility and patience.

New Jersey

2007-01-31T22:29:00.000-05:00

New Jersey

We realized after we settled in our hotel that we should have driven over to to New Jersey after the Islanders afternoon game. Oh well, live and learn. It was our first time that we had back to back games. It is easy to get around in the environ of the "New York" teams since they are so close geographically. The Islanders were a great help (thanks Justina) in getting us directions to a hotel close by. We headed over to New Jersey by the many highways and biways and found the Continental Airlines Arena with no problems. Graham was going to be present at the game day skate in the morning, so we managed to get their early. The New York highways are marked so clearly and we both thought it was very easy to navigate. Mind you, we never hit any major traffic jams, which I'm sure happen, but all in all it was much easier to get around in New York City and the surrounding area than it was in Los Angeles. The grid system for the streets in New York City also make it very simple to get around. We were right near the Lincoln Tunnel, so we crossed back to New York, hoping to find the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery. We weren't able to go there on Sunday or Monday because it was closed. It was an exciting trip for me to the art gallery. One of my neighbours in Elmira, Linda Brubacher is quite an artist and she had painted a couple of canvases this summer to put in this particular art gallery. The fun part for me was that two of her four paintings at the gallery were of the gardens at the front and side of my house. The area between my house and the McGovern's house next door is one huge garden. It has a gate at the front to walk through and Drew (my neighbour) designed and made the flagstone path which leads to both our backyards. It is a beautiful calming spot for me and a piece of work that is dedicated to Dan. Dan used to work for Doug Mooder who has a local landscaping company and he and I always had a project planned for every summer when he would get home from hockey. Every part of my garden is very near and dear to my heart because Dan helped plan a lot of it. I am also so lucky to have wonderful neighbours that have been such a big help in the yard. Anyway, I got to see Linda's paintings and it was kind of neat to see such a familiar scene hanging in an art gallery in New York City. After a stop for some lunch, we headed back to New Jersey. We travelled a bit in a southerly direction and went to see the Statue of Liberty. There is a state park along the waterfront where you can view the statue out on its little island in the river. You only get a view from the back, but that was OK with me. It is quite an amazing sight whether you see it from the front or back. Maybe another time on a visit to NYC we can take a harbour cruise of the lower Manhattan area. It was a very windy, bitterly cold day so we didn't linger long. Nearby within view was Ellis Island where immigrants were processed years ago when they entered the US by boat. We put in a bit of time at a local internet cafe and then went over to the rink. The only thing I didn't like about the Contintental Airlines Arena was the parking situation. The arena is directly across the highway from Giants Stadium. When you drive to the arena, you get directed back to the other side of the highway to park at the Giant's parking lot. Then you walk a long, long way to get back across to the arena. Through the parking lot, over the highway through a covered walkway, down a large ramp, and then over to the arena entrance. It was a good mile walk. And cold to boot. The walk back was even more interesting. Because we stayed after the game to meet Martin Brodeur and Patrick Elias to sign our posters, we ended up walking back to the parking lot alone. It was kind of eerie. For me anyway. New Jersey was solid the whole game and came out at the end with a 1-0 victory over the New York Rangers. There was a lot of taunting back and forth between the fans and there were just as many Ranger jerseys in the stands as Devil's jerseys. The fans were loud and had a great time with their numerous funny chants. It was another shut out for Martin Brodeur. We were able to meet with him after the game and he signed our poster. We also received an autographed Brodeur jersey. Patrick Elias also came out and spoke with us briefly and signed out captain's poster. The posters are filling up with signatures and are starting to look great. We will be getting them framed at the end of our travels and they will be part of an online auction, along with the jerseys that we have graciously received from so many of the teams we have visited. It is hard to believe, but this is the end of our New York area stops. This is stop number 22. Eight more stops to make and our record stands at 14 and 8 for home team wins while we're there.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 16, 2007
Continental Airlines Arena
New York Rangers vs. New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils have been producing a familiar theme lately as they methodically work their way towards the top of the Eastern Conference. Score a goal or two and let team defence and goaltending take over. Tonight was textbook as Brad Lukowich scored an unassisted goal halfway through the first period and Brodeur and company gave the Rangers little chance for recovery. The Devils took no penalties in the game and on the few quality chances the Rangers did have Brodeur was more than equal to the task. The 1-0 final score was a testament to the effectiveness of a rigidly disciplined team effort. It is very seldom pretty to watch but it's sure hard to beat. Look for New Jersey to be very tough to crack come playoff time if they can consistently produce this type of game.

Long Island

2007-01-31T21:49:00.000-05:00

Long Island

With another mapquest clutched tightly in our hands, it was off to Long Island. Up and down and around the one way streets in Manhattan, and we made our way across to Long Island via the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The directions were easy to follow (much better than the GPS) and we were at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum before we knew it. It was a 12:00 noon game and there were a large number of kids in attendance. It was Martin Luther King Day which is a National Holiday and the children had a school holiday. The upper bowl was jammed full and there were only a few empty seats left in the lower bowl. The Nassau Coliseum is the second oldest facility in the NHL and although it is showing its age, it has lots of character and I really liked the "feel" of it. The concourse level is at ground level with the parking lot and you can look outside through tall windows as you walk around. The seats have seen better days, but were made of material (in most sections) and were very comfortable. There weren't the number of luxury boxes that you see in the newer facilities, it was a blue collar crowd in a blue collar facility. The crowd was loud, boisterous, and enjoying every minute of the game. It was also the first arena that we have been to that didn't have a large stand alone team gear store. There were kiosks all around the concourse and each one had a little different offering of team merchandise. And lottery tickets. It was also the first time I saw lottery tickets for sale at the team gear locations. The Islanders didn't come out on top of this one and Tampa Bay left with the two points. Graham did a few media interviews during the intermissions and after the game we went downstairs to meet a couple of the players. While waiting, we met the owner Mr. Wang, the GM Garth Snow, and the coach Ted Nolan. All very nice men. They all chatted and visited with us for a bit. Jason Blake came out and signed our poster for the Islander's team player and Alexi Yashin then came out and signed the captain's poster. They both were still in their underwear but took the time to chat and offered their assistance for anything we needed. They both were very nice. I'm always amazed how gracious and kind a hockey player can be standing in his underwear out in the hallway after a hockey game, talking to complete strangers, and sweating like crazy. They are truly one of a kind. I think their mother's taught them all good manners! We also had the pleasure to visit with Chris Campoli after the game. Chris was the first recipient of the Dan Snyder Humanitarian Award for the OHL (the Ontario Hockey League). The OHL Board of Governors renamed the award in Dan's honour and we were present to award it for the first time to Chris. A player's name is submitted from each team in the league and then there is a vote to decide who will receive the award at the annual awards presentation at the Hockey Hall of Fame in June. As many people know, Dan worked hard in every community he called home for a number of different causes. It was very important to him and our family was very touched and honoured when the OHL renamed the humanitarian award in his name
This is stop number 21 and our win record now stands at 13 and 8. We are also whittling down the list. We have nine more stops to make. It's another quick trip in the morning over to New Jersey to see the Devils in the evening.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 15, 2007
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Islanders

These two teams went into today's game tied for the last playoff spot in the conference and the contest reflected that closeness. Both teams had their opportunities but the Lightning came out on top 4-3 despite being outshot by a 36-24 margin. The Isles struck first when captain Alexi Yashin batted home a rebound on the powerplay. The Bolts bounced back with the next three goals to take a 3-1 margin into the third period. The Isles pushed hard in the third but couldn't get the equalizer despite outshooting the opposition 16-5. The well traveled veteran Mike Sillinger had a pair of assists in the third on goals by Victor Kozlov and Trent Hunter and the Isles pressed valiantly for the equalizer with the goalie out but couldn't send the game to extra time.
It was interesting to see the championship banners from those powerful Islander teams of the past and hopefully they will be able to recapture some of that pride after some tough years. They look like they could be turning the corner this season with some good young players and a solid work ethic.

New York

2007-01-23T20:01:00.000-05:00

New York

We left Boston after the game and drove as far Mystic Connecticut. In the morning we made our way to the Ranger's practice facility in Tarrytown. And what a practice facility. We were given a tour of the building by Miles and then watched the practice. The Rangers share the facility with the NBA New York Knicks and the Ladies Professional Basketball League New York Liberty. There is a large arena and then two regulation practice basketball courts side by side. In the middle are their offices and a large cafeteria used by the players from all the teams. We were treated to a delicious lunch and afterwards met Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan who visited with us for a bit and then both graciously signed our posters. With a mapquest sheet in our hands, we made our way to New York via the Henry Hudson Parkway. We were booked at a hotel directly across from Madison Square Garden which was convenient for walking to the game the next day. That evening we walked down to the Time Square area for a brief look. The Rangers had an afternoon game on Saturday. I had never been to New York and it was a thrill to walk in and finally see MSG. There was a good crowd for an afternoon game and they were boisterous. Graham was hoping for an obnoxious New York fan to be sitting in the vicinity of our seats and I was fortunate to have him sitting behind me. Free entertainment. MSG was also the place where Dan scored his first NHL goal. The Thrashers had the puck and a copy of the game sheet framed for him. It is now a treasured keepsake for our family. After the game we once again walked to Time Square. It was a beehive of activity. Lots and lots of people were bustling around shopping at the many stores that were open late. Everywhere there were lights and huge billboards and eateries. We had a late supper at a diner in Time Square and made our way back to the hotel. On Sunday we did a New York Mesa Grill run. Graham is a huge fan of Bobby Flay and we had a meal at his restaurant in Las Vegas last year. We booked a reservation at his restaurant in New York for brunch and once again weren't disappointed in our meals. I had the most amazing blue corn waffle with blackberry syrup and blackberries served on top. It was yummy and light. My sister Susan, and her son Scott and his girlfriend Karen were in town the same time as us, so we met up with them and did a little more touring later in the afternoon. We went through Macy's and a bunch of other stores and then went to the Empire State Building. It was up and up and up. We were informed (several times) that there was little to no visibility on the observation deck, but we went up anyway. The observation area is on the 86th floor of the building and I was just as glad that the visibility wasn't going to be that great at that height. It really wasn't too bad when we got outside though. There was a good night view and the lights all over the city were beautiful. We could see MSG, Macy's, Time Square, the skaters at the Rockefeller Center and lots and lots of lights. One more night in Manhattan and it would be off to Long Island to see the Islanders. The Rangers increased our home team win record to 13-7 against the Bruins. This is hockey stop number 20. Ten more stops to go.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 13, 2007
Madison Square Gardens
Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers

It was my first trip to the home of so many great sporting events over the years. It was interesting to see the old boxing pictures and posters from years gone by as well as some original six pictures with these two old rivals facing off. The Rangers were much the stronger team today, outshooting the Bruins by a wide margin. It wasn't until late in the game however before they secured the win on Jed Ortmeyer's first goal of the season on of all things a penalty shot. He looked like he knew what he was doing as he deked Thomas and slid the puck calmly inside the post for a 3-1 lead. Michael Nylander gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead halfway through the first but Savard responded less than a minute later to knot the score. Martin Straka regained the Ranger lead putting home a rebound at 5:52 of the second period and that was all the scoring for this Saturday afternoon until the Big O excited the crowd with his nifty moves. These two teams look to be battling along with half a dozen other teams for a spot in he top eight of this tight Eastern Conference.

Boston

2007-01-23T19:56:00.000-05:00

Boston

Well, it was up and at 'em early this morning. And it was a good thing too. Winter decided to make an appearance overnight in Burlington Vermont. It snowed quite heavily during the night and the conditions were blizzard-like. We had encountered some snow and ice in southern Oklahoma back in December, but this was our first taste of "real" winter in our travels so far. The snow was coming down very hard and was real wet and heavy. As fast as I could clean off the car, it was covered again. We wanted to be in the Boston area by mid morning, so we got moving as soon as we got up. I once again can't comment much on the surrounding scenery, since visibility wasn't the best. And not because it was dark, it was snowing pretty hard. Travellers on the highway were driving with caution and the plows and sanders were out in full force. As we moved along through Vermont, the snow started to fall more slowly and soon it wasn't snowing at all. As we neared the border of New Hampshire it had stopped snowing altogether and the sun was shining and the sky was bluer than blue. Go figure. One of the things I have enjoyed while travelling in all the different States, is the many unusual signs along the roadside. While driving through the snow in Vermont, it was disconcerting to see signs that said - Moose crossing for the next 15 miles. There were also the usual deer crossing signs and then one very different one. It was the first time I saw a sign that said Bear crossing. I was really hoping that we didn't see a moose, deer, or a bear crossing the road in that blizzard. As we drove closer to the New Hampshire border, there was a sign for the next rest stop. Then a sign that said you could buy your liquor at the State Liquor Store - at the rest stop. An unusual spot indeed to be selling booze. My all time favourite though is the one I saw near Baton Rouge that said - no swimming or crossing this canal, alligator infested waters! No further instruction needed. Anyway, we did arrive at the Bruin's practice facility just north of Boston and on time. Graham attended the practice and their public relations director, Kerry made sure our posters got signed and made all the arrangements for us for the game the next day. We left the practice facility and made our way to Marblehead by way of Salem. I wish we had more time to explore. I would have liked to tour around Salem. Buildings in the area date back to the early 1600's and people are still living in them. Now that is an old house. We were staying with the McEachern family for the night (in a newer house). Sean was the captain of the Thrashers when Dan was there and was a big part of guiding the team through a very difficult time. His wife Andrea and the kids Allie, Maddie, and Mike made us feel welcome and then after supper out settled us in their guest room. The next day, we drove into the city and found the TD Bank Gardens. The arena was right near the water nestled in the heart of downtown. We did a small tour in the afternoon and saw the site where Paul Revere started out on his midnight ride many, many years ago at what is now Charleston Square. The foundation of the original house at that location is still nestled in the ground in the middle of the square. Paul Revere started his famous midnight ride on April 18, 1775. Then we drove over to Fenway Park to check out the team store. Graham had misplaced his Carl Yazstremski t-shirt and wanted to replace it. As luck would have it, they had the "Yaz" t-shirts in stock and Graham was a happy camper. Back to the rink, we enjoyed a delicious supper at the Legends Restaurant. The local fresh cod fish and chips were very tasty. A very nice surprise was in store at the beginning of the game. Marc Savard had been named the NHL player of the week recently and the Bruins organization gives a $1,000.00 donation to the charity of the winning player's choice. Marc asked that the donation go to the Dan Snyder Memorial Foundation. We were presented with a cheque by Dan Zimmer, VP of Business Operations and Marc before the game started in a small ceremony on the ice. We were very grateful to the Bruins and of course to Marc Savard for their generous donation. The hockey community continues to support us in so many ways. We are truly grateful. The Bruins couldn't pull out a win and were defeated in the shootout. Our record now moves to 12-7 This is stop number 19. A mere 11 more to go.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 11, 2007
TD Banknorth Garden
New York Islanders vs. Boston Bruins

Three times the Bruins grabbed the lead tonight only to have the Isles come back and even things up. Eventually New York prevailed on the fourth round of the shootout. The first period was all Boston as they dominated play and opened up a 2-0 lead on goals by Patrice Bergeron and Marc Savard. It was 2-1 after two periods and early in the 3rd the Isles scored to tie the game. A couple of defencemen, Chara and Mara, gave the B's leads in the third but both times the Isles responded to knot the game with the final blow coming with under two minutes remaining in regulation time. Boston outshot the Isles 9-1 in overtime but could not put one by DiPietro. The best chance fell to Glen Murray who had the tender down and out but somehow couldn't find the strength to lift the puck over his outstretched stick. Toivonen was spectacular in the first two periods for Boston but faltered down the stretched and I'm sure he'd love to have the final goal back as it just trickled between his pads and across the goal line. Marc Savard was the first star on the night with a goal and two helpers as he seems to be responding well to the pressures of being the offensive leader in Beantown. The Bruins look close to becoming a contender again but need to really tighten up the defensive game if they are to gain the playoffs in a very tight Eastern Conference. It was good to catch up with Dan's former teamates Savard and Shean Donovan (Thrashers) and Wayne Primeau ( Owen Sound) at the practice on Wednesday. Their generosity was very much appreciated.

Montreal

2007-01-23T19:53:00.000-05:00

Montreal

Well, the pace is fast and furious and we are now in Montreal. There wasn't much to see on the way here, because we drove straight from the afternoon game in Ottawa, and it was dark by the time we left. After a few turns in the wrong direction, we finally found our way downtown and secured a hotel room for the night. We were three blocks from the Bell Centre where the Habs play. I had been to the old Forum years ago, but this is my first time to see the new arena. Sunday was a long day and it was late, so it was nice to crawl into bed. Monday was a catch up day. Catch up with reading, paperwork, and computer work. We didn't venture too far from the hotel room. Graham isn't feeling well today. Must have picked up the flu the Canadiens have going through their team. On Tuesday, Graham attended the game day skate and visited with a number of players. Saku Koivu and Sergei Samsonov graciously signed our two posters. They are filling up with signatures and hopefully should be a collectors item for someone. We then made our way (slowly - the highways are terrible in Montreal) to visit Don Liesemer with Hockey Ministries. Running of the office is a family affair with his son, daughter and wife helping out. Hockey Ministries runs hockey camps all over for approximately 1600 boys and girls during the course of a year. It was good to visit again with Don and meet some of his family. He spoke at Dan's funeral and we haven't had a chance to see him since then. After finding our way back to the Bell Centre (once again, it was slow - the roads were still terrible to navigate) Graham went in to do some media stuff and I did some typing on the laptop. We had some supper and then it was back into the rink to watch the game. The Canadiens organization has preserved some of the glorious history of their team in many of the displays and pictures around the arena. It was fun to walk around and view everything. The Habs were playing the Thrashers and it was hard to decide which team to cheer for. We've never had any Habs fans at our house and the Thrashers are of course always near and dear to our hearts. But, we have cheered for the home team at each stop, so we had to stick with the plan and cheer for the Habs. Graham even bought (gaaaasp) a Montreal t-shirt. It has a number 4 and Belliveau's name on the back, so that made it OK for him. Montreal came out on top over the Thrashers and brought our record to 12 wins and 6 losses when we are there. This is also our 18th stop giving us 12 more to go. We left about an hour after the game and drove for the border. After crossing into Vermont, we drove to the town of Burlington and stopped for the night. It will be up early in the morning and on to Boston.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 9, 2007
Bell Centre
Atlanta Thrashers vs. Montreal Canadiens

I have always enjoyed taking in a game in Montreal even though I have not been (ahem!) a big Habs fans. The atmosphere is always exciting and tonight was no exception. The Habs have been slowed by a flu bug the last few games and tonight they fell behind 2-0 to the Thrashers despite an overall edge in play. They scored late in the second to cut the lead to 2-1 and came out firing in the third for a 4-2 victory in this important conference game. Michael Ryder was the scoring hero tallying the winning and insurance markers for the home side. The Thrashers battled hard late in the game to come back but had zero luck around the net despite some outstanding opportunities. The home side were deserving winners tonight and showed how important perseverance and teamwork is. Thanks to our gracious hosts we were able to check out some behind the scenes areas of the new arena which has done a fine job of preserving the rich history of Les Canadiens. You can check out my picture in front of the wall depicting all of the Habs Stanley Cup triumphs. Yahoo!

Ottawa

2007-01-11T17:32:00.000-05:00

Ottawa

After crossing the border yet again to get back to Canada, we had a good night's rest at the Comfort Inn. It was a long day in Buffalo. We were lazy and slept in a bit and drove towards Toronto for a quick meeting at lunchtime and then made our way on to Ottawa. The drive through the Spadina area and up through Chinatown was actually quite interesting on a Saturday morning. Everyone was out shopping at the local produce stands that spilled out onto the streets from the front of their shops. It was a dull cloudy day and all the fruits and vegetables were so colourful and bright. The quick meeting wasn't quick, but that was OK. We arrived finally in Ottawa at 8:00PM and settled in our hotel that the team had booked for us right near the arena. It is quite a change from staying in the RV at campsites. We usually payed on an average of 20-30 dollars per night's stay. And we stayed at some really nice places for that price. For some reason, the hotels charge more than that. Go figure. We were of course looking forward to visiting with Dany sometime during our stop in Ottawa. As is usual, we played telephone tag with him all week, but finally decided that we could meet after the game on Sunday afternoon. We had also arranged to visit some our fellow fans from the paralympic games in Torino, Italy. We attended the games in February of 2006 to watch the Canadian National Men's Sledge Hockey Team. Graham's brother Jeff is the head coach and it was a huge thrill to be at all the games, but especially for the gold medal game which the guys won. Todd Nicholson was the captain of the team and we were meeting with him and his very enthusiastic family members for breakfast on Sunday morning. Well, morning arrived and we were off to breakfast. There was a smaller representation of the Nicholson clan. There were only eight of them. A small group by their standards I'm sure. Mom, Carol and Dad Stuart were along though and it was good to catch up and visit with everyone present. Talked of course veered to the Vancouver games and were we all going to be there for the team to defend their gold medal. We said our good-byes to the Nicholsons and made our way over to the Scotiabank Center. I had only been there once before when it was the Corel Center. A few of us family members drove through a terrible snow storm to watch Dan play with the Thrashers. Dan seemed to have this knack of sitting in the penalty box for most of the game, or getting kicked out of the game when we would travel a long distance to see him play. That particular time was no different. He got kicked out of the game at the beginning of the second period. He managed to find out where our seats were though and we got to sit and visit with him for the rest of the game. He was very contrite and apologetic. Sorry mom, I can't believe that happened again, he said. Oh well, what can you do. I was just happy to see him. Ottawa made a rout of the game and defeated the Flyers soundly. Dany had two goal and an assist and had a good game. We were happy to see him after the game and enjoyed a nice long visit with him and Sara. No media, no fans hovering around, just the four of us. This is stop number 17 and our record for the home team now stands at 11 and 6. On to Montreal.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 7, 2007
ScotiaBank Place
Philadelphia Flyers vs. Ottawa Senators

We saw the Flyers for the third time on the road this trip and unlike the previous two upsets in California this one was an easy 6-1 rout for the home side. The Flyers stayed in the game for most of the first period but the Sens had their own way the rest of the day. Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson led the scoring parade and Martin Gerber recorded his first win at home this season for the Sens. Ottawa looks like they are back on track after a shaky start this year and are slowly climbing back towards the top of the standings in the Eastern Conference. We had a chance to chat with Dany Heatley after the game and hardly recognized the smile with the new front tooth. I'm sure we'll see the Senators back in the playoffs this season.

Buffalo

2007-01-11T17:26:00.000-05:00

Buffalo

New Year's Greetings to one and all. I hope that everyone had a good time ringing in the new year and that this year will be happy and safe for all. After a bit of a break for more visiting (and too much eating), it was time to drive to Buffalo. We are also leaving Buffalo to start the next leg of the journey without going home in between. We will be on the road for the next month driving by car and catching the teams in the northeast. After Buffalo, we return to Canada to see Ottawa and Montreal and then return to the States and start with Boston and work our way down the eastern seaboard. Luckily it wasn't snowing in Buffalo, but it was pouring rain. There is no snow there at all which is a rare thing for this time of year. We were lucky to be able to connect with Rich Jurrella the manager of public relations for the Sabres. He had everything all lined up for us and made our stop in Buffalo so easy and worry free for us. He is another amazing "inside" hockey person we have met that is a true credit to their organization. We have met some amazing people within the public relations and community departments of each team and there are about six or seven that are stand outs. Rich is one of them. After attending the game day skate, we were fortunate to have a visit with the coach Lindy Ruff. It was a pleasure to meet and talk with him. We were hoping to visit with Dan's former teamate and friend, Adam Mair, but he was a little under the weather and did not attend practice. We wanted to watch the gold medal game with the World Juniors, but it was only being telecast by TSN and we were doubtful we would find it being televised in the Buffalo area, so we headed back to Canada to watch what else - a hockey game. We booked a hotel room and watched the game with our eyelids closed most of the time. It was another early morning and it was nice to have a nap. We did wake up in time to see Canada win the gold medal though. After some supper, it was time to cross the border again and get to the rink. Graham and I did two interviews when we got there for the local TV stations and I was nervous as usual. The HSBC Arena is also one of the nicest facilities that we have been to so far. It was electric with atmosphere during the game and was packed to capacity. The fans are LOUD and love their Sabres. That's when it is fun to attend a hockey game. When the rink is jammed full, cheering on their team. Unfortunately the Sabres couldn't pull out a win for them and the Penguins were awarded the two points. A very nice surprise for the evening was going up to the press box and receiving a generous donation from the Sabres organization. Play by play announcer Rick Jenerette made the cheque presentation to our family. We were able to see Adam after the game along with his wife and his parents, Dave and Nancy. Adam and Dan were teamates in Owen Sound for four straight years and we got to know him and his parents well. I haven't written much about travel, because well, I guess I have travelled this route so often and it is a lot of highways, traffic and congestion. For people not familiar to the Golden Horseshoe area, it is quite a sight to go and visit Niagara Falls and see the American and Canadian falls. They are magnificent and truly a wonder to see. I should have taken some pictures, but I guess it is one of those things that I have seen so often and I didn't even think to stop for a photo. I'll try and get one another time and get it posted for those that have never seen it. Well, this is stop number 16 and our record is now 10 wins and 6 losses for the home team when we are at a game. The home teams are going to have to kick it up a notch. We'll have to see how Ottawa does on our next stop.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 5, 2007
HSBC Arena
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Buffalo Sabres

This was our first opportunity to see the high flying Sabres this season. It's a team we have seen many times over the years at the old Aud and now in their spacious home up the street. We've always enjoyed the atmosphere at Sabres games and their exciting team has led to consistent sellouts this season and tonight's game was no exception. The Sabres jumped in frothnt twice during this one but the persistent Penguins eventually prevailed by a 4-2 margin. This marked only the second time this year the Sabres have dropped two in a row. Given the adversity faced by the organization the last number of years a two game losing streak for a first place team is no cause for alarm. Former Kitchener Ranger Derek Roy and co-captain Chris Drury scored tonight for this well balanced lineup. Whitney, Moore, young gun Malkin and even younger teamate Jordan Staal tallied for the Pens. This is our second look at the Penguins and I've been very impressed with the responsibility given the 18 year old Staal. He looks to be a long term star in the game. It was great to chat with Dan's former Plater teammate and friend Adam Mair of the Sabres who continues to play his robust style for this exciting team. We also had a chance to chat with coach Lindy Ruff and GM Darcy Regier and the character of both these men is evidenced in the great team play of the Sabres. I'm sure we'll see this team go deep into this year's playoffs.

Toronto

2007-01-11T17:21:00.000-05:00

Toronto

Well folks, here we are back on the road again. The trip to Toronto to see the Leafs is like a home game for us. We are about an hour and a half from the ACC, so this trip was a piece of cake. We have been enjoying our time at home, but it has been busy too. Lots of friends and family to see and lots of mail to sort out. It seems our kitchen table turned into a mail sorting center for Canada Post. It is amazing how much mail you can get in a couple of months. And Erika kindly sorted out the junk for us. If she hadn't done that, she would have had to use the dining room table too! It was a very early start to make our way to Toronto. We left home at 7:30 AM so we could make our way to the downtown area by 10:00. Graham had some media commitments and we were attending the game day skate. Driving in Toronto is no different that some of the larger American cities we have visited. They are mostly the same when it comes to driving - congested. Luckily it was Saturday morning and we didn't have to fight everyone making their way to work. After the skate, Graham had a good chat with Bryan McCabe and he signed our poster for us. Of all the people that were at Dan's funeral, I still distinctly remember Bryan and Tie Domi coming up to me afterwards and expressing their condolences. It's funny how you only remember snippets of a time like that, but I still vividly recall talking to them both and how very kind they both were. I was pleased to be able to visit with Dallas Eakins. Dallas and Dan played together with the Chicago Wolves and won the the Calder Cup together. Dallas was someone Dan respected and admired so much and we are very proud of his coaching accomplishments and wish him all the best with the Leafs. After the game day skate and the media commitments, we had to put in some time till the game. After a good lunch and long walk, we found a movie theatre and spent the afternoon watching a movie. It was hard to stay awake after getting up so early. Game time came and went and before we knew it, it was time to head home again. Unfortunately, the leafs lost to Ottawa giving us an 10 and 5 win record for the home team when we are in attendance. We were able to chat with some friends downstairs after the game and Mats Sundin graciously signed our captain's poster for us. We visited with Ron McLean and Don Cherry and had another picture taken together, minus the pink feather boa. It does add a little pizazz though. I was going to put it on the online auction, but I'm thinking of keeping it for myself now. Finally we were at home by 12:30 AM. It was a long, long day. It is going to be busy still for the remainder of the week, just getting ready to go on the road again. The next part of the trip will be by car and the schedule is hectic with games almost every other day for two weeks. Let's just cross our fingers and hope for good weather. It is the halfway mark for our tour. Toronto is the 15th stop, so we now have 15 stops to go.

Graham's Game Report

Dec 30, 2006
Air Canada Centre
Ottawa Senators vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

It was a short trip down the 401 tonight for what will be the closest we get to a home game on this tour. The Leafs and Sens have both struggled at times this year and have each faced adversity in the form of injuries to top players. Both teams seemed tentative in the early going but the Leafs jumped ahead late in the first period on a powerplay marker by Alex Steen. Ottawa tied it shorthanded on a Dean McCammond marker and both teams recieved solid goaltending to remain tied well into the third. Boyd Deveraux broke the tie with a hard wrist shot to the top corner just after Andrew Raycraft had stoned Dany Heatley with a quick glove hand at the other end. The Leafs hopes for a regulation time win over their division rivals went up in smoke when Chris Kelley was left wide open in front and he shoveled in the tying goal with under two minutes reamaining. The extra point also went out the window when Chris Philips redirected Heatley's pass past Raycraft in the OT period. Both teams should be able to remain in the playoff hunt with the calibre of goaltending they received last night but will have to get outstanding team efforts to overcome the injuries. We had the pleasure of chatting with Leafs assistant coach Dallas Eakins who was a veteran leader on the Chicago Wolves team that won an unlikely Calder Cup during Dan's time there. His leadership skills will serve him welll in his new career. We also had a chance to cht with Boyd Deveraux who often played against Dan for the Stratford Cullitons and Kitchener Rangers. It was good to see him take advantage of another opportunity in the NHL after overcoming some serious injuries in his career. The Leafs were gracious hosts again and it was a real treat to be back in "hockey country" over the Christmas season.
Happy New Year

Atlanta

2007-01-11T17:10:00.000-05:00

Atlanta

It was a very short trip to Atlanta. It was a mere three hour drive to the north part of the city. After some of our long stretches of driving, three hours is a piece of cake. We travelled to the suburb of Marietta where we stayed for two nights and days. We had some catching up to do with paperwork and housecleaning before we headed home. It was nice to have a couple of days to relax in one spot with no travelling. We met with Chris Simpson on Tuesday and did an interview with her for Rogers Sportsnet. We have got to know Chris the past three years and she is a wonderful person. It is our pleasure to say we know her. On Wednesday morning we were at school bright and early. We went to the middle school that our young author friends attended. Darren Elliot met us at the Duluth practice facility which is where the Thrashers practice. He drove us to the girl's school which was way on the south side of the city. I don't know if I could ever get used to some of the driving you have to do in these big cities. Of all the cities we have been to, I would say that Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Atlanta have the heaviest traffic. It certainly makes it hard to maneuver, especially when you are in a 37 foot RV. It was a pleasure to meet with the girls again. They entered a junior authors contest two years ago and won with their story "The Life of Dan Snyder". They worked very hard writing and illustrating their book and we are very proud of their effort. Graham gave a brief talk to their classmates after they introduced him. We were presented with school t-shirts which we will always wear with pride. We returned to Duluth just in time to catch the end of the Thrasher's practice and then got a chance to visit with a lot of the guys.
That evening, Graham was part of an on ice hockey clinic for young players that is run by the Thrashers and spoke to a group of young hockey players. He hasn't played any hockey this year and it was his first time on skates. He said he was just glad he didn't fall. The nice thing about coming back to Atlanta is visiting with all the friends we have made. I was able to go out for supper with one of those new friends Mark Holland, while Graham was at the hockey clinic. It was also time to finish cleaning out our fridge in the RV and Mark was the recipient of the contents. Graham the food police was happy he didn't have to throw anything out!!!
The next day we finished getting the RV ready to leave behind in Atlanta. We had storage arranged courtesy of Michele and Wayne Daniels. Wayne was storing the RV for us at his United Van Lines business. It was nice to know that the 37 machine was going to be safe and sound till we returned to Atlanta in February to pick it up. I finished getting everything packed up to take home. I had managed to do most of my Christmas shopping along the way and got it all organized too. I sure was glad I brought along an empty suitcase to haul everything home in. It was a tight squeeze getting the zipper closed. Before we knew it, it was time to head to the rink. Graham spoke briefly to a group of season's ticket holders and was very well received. We met a number of them when he was finished they were so kind with their words. I would like to also thank the lovely lady that gave me the gift basket with all the honey products. I'm sorry, I can't remember your name, but the honey was delicious and I would love your recipe for the lip balms. I make them too and that recipe is a good one. We also enjoyed the homemade cookies and could taste the hint of honey baked into them too. Thank you for your generosity.
The Thrashers beat the Penguins putting our home team record at 10 and 4. We are now at stop 14 with 16 to go. We stayed at an airport hotel for the night and easily made our way over to the terminal for our morning flight. I was pretty anxious to get home to see everyone and wasn't happy that we were delayed for three hours. Oh well, such is life and we made it home safe and sound for the Holidays.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and we will be back in the New Year with reports on the next leg of our journey. Thanks to everyone for your responses to our website and most of all thanks for taking the time to read it and send your thoughts and comments along to us. I don't have time to respond to all the emails, but will try and get to as many as I can.
Graham, LuAnn, Erika, Jake and Dawn, (and our little Robbie man too)

Graham's Game Report

Dec 21, 2006
Philips Arena
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Atlanta Thrashers

Tonight was our first visit to an Eastern Conference team and a firsthand look at the newest young guns in the NHL. The Thrashers who have been either red hot or ice cold this season, were coming off a shootout win in New Jersey which had halted a five game skid. They prevailed again tonight in a 4-3 shootout win over the Penguins who have also been struggling. The Thrashers looked in control for the first half of the game building a 2-0 lead on goals by Niko Kapanen and Ilya Kovalchuk. A turnover allowed Jordan Staal to walk in all alone while shorthanded and he quickly converted the opportunity to halve the lead. Atlanta regained a comfortable 3-1 lead late in the same penalty when Slava Kozlov's wrister from near the boards eluded Thibault . Scoring sensation Sidney Crosby's tap in with 45 seconds remaining tied the game after he had assisted on Ryan Malone's goal earlier in the third period. He showed several flashes of the brilliance that should make him one of the all time greats in the game as his line at times seemed unstoppable controlling play for extended periods of time. After a scoreless overtime we saw why the Thrashers are a good bet in any shootout. Kari Lehtonen stopped both the Penguin shooters and Slava Kozlov snapped one over Thibault's glove and Marian Hossa found his five hole for a quick extra point. Kozzy is threatening to catch Jusse Jokinen's 12 of 15 shooting for the Stars as he has upped his mark to 10 of 13 in the shootout. Pretty amazing shooting stats in any league much less facing the top tenders in the world. The Thrashers look like they are playoff bound for the first time but still searching for the consistency of champions. It was great to meet up with many Thrasher friends both on and off ice this week and a fitting way to wrap up the first leg of our tour as we return home for a Christmas break.

Nashville

2007-01-11T17:05:00.000-05:00

Nashville

What a great city. We easily found the Gaylord Centre in the downtown area of the city. We weren't attending the practice so we decided to park and explore the downtown. We parked in a city lot and paid for two spaces!!! A quick walk found us on Music Row. We were going to try and find a fancier restaurant to celebrate our anniversary that day, but settled on the Wildhorse Saloon. It's a very large well known local establishment. It has a very large stage in front of a huge dance floor area. If there isn't a live band playing, they show country and western videos on the huge screen over the stage. It was pretty empty when we were there, but can get pretty full in the evening, especially on the weekends. After having one of their sampler plates (that had three kinds of barbequed meat), we walked on further to check out some of the local honky tonks but they were pretty quiet too. We found a RV campsite out near Opryland. We did check out their shuttle service and purchased tickets for The Grand Ole Opry show for the next night. Graham was happy, his favourite female entertainer Emmy Lou Harris was going to be performing. The line up was impressive. Other performers that would be appearing were: Vince Gill, The Charlie Daniels Band, Mike Snider and friends, Diamond Rio, Little Jimmy Dickens and many more. The Opry performances for the winter are also held at the Ryman Theatre right near the arena, so that was going to be a bonus to see "The Mother Church" of country music. I wouldn't say we are avid country music fans, but we do enjoy all music. The chance to see an Opry performance at the Ryman Auditorium is too good to miss.
Graham was attending the team practice this morning and since I wasn't that keen on attending, he took a taxi to the arena and I stayed at the camp and did some much needed catching up. Laundry, paperwork, cleaning. Some of my favourite things to do. NOT. But, they gotta get done. I got a lot accomplished and Graham returned by mid afternoon with Darcy Hordichuk in tow. Darcy was kind enough to give Graham a ride back to the RV park. It was nice to see him again. We had a brief visit with Darcy at the beginning of our tour, but he had to get going to catch the bus after the game in Minnesota. I was over talking to our very interesting neighbours when Graham returned. We met some fellow sports travellers. Jay and Karen and their boys. They are travelling to all the NFL cities. They are on a Tailgating Tour. It is their business. They travel to each NFL city and set up for the tailgating before the game. They quickly organize a cooking contest for the best grilled food in the parking lot. Entries are judged and the winner gets a Big gas grill and is included in their tailgating cookbook. They covered half the NFL last season and are finishing up this year. They gave us a copy of last years cookbook with the winning entries from each city they visited. Their three boys are home schooled along the way and are a big help setting up and getting organized at each parking lot. They will be finished at the end of this year's NFL schedule and will publish another cookbook from this season's travels. They donate all funds raised to the Arthritis Society. They are a fun family and it was really neat to meet them. They also have a motorized cooler that was fun to drive around. Darcy seemed to enjoy it too. After a great barbequed supper we took the shuttle bus into the Ryman Auditorium for the Grand Ole Opry performance. It was a great show and it was fun to see the performance at the historical Ryman. It was an early night to get ready for a long day tomorrow.
We headed back into the rink this morning and Graham attended the game day skate. The team arranged for us to park nearby and we went back to Music Row to do some exploring. It was nap time in the afternoon. We walked across the street early for the game and Graham was part of a live pre-game radio show. Nashville won the game in a shoot out. After the game, it was a thrill for me to meet Paul Kariya. Darcy introduced us and asked me to tell Paul my story about our little dog Spike and his favourite toy which just happened to be a Paul Kariya beanie bear. He thought it was pretty funny. He also graciously signed a t-shirt with his name and number on the back for me. It will be a treasured souvenir of our trip for me. After the game, we went back out to the music district and saw it in full swing. The hockey crowd had overflowed into the streets and the bars and honky tonks were full. There was lots of good live music, lots of refreshments, and lots and lots of people. We made our way over to Printer's Alley which is a small alley way with more live music bars. We went into a blues bar and thoroughly enjoyed the live performers. After a fun (and late) night we made our way back to the arena where we stayed in the underground loading dock area. So many of the arenas around the league have had us stay right at their facility after a game and Nashville was kind enough to have us stay with them too. We have certainly had some interesting spots to sleep for the night. I should have kept a journal of each place where we have stayed for the night. That alone would make for interesting reading. We are off to Atlanta in the morning for our last stop before we go home for Christmas. It is hard to believe we have been on the road for two and a half months. I am definitely looking forward to going home even if it is for a short time.

Graham's Game Report

Dec 16, 2006
Gaylord Entertainment Center
St. Louis Blues vs Nashville Predators

We saw the Blues for the second time in five days and after a few practices with their new coach. They were much more disciplined this time and probably deserved better than the point they earned in the 3-2 shootout loss but the Preds are a strong team coming off a 6-0 spanking of the Ottawa Senators two nights earlier. The Blues jumped out to the lead only 30 seconds into the game and began trapping almost immediately. They added a second goal on a two man advantage later in the period as Elmira native Dennis Wideman set up Doug Weight for a one timer from the point that found the back of the net. The home side battled back with a rocket from the stick of Paul Kariya midway through the second and a late solo effort from Scott Nichol with only seventeen seconds left in the second period to knot the score at two. Both teams had chances to win it in the third and overtime periods but Mason and Legace were solid between the pipes to send the game to a shootout. Kariya scored the only goal of the shootout to give the homeside the extra point.
We had a chance to catch up with Dan’s former Orlando teammate Darcy Hordichuk who is enjoying his role with this strong Nashville team. The assistant coach for the Predators is Peter Horacek who coached the Orlando team to a Turner Cup in the last year of the IHL. It was nice to remember that very special time in Dan’s career. Nashville will definitely be a team to watch in a strong Western Conference in this year’s playoffs.

Weekly Travel

2007-01-11T17:03:00.000-05:00

Weekly Travel

It was an uneventful drive leaving St. Louis. Interestingly enough, we crossed the Mississippi River at St. Louis Missouri and were in East St. Louis Illinois. It seemed funny that we started in Chicago and were back in Illinois. The State of Missouri is bordered by five other States. It is no wonder then that it is the gateway to the east and the west.It seemed like a very short drive to the southern part of the State and we were in Kentucky. We stopped at Paducah for the night and enjoyed a great meal on the barbeque. We were up in the morning and it was a very, and I mean very short drive through the western part of Kentucky. We were quickly in Tennessee for our second time on this trip. Our destination was Nashville and we had lots of time to get there before the game on the 16th.

St Louis

2006-12-19T00:42:00.000-05:00

St. Louis

After leaving Sikeston, it was a short drive to St. Louis. We are looking forward to our stop in St. Louis. One of Dan’s former teammates in Owen Sound, Curtis Sanford is playing in St. Louis. We also have an Elmira connection to the Blues. Dennis Wideman from Elmira plays there too. His brother Dale played Junior B with Dan and his other brother Darren is currently the assistant coach of the Junior B team in Elmira. We stayed at the Sundermeier campground at St. Charles a suburb of St. Louis and it is one of the nicest places we have been at. There is a large restaurant right there and we made arrangements to meet Curtis and Dennis there for supper. It was a great evening with good food and even better was the company. We have so enjoyed talking and visiting with friends along the way on our tour. There is always lots of hockey talk too. St. Louis has been struggling of late and it was most unfortunate that the coach got fired that evening. Mike Kitchen was out and Andy Murray is the new coach. It may be the change they need. There is certainly no job security in coaching no matter what the sport. Graham attended the game day skate the next morning and there was a lot of media there covering the coach story. The players had to make some adjustments to a new coach with all the media watching. I’m sure that’s not easy. The arena in St. Louis is right in the downtown core as many of the rinks are in the NHL cities. It is not too far from the beautiful arch that greets you when you arrive in the city core. St. Louis is almost halfway between each coast and is the gateway to the west and the east. The Lewis and Clark expedition went through this area and met in the St. Charles area where we had stayed last night. So many States are so rich in history and it has been so much fun to discover all the stories each State has to offer about their past. It was game time and Graham did some local live radio on a sports talk station. St. Louis was playing their first game with their new coach and looked a bit nervous. They were playing Chicago and came up short in the win department. We are usually pretty lucky for the home team when we are at the game, but not tonight. Our record is now 9 and 4 on our road tour for the home team. We are also at our thirteenth stop. Thirteen teams down and seventeen to go. We are now on the road to Nashville.

Graham's Game Report

Dec 12, 2006
Scottrade Center
Chicago Blackhawks vs. St. Louis Blues

These two once proud franchises have both fallen on hard times the last few years. Chicago reacted first by firing their head coach Trent Yawney and replacing him with Hawk hall of famer Denis Savard. The team has responded with a string of wins to get back in the playoff picture. The Blues took the same route last night and replaced coach Mike Kitchen with Andy Murray. In Murray’s first game behind the bench the Blues responded with a strong effort to build a 1-0 lead after two periods but took three consecutive penalties in a short span to fall behind 3-1 midway through the third. They kept working and got one back with just over a minute left but could not find the equalizer. The team still needs a lot of work but look for them to go on a tear as the players buy in to the coach’s systems or are shuffled to the sidelines.
We had the chance to watch Elmira native Dennis Wideman on the blueline and he played increasing minutes as the game went on. He had a solid game and looked more and more confident as the game progressed. It will be a real opportunity for Dennis to solidify his position with the club as they move into a new era. His skills are needed on this blueline the way it stands now so look for him to rack up some points again shortly.
Unfortunately we didn’t get to see another old friend play as goaltender Curtis Sanford is sidelined for several months with a groin injury. He was Dan’s teammate for three years in Owen Sound and has battled his way to the NHL despite being undrafted. One benefit for us was getting to spend a little extra time with Curtis and his young family since he wasn’t in the lineup.
The night before the game we had a good chance to catch up with both Dennis and Curtis over dinner at the RV park we were staying in. They described things as being very unsettled and it was only a few hours later the coach was let go. Despite all the turmoil the next day I had a chance to chat with several players at the game day skate and they seem optimistic of better days ahead. Herbie T will have something to cheer about soon.

Weekly Travel

2006-12-18T23:24:00.001-05:00

Weekly Travel

We left bright and early at 5:00 AM and decided to have a long driving day. Houston is closed to the border of Texas and Louisiana so it wasn’t long till we were leaving Texas. We had wanted to tour the New Orleans area, but decided against going there. They are still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina and we thought it best not to visit at this time. Graham did most of the driving while it was dark and then we switched. The Baton Rouge area is largely bayou. Soon after I started driving the main interstate was totally built "above" the bayou. I chuckled at the signs that said "alligator infested waters, do not attempt to cross by swimming in this area". Nice. The entire road was above the swamp. Two lanes one way and then a large open span with two lanes going the other way. One of the most interesting stretches of highway I have ever driven across. There was also no passing allowed on the road in that stretch and trucks had to stay in the right lane. Once past Baton Rouge a bit, we headed north on I-55. This runs all the way through Mississippi and up into St. Louis which was our eventual destination for our next game. We just kept driving and driving. I did more driving in one stretch today than I have since we left home. It was nice for Graham to have a break. It was straight highway all the way. Once in Mississippi we were in Jackson before we knew it. It was going good, so we kept going. It was finally getting to be the end of the day so we stopped in the northwest corner of the state in Tunica. It was right on the Mississippi River. It felt good to drive through two states, but it was time to stop and have a break. We stopped at a campsite near one of the huge casinos there and stayed for the night. We had a day off the next day and played some cards. We stayed that night and got up the next morning and drove the short distance to Memphis. It was Sunday morning and someone had recommended the Peabody Hotel’s Sunday brunch. It was a very old hotel and very ornate inside. There was an amazing selection to choose from at their brunch. I took some pictures and they don’t do the hotel justice. It was all decorated up for Christmas and there was a large fountain in the lobby with five ducks swimming around. They didn’t look happy about the whole thing since there were small children running around scaring them. We did a very quick tour on Beale Street and checked out some of the famous blues bars such as B.B. King’s where we heard a lively 85 year old guitar player. Some of the buildings are very run down and old looking, but there are still a number of music bars with a variety of artists that play there. We were in Tennessee briefly while in Memphis but stayed on I-55 and soon were in Arkansas on our way to St. Louis. It was a short drive and we were in the state of Missouri. St. Louis is on the far east side of the state so it was pretty well straight up from Memphis. We decided to have a short driving day, so stopped after driving three hours near Sikeston Missouri. The weather was much warmer and we didn’t have to have the furnace on at night anymore. The countryside was much like at home. Flat areas with cultivated fields and a few hilly areas with bush lots full of oak and cedar trees. There were lots of different cattle in the fields too. I got my first look at some Brahma bulls. They were grey and they were beyond huge. They were massive. I thought the texas longhorns in Texas were big. I sure wouldn’t want to ride one like the rodeo riders do. They were big and they even looked mean.

Houston

2006-12-18T18:12:00.000-05:00

Houston

We thought Dallas was a big city. Not compared to Houston. We found out that Houston is now the fourth largest city in the United States. It is very, very sprawled out. And you drive for miles to get anywhere. This driving compares to that in Los Angeles. Lots of highways and lots of traffic. You sure have to manage your time to allow for driving any distance. We stayed in the northwest part of the city on Monday and on Tuesday drove into the downtown where the arena was. Team public relations people Ryan and Courtney had arranged for us to help out with their food drive for the Houston Food Bank. We were going to take the food collected at a recent Aeros game along with four players in the RV to drop it off at the Food Bank. We were of course happy to know that one of Dan’s best friends, Curtis Murphy would be one of the four players. Also along were Eric Reitz, Ryan Stokes, and Chris Ovington. We loaded up the food at the rink and drove to the Food Bank. Everyone helped unload it at the other end and we got to have a tour of the Food Bank facilities. It was amazing what they do there to help feed so many people. They told us that they feed approximately 80,000 people per week and the entire stock of food in their building rotates through in one week. They had lots and lots of volunteers. There were even young men from a local detention centre helping who are there most days. They are all quite a group of dedicated individuals who work together as a team to help so many who are less fortunate. It was good to see. As I said previously, it was good to see Dan’s good friend Curtis Murphy. "Murph" as he is known played in Orlando with Dan for two years. They were teammates on the Orlando Solar Bear’s Turner Cup Champs. The Solar Bears were the last team to win the Turner Cup in the IHL before it folded and many teams joined with the AHL. They were also roommates and Murph has become a good friend of our entire family. We stayed out the front of his house that night and enjoyed visiting with his family Kelly, Chandler, Hayden, and of course almost three year old Reese. She loved to drive "the bus". While in Houston we also got to visit with Cam Stewart a local boy for us. Cam played all of his youth hockey in the Woolwich Minor Hockey System in our town of Elmira. He played pro for a few years till a series of concussions forced him from the game. He currently is a coach with the Houston Aeros. We had a great dinner that evening with Murph and Kelly and Stewie. It is always good when you are on the road to see good friends. It makes the trip shorter. The next day we made our way to a campground near the NASA Space Center. Jeremy, with the Aeros had arranged for Graham to speak that evening to a group of parents and minor hockey kids at a local rink. They were a very receptive group. While we were there we met Richard Allen and Barry Terrell. Richard is the President and CEO of the Visitors Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Barry is the owner of T-Bone Tom’s a local eatery at Kemah. Both gentlemen invited us to visit their establishments the next and we decided to take them up on their offers. NASA in Houston is the Mission Control base for all NASA flights into space. They were currently waiting on some good weather to have a Discovery launch within the next day or so. We met Richard and he advised us which things to see in the time we had there. The Center itself is quite interesting to see. The main area where you come in is very kid oriented and has a lot hands on displays. We saw a movie and then went through a section depicting the inside of the space station. Then it was off on a shuttle tour to the hub of NASA. It is a city unto itself. They are almost like a huge compound. They have named streets, stoplights, their own police and fire departments and over 10,000 workers.
We sat in the VIP room that overlooked the actual "mission control" area that looked after so many space flights. When we left NASA, we drove to Kemah to check out T-Bone Tom’s. Now, we have had a lot of different meals since we have left home and have eaten at many eateries. T-Bone Tom’s has a real local flavour to it and the food was amazing. We had the lunch special Southern Fried Chicken. This was fried chicken the way mama meant it to be. I don’t think I have ever had chicken that tasted so good. There were two huge (and I mean huge) pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and a hot fresh southern biscuit. There goes the diet – again. I couldn’t finish it all. My only experience with fried chicken has been Kentucky Fried Chicken. I would travel to T-Bone’s just for the fried chicken. If you are ever in the area, check it out. Barry was a gracious host and wouldn’t let us pay for lunch. We bought some t-shirts and will happily think of his place whenever we wear them. We left for the rink and made our way to our home for the night. The ramp at the arena down at the loading dock. It has been a usual spot for us at many arenas now, and it is usually a great spot. We can hook up the RV and then stay at the rink overnight after the game. We were leaving early in the morning for the next leg of the journey so it worked out great. The Areos battled for a win but the game ended in a scoreless tie and they lost in a shoot out. They are struggling right now, but hopefully can turn things around soon. At 5:00 AM we were up and out of the loading dock area and on our way to our next destination, Memphis Tennessee.

Graham's Game Report

Dec 7, 2006
Toyota Center
Houston, Texas
Omaha Knights vs. Houston Aeros

It was a real treat to be able to catch an AHL game in a wonderful rink. The facility is major league all the way and houses the Houston Rockets of the NBA as well as the Aeros. It was a chance to catch up with Dan’s good friend and former Orlando teammate Curtis Murphy. I have never understood why no NHL team has ever given Murph a legitimate shot. All he’s done was win numerous defenseman of the year awards and many championships. This year’s version of the Aeros has really struggled to score goals and our visit was no exception. Sixty five minutes of hockey produced zero goals for either team despite many quality scoring chances and the Aeros finally succumbed in the shootout. It was also a chance to watch Dan’s former Plater teammate Joel Ward. He still works hard every shift and is a reliable defensive winger and penalty killer. It’s good to see him getting AHL experience and who knows where it might lead. NHL teams are always in need of strong defensive players especially when they have some size. Houston is also home to former NHLer and Elmira Sugar King Cam Stewart. Stewy’s career was cut short by injury and it’s good too see him back in the game as an assistant coach. We wish him all the best as he pursues a coaching career.

Dallas

2006-12-18T18:10:00.000-05:00

Dallas

It was a very short drive to Dallas. We were already at the border of Oklahoma and Texas, and Dallas is in the north part of the state, so it was a short little hop to get there. We found an RV park in the suburb of Arlington, which is west of Dallas/Fort Worth. We got up the next morning and drove into the city to find the American Airlines Center. It is a beautiful facility and was easy to find. Graham went in for the game day skate and I stayed out in the parking lot in the RV. There was a knock at the door all of a sudden and there was Scott McDonald from Listowel along with his buddies Brian, Bruce and Gary . They were on their annual hockey trip and knew from our schedule that we were going to be in Dallas at the same time. They were driving by the arena on a service road and saw the RV parked in the parking lot. They knew who it was right away. We had a great visit and by the time Graham came back out we were still talking. For those of you that don’t know where Listowel is, it is about 30 miles west of Elmira. So when we were this far from home, it was like seeing our neighbours. We made arrangements to meet them at the game and found our new spot to stay for the night. Parking Lot "C" a couple of blocks from the rink. Along the way we have met some amazing people involved with the public relations and media for the respective teams. Mark Janko is one of them. He is the Director of Public Relations for the Dallas Stars and truly showed us what southern hospitality is all about. Thanks Mark for everything you did for us. We were also fortunate to meet the owner of the team Mr. Thomas Hicks and his son Thomas Hicks Jr. They were very gracious and kind and asked us all about our travels. They also told us that the Stars Foundation would be making a donation to our cause. Mr. Hicks is also the owner of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team, so he enjoys sports and said hockey has become a passion for him. After the game we went downstairs to meet some of the players and get our posters signed. Captain Brendan Morrow didn’t play in the game, but came out and met with us for a picture and he signed the captain’s poster. Mike Modano signed the player’s poster for us and also chatted for a bit and posed for a picture. I also had a good chat with a couple of local Dallas Firefighters that were at the game to look after any medical emergencies. It was a pleasure to meet both Ken and Juan. Thanks guys for taking time to chat with me. Well, it was another win for the home team with the Snyders in attendance. The Stars managed to win in a shoot out putting our record at 9 and 3. It is now twelve teams down and eighteen to go. We are off to Houston to visit friends and to see an AHL game. We have two days to get to Houston, so we stayed in Dallas for the night after the game in the parking lot. On Sunday we drove for a couple of hours and stopped at a RV Park in the middle of nowhere basically, right off the highway. It was noisy, but easy to get on and off.

Graham's Game Report

Dec 2, 2006
American Airlines Arena
Minnesota Wild vs. Dallas Stars

Both teams came into this game on three game losing streaks after getting off to strong starts. The injury bug has hit both sides and each team played with some desperation when the game was on the line. The Stars jumped in front twice only to have the Wild move in front 3-2 early in the 3rd period. The rest of the game was intense as you could feel how badly both teams wanted the two points. A Wild turnover allowed Jussi Jokinen to walk in alone late in the game and tie the score. Our thoughts turned to seeing our first shootout of the trip and when overtime solved nothing the showdown was on. The Wild were missing Gaborik and Demitra, their top two scoring threats, so they were decided underdogs to the masters of the shootout. The Stars are an amazing 14-1 in the shootout and young Jokinen is money in the bank at an unbelievable 12 of 15. Zubov, Jokinen and Ribeiro all scored for the home side and Turco’s stop on the first shot was all they needed for the two points. It was an exciting game with some good scoring chances from two teams who pride themselves on strong defense.
I had the chance to chat with two Midwestern Jr B alumni after the game. They each had different memories of the old Elmira Arena when I told them of our plans for a new arena in Dan’s name. Marty Turco played for the Cambridge Winterhawks in the year of the double round robin for the Sutherland Cup. He was never thrilled with the crazy bounces and small corners in our little bandbox. Jeff Halpern played for an exceptionally talented Stratford Cullitons team that defeated the Elmira Sugar Kings 4-0 in the league final in Dan’s only year of Jr B hockey. Jeff enjoyed the small ice surface and the feeling of the fan’s being right on top of you and extremely loud. Two different takes on the same building and a reminder how small the hockey world is. One of the real pleasures of this trip has been exploring the many ties around the hockey world. There hasn’t been a stop yet where we haven’t found some connection.
Now it’s off to Houston for an AHL game with the Aeros and a chance to catch up with Woolwich native Cam Stewart and Dan’s good friend and former teammate Curtis Murphy.

Weekly Travel

2006-12-18T18:08:00.000-05:00

Weekly Travel

Well, we got up in the morning and the wind hadn’t blown us away. Just about though. We drove south of Oklahoma City and the winds were really picking up. We didn’t have to be in Dallas for two days, so we decided to have a short drive today. We found an RV park right near the Oklahoma/Texas border and got a spot with no problems. The pool and hot tub were open, but it was getting colder by the minute it seemed. It was going to be a two furnace heating night again by the looks of things. The weather report was still calling for high winds (which hadn’t diminished yet), rain, sleet, snow flurries, possible tornadoes, and just generally bad weather. We were glad to stay put and not have to drive the RV in the ice and freezing rain. And stayed put we did, for two days. The locals were all shook up with the "big storm". There was a lot of ice and wind, but by our standards at home for a winter storm, it was routine. People didn’t go to work, the schools shut down and things basically came to a halt. Yes, the great Oklahoma storm of 2006. We made it through. Now if it was summer, I would imagine they get some fierce storms and tornadoes. I guess when they aren’t used to ice and snow it throws a curve into getting around. Anyway, we were glad we weren’t out driving in it. A couple of locals said to us not to drive down there to Texas. They are crazy drivers down there and they will be all over the road in this weather. Y’all better stay put. Most conversations we had with any locals ended up with them making some sort of comment about Texans. I take it they have a bit of bad blood between them. After our two days and with some better weather on the horizon, we were on our way to Dallas.

Weekly Travel

2006-12-07T15:56:00.000-05:00

Weekly travel

If anyone reading this gets a chance to visit the Sedona-Flagstaff area north of Scottsdale and Phoenix Arizona, do so. It is amazingly beautiful. Pictures cannot do the scenery justice. The scrubbiness and flatness of the desert gives rise to the red rock hills and cliffs in the Sedona area. The sun was just rising on the rocks when we arrived in the area and it was something to see. The best viewing for the light conditions on the rock formations is at sunrise or sunset we are told. The layering effect of the different types of rocks and soil that make up the formations could only be done by Mother Nature. It did remind me somewhat of a layered salad in a glass bowl that I have had before. The red colour of the rocks is a quite a unique shade and it sticks quite nicely to your shoes too. It is one of those things that you have to see to believe it. It is hard to describe. A number of people suggested to us that we stop in that area on our way to Denver and we are glad that we did. Again, if you get the chance to go there, do so.
After the game in Denver, we once again stayed at the arena. Arena staff member John fixed us up with a hydro connection. It was quite cold during the night and we were glad to have the furnace on. Local weather reports were calling for a huge cold front coming in with snow in the Denver area. Our timing was great to be leaving town. Our next stop for hockey is Dallas and we will be traveling through Kansas and Oklahoma to get to Texas. We checked the map before leaving Denver and decided we could get on interstate – 70 and set the cruise control to get through Kansas. Someone jokingly said to us that there is not much but wheat fields, telephone poles, and barbed wire in Kansas. They were right! Just kidding. Although we did see a lot of those things. And the road didn’t turn much. Lots of straight driving. Just the way I like it when I am driving. We stopped for the night on our journey from Denver near Oakley Kansas. And it was pretty cold then. It was 28F in the morning when we got up. We kept the two furnaces going in the RV to stay warm and also to keep the pipes from freezing. In the morning we made our way south and the temperature warmed up by forty degrees by the afternoon. The temperature changes quickly in the Midwest. We drove south to Dodge City and got to see the original Boot Hill area of Dodge. It was exactly high noon when we got there, but there were no gunfights going on. I watched a lot of cowboy movies when I was a kid, and every gun battle seemed to happen at high noon. There is the usual touristy shop on site and a mock up of what the buildings would have looked like in the era of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, Calamity Jane, and Buffalo Bill. The railroad runs nearby, and what is left of the original Boot Hill cemetery stands on a hill behind the buildings. We wanted to get out of Dodge in a hurry since the weather was supposed to get really cold that night. We headed off in a southeast direction and stopped about thirty miles outside of Oklahoma City. Driving through Oklahoma is interesting too. Lots of grain and corn fields and the biggest feed lots I have ever seen. We drove by a few of them and there were thousands and thousands of different kind of cattle. Some of the feed lots housed ten to fifteen thousand head of cattle. As you drove by, you wondered when the pens of cattle were ever going to end. I guess that’s why there are so many grain fields. They need them to feed all the cattle. Very rarely do you ever see a house or barn. These farms are of massive acreage. Even driving on some of the local roads as opposed to the interstate highway, you often didn’t see a house for miles. They were few and far between until you got to a little town. It got colder once again where we were staying near Oklahoma City and the weather report was calling for high winds, tornadoes, and rain/wet snow in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas. Right where we are. If I see Dorothy in her red shoes and her little dog Toto from Kansas go flying by, I’ll know we’re in trouble.

Denver

2006-12-07T15:50:00.000-05:00

Denver

It was a long drive to Denver. We stayed for the night in Phoenix after the game right at the arena. We left first thing in the morning (6:00 AM) for our long drive to Denver. We had over 800 miles to cover in two days. We wanted to be in Denver by Friday evening so we could get settled and ready to go ‘to the Pepsi Centre for Saturday’s game day skate in the morning and the game that night. We made a quick stop in Sedona on our way and stopped for the night on Thursday in Santa Fe. We drove about nine hours to get that far and it was a long day. On Friday morning we started off early again and got to Denver late in the afternoon. We found a campsite not too far from the arena and very happily settled in for the night.
We made our way to the rink in the morning and Graham was attending the game day skate. It is quite a sight driving towards the Pepsi Centre and seeing the Rocky Mountains framed in the background. It is a most unusual sight and quite beautiful. Denver is a lovely city that has retained a lot of its original architecture. Many older warehouse type buildings have been converted to lofts and condos in the downtown area and there are lots of restaurants and shops in the area too. There are a few higher buildings, but they aren’t typical big city high rise type buildings. You can see the mountains from everywhere in the downtown area and I’m sure the local government took that into consideration when new buildings were being built in the downtown area. Graham had quite a meet and greet at the game day skate and met most of the players on the team along with many of the management people. Everyone was so welcoming and took time to stop and chat. He met for a bit with Joe Sakic and got to talk to him about Dan. Joe Sakic was Dan’s hero growing up and his favourite hockey player. It was a highlight of his pro hockey career when he got to face off against him in a game. We were treated like honoured guests by the whole organization. The Hockey Night in Canada team from the west was doing the game, so we visited with Scott Oak and Kelly Hrudey and John the cameraman. It was good to see some familiar faces. Before the game we were guests of the team at the Big Sky Grill. It is a restaurant at the front of the arena. And what a restaurant. It is designed to look like a cabin from yesteryear. All the interior is made of wood beams. The floor is made up of old barn boards sanded down, the walls are timbers from trees that were felled when the fire went through Yellowstone Park in 1988, and the ceiling is from rail fencing from Wyoming. There are authentic western pictures on the walls and animal pelts and heads mounted up high. Two huge stone fireplaces are the centre piece of the entire room. It seated a lot of people and it was full before the game. The food was great too. The Avalanche won the game handily by a score of 4-1. The home team wins again with the Snyders in attendance. Our record is now 7 wins and 3 losses for the home team. Ten teams down and twenty to go. One third of the way there.

Graham's Game Report

Sat. Nov. 25
Pepsi Center
Vancouver Canucks vs Colorado Avalanche

Both these teams have been up and down early this season but the home team came in having won three of the last four. It’s always a treat to see one of the greats of the game, Joe Sakic, who was a role model for Dan. He didn’t disappoint on or off the ice as his leadership of a young Avs team was evident. Youngsters Wojtek Wolski and Paul Stastny had 4 and 3 points respectively to lead the Avs to a 4-1 victory. We also got to see Dan’s former Orlando and Atlanta teammate Brett Clark score his first goal of the year and log 20 plus minutes on the blueline. His offensive flair is still a strength and his defense was steady all night. Vancouver stayed in the game all night but couldn’t finish against a sharp Jose Theodore between the pipes.
Denver is a vibrant hockey city and our first visit was a memorable one.

Phoenix

2006-11-25T22:18:00.000-05:00

Phoenix

From Yuma, we drove over to Phoenix and stayed with friends Todd and Holly Reynolds. Todd was one of Dan’s agents and he and his father Don continue to support our family in so many ways. We got to meet almost two year old Samuel who really liked to go out and see our big bus. Graham went to the team practice the day before the actual game and talked to a number of players in the dressing room. He especially enjoyed talking to Curtis Joseph who said he fondly remembers playing in our Woolwich Weekend tournament in Elmira and St. Jacobs. He also said he owns an Olympia ice machine for his private arena and purchased it in Elmira. My friend Rick Schlupp and his family own the Olympia company and make the ice machines at their factory right in Elmira. It was nice to hear about another connection to Elmira. After a talk with Wayne Gretzky, we were sent to his merchandising company out in Scottsdale, Arizona. We met with Darren Blake, Mike Brown, and Drew (sorry I didn’t catch his last name) at the warehouse housing all kinds of Wayne Gretzky signed merchandise. They graciously donated an autographed Oiler’s 99 jersey and a framed autographed picture of Wayne and Gordie Howe sitting together on the bench from the game they played together in 1979 in the WHA. A very generous donation for our end of the tour on line auction. The Coyotes also donated a signed team jersey. It was a good game for the Coyotes and they dominated all night against the New Jersey Devils. They outshot the Devils by a 2-1 margin and even though Curtis Joseph only faced about 12 shots, he was very strong in net.
Graham spoke to a group of adult hockey players on Tuesday evening at the arena in the Coyotes dressing room. They were there for a tour of the team’s facilities and then were going on ice with some Coyote alumni for a work out and a mini tournament. On Wednesday afternoon Graham also spoke to a group of the marketing and ticket sales staff for the team about goals and teamwork. He also talked about how our family has coped the past three years and about the power of forgiveness. He was well received by each group and they were very kind and generous in their thanks afterwards. A special thanks to Sarah for arranging both talks and for all her assistance to make our stop in Phoenix so enjoyable. She made everything easy for us. Thanks Sarah. It is hard to believe, but we have now been to nine NHL cities. Nine cities down and only twenty one to go. Our record for the home team while we are in attendance now stands at 6 and 3. Those Flyers were tough in California for the home team. On to Denver.

Graham's Game Report

Wed Nov 22
Glendale Arena
Phoenix Coyotes vs. New Jersey Devils

The Devils look like a strong contender in the east again this year while the Coyotes have floundered in the strong Western conference. Tonight Phoenix dominated right from the opening faceoff and looked nothing like the team we saw back in Calgary. With captain Shane Doan and the veteran Mike Ricci back in the lineup they were much more balanced up front and the blueline looks looks pretty solid at the top end with Jovanovski, Boynton and Derek Morris leading and youngster Keith Ballard looking ready to contribute. Dave Scatchard led the way with a goal and assist and Curtis Joseph had a rare easy night as the team defended well throughout the game. The Devils were curiously passive on the forecheck even when they trailed by two in the third period. It was a much needed win for the home team.
Off to the Rockies to see Joe Sakic and the Avs on Saturday.

Weekly Travel

2006-11-25T22:16:00.000-05:00

Weekly Travel

We reluctantly left our great spot on the California beach and headed further south to San Diego. The terrain changed and became more desert like as we went down south. It was hilly and rolling along areas when the highway followed along the coast. We stayed at one of the fancier RV parks that we have been at so far. There was a large market on site along with a small restaurant that had the best barbequed chicken I have had in a long time. The park was right on the north part of Mission Bay. Once again, it was quite warm and we went for a swim at 9:00 in the evening and the temperature was still in the low eighties. Entertainment poolside was in the form of a rather drunk guy in a cowboy hat playing the harmonica. He was pretty good actually and quite funny. He rambled on a fair a bit and then blurted out that last year he found out the man he always thought was his father wasn’t his biological father. Imagine that he says. Finding out something like that when you are 50 years old. Then just as quick he says, I guess mom was kind of promiscuous. Man I love that woman. I couldn’t keep a straight face. I had to leave. We have met some different people along the way, that’s for sure. From San Diego we were making our way over to Phoenix. We decided to drive as far as Yuma the first day. It was 90F when we left San Diego first thing in the morning. I love this warm weather. We climbed a fair bit again into some hilly areas and ended up reaching 3000 ft. elevation at one point and then 4000 ft elevation as we went through the Vallecito Mountains. The temperature dropped into the seventies when we were in the higher elevation, but it was still nice and warm. Still definitely not too hard to take.
We camped outside of the city of Yuma at the Cocopah RV and Golf Club. Again, a very nice spot. The Yuma is one of the largest suppliers of winter vegetables to the US and Canada. 98% of all head lettuce for distribution is grown in the Yuma area. There were fields and fields of celery, romaine lettuce, broccoli, head lettuce, parsley, and cotton. The raised rows had hundreds of plants growing in each one. A good supply of water in the area, even though it is considered a desert region, allows for generous irrigation. All the different colours and textures of the plants made it look like a giant quilt when you looked over the fields. It was pretty neat to see where all the vegetables are grown that we consume during the winter months.

Los Angeles

2006-11-25T22:15:00.000-05:00

Los Angeles

After settling at El Segundo, we spent a quiet day at the beach. The driving around the Los Angeles area is everything we had heard and more. Mostly terrible. I thought it was difficult driving in Chicago. We went to see someone on the Friday and what should have been a twenty to twenty five minute drive each way, ended up taking almost an hour and a half each way. Ridiculous and crazy. I could never live in that congested an area. To each his own I guess. We were going to the Kings game on Thursday evening and got there early. Jeff Cowan and his girlfriend Leigh Ann picked us up at the RV Park. Jeff played with Dan in Atlanta and has been on the injured list. We made plans to go out after the game with the Cowans and the Weavers. Mike Weaver also plays in Los Angeles for the Kings and he played with Dan in Orlando, Chicago, and Atlanta. Weaves (as he is known) scored his first goal of the season (or actually his first NHL goal), but it was called back by the referee. Next time Weaves. The Flyers came out flying again and surprisingly put down the Kings 4-3. They have certainly since the beginning of the season but were pretty dominate against the Ducks and the Kings. They were pretty happy to get four points on the road against two good teams. We went out after the game and had a great visit. It always feels good to be with Dan’s friends and share stories. We decided to stay another day at El Segundo at the beach. It was so warm and such a nice spot. After our sojourn across Los Angeles we made our way back to the beach and had Lisa, Jeff and Leigh Ann, Mike and Rhianna, and Mike’s sister Jen over for a steak barbeque. We had way too much food (as usual) and lots of fun. It was a beautiful evening on the beach. The stars in the sky were amazing.

Graham's Game Report

Thu Nov 16
Staples Centre
Los Angeles Kings vs. Philadelphia Flyers

A little parlay action with the Flyers providing the long odds would have been a huge payoff in L.A. but alas I missed the crystal ball on this one. Our strong home record on this trip was dealt a severe blow by the Flyers but you have to love the parity in the new NHL. The Kings were on top 2-1 in the third period when lightning struck and our old buddy Mike Weaver struck for his first NHL goal and we were on our feet cheering wildly. For reasons unknown the referee ruled that he had blown his whistle in error and the goal was disallowed even though the Flyers never gained possession on the delayed penalty. Too bad for Weavs who scores about once a decade and even though the Kings went up 3-1 a little later it came back to bite them as Philly scored three quick goals and hung on to win 4-3. Sean Avery showed a few of the skills he flashed back in Owen Sound and stayed away from the stupid stuff that hurt him last year. Unfortunately Dan’s Thrasher linemate Jeff Cowan was still on the injured list for this one but hopes to be back very soon. Very tough loss for the Kings who have struggled out of the gate but a learning tool none the less. It was interesting to see the number of Flyers jerseys in the stands at both LA rinks and for a change they had lots to cheer about.

Anaheim

2006-11-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

Anaheim

We drove to Los Angeles on Monday afternoon and went straight to see Lisa. Lisa was Dan’s girlfriend just before he passed away. We have stayed in touch with her and were looking forward to seeing her. We were greeted immediately by her very large mixed breed dog named Zipper. He is as gentle as a kitten, but I wouldn’t want to tick him off. He is one big puppy. We stayed at her place for two days and got a personal guided tour of the LA area, including Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, and Hollywood.
A short drive away, we were going first to see the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. We went to the team practice on Wednesday morning and to the game on Thursday evening. The Ducks have been on a bit of a tear and had only lost one game till that point in their schedule. The Flyers came into town and cleaned up though and handed them their second loss of the season. The community department for the team took us for a visit with a group of children before the Ducks game, that were involved in an after school program for kids from a mostly Hispanic neighbourhood. We saw one group at their local roller rink where they played roller hockey and then went over to the Paul Revere Elementary School and met with another group there. They are huge hockey fans and Graham spoke for a bit to the kids at the school about dreams and goals. They are all involved in the Disney Goals program and are crazy about hockey (and the Ducks) and setting goals for yourself. They were a great group of kids that asked a lot of good questions about hockey. Disney and the Junior Ducks and the Anaheim organization have partnered to fund a program for kids that normally wouldn’t be able to afford to play hockey or the equipment. Check out their pictures on the site. We stayed at a RV park near The Pond (which is now called the Honda Center) that was pretty neat. They had citrus fruit trees at each site and encouraged you to pick the fruit. We got some pretty tasty oranges and limes right off the tree. It was also quite warmer in the LA area and didn’t cool down as much at night. After one night staying in Anaheim, we went back to the LA area and camped right at the beach in a State Park at El Segundo. Talk about nice. The temperature averaged 80F the two days we stayed there. Not hard to take for these two sun starved canucks. Another loss for the home team while we are on tour and our record now stands at 5 and 2. We now have 7 teams down and 23 to go.

Graham's Game Report

Wed Nov 15
Honda Centre
Anaheim Ducks vs. Philadelphia Flyers

This game looked to be a mismatch with the 30th place team facing #1 on their own pond. Glad I wasn’t betting in Vegas with Tom S. We would have lost our shirts. The Flyers jumped out to a 5-1 first period lead and even though the Ducks pressed hard the rest of the way it ended as a 7-4 upset. Shots were more than two to one in the Ducks favour but the Flyers defended well and made Anaheim pay for every mistake. Forsberg, Gagne and Knuble are a strong first line and Michael Richards still leads by example as he did in Kitchener. Scott Niedermayer is the smoothest D in the game and the Ducks are very strong on the backend. A little small up front but very quick and skilled. Young Dustin Penner had a strong game up front and adds some much needed size. It was good to see Dan’s Chicago Wolves teammate, Joe DiPenta getting a regular shift on the blueline. He was steady as always back there. Well done Flyers for a rare two points on the road.

Weekly Travel

2006-11-25T22:09:00.000-05:00

Weekly Travel

Upon leaving San Jose, it was time for a bit of a holiday. We were heading over to Las Vegas to meet our friends Mike and Marni and Tom and Janie. We arrived on November 8 and stayed till the 12th. We had a great time. Got to see the new Cirque de Soleil show about the Beatles called LOVE. The music was fantastic. The interpretation of the music on stage by the actors was different, but tied in with the sixties psychedelic era theme. The sound system is amazing and it was great just to sit back and listen to some Beatle’s tunes. We also went out for lunch to the Mesa Grille. Graham was pretty pumped about that one. He is a huge Bobby Flay fan and could have eaten one of everything on the menu. For six meals, three entrees, and drinks, the bill was very reasonable and the food and company was great. We played some cards and had fun playing a slot machine called gold fish. The time with our friends went by too quickly, but it was a nice break. We left Vegas on the Monday morning bright and early and made our way back to Los Angeles.

San Jose

2006-11-14T22:08:00.001-05:00

San Jose

It was a short drive to San Jose from San Francisco. It seems like it is just one huge metropolitan area. You don’t know where one city starts and another ends. We made our way to HP Pavilion and were greeted by Scott Emmert the director of media relations. He took us to our seats and made arrangements for us to meet him in between each period. Graham was interviewed by a local radio station for their show between the second and third period. Scott took us up to the owner’s box – Mr. Greg Jamison for the third period. Mr. Jamison was a very gracious host and sat down with us to discuss Dan and our purpose for this trip. He was a very kind sincere man and said the Sharks would be making a donation to the Dan Snyder Memorial Foundation. He told us he admired what we were doing, but admired our son for his community involvement. He said their team is involved in numerous community ventures and feels strongly about players being involved in local community events. We managed to talk a bit of hockey too. He loves the game and we were able to see why everyone in the organization is top notch. It starts at the top with good leadership and the rest as they say, looks after itself. The San Jose Sharks got our winning streak back on track with a 3-1 win. We are now 5 & 1 for the home team. The count stands at 6 teams down and 24 to go.

Graham's Game Report

San Jose vs Minnesota

Nov. 7, 2006

HP Pavilion

Another full house greeted the Sharks and they were full value for a 3-1 victory over the always tough Wild. Joe Thornton continues to show great vision and Patrick Marleau and Scott Hannan strong leadership for a young Shark’s team. They jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and despite missing many power play opportunities, hung on to tame the Wild. The Pacific Division is going to be a real dog fight this year. This should provide some exciting hockey for fans in the Western Conference.

Weekly Travel

2006-11-14T22:06:00.000-05:00

Weekly Travel

After we left Vancouver we were making our way to the western coast of the US for drive down along Washington, Oregon, and into California. We wanted to take the coast highway to see as much of the scenery as possible. It was a very winding drive. Up and down and around and around. And in the pouring rain most of the time. Some of the scenery was a lot of very large trees in places, but we did see the ocean regularly. The coast of Oregon can only be described as rugged. The rock formations along the beaches, called haystacks rose out of the water in many places along the beaches. As we drove further south in the state of Oregon and got closer to California, we started seeing more and more of the giant redwood cedar trees. They are quite a sight indeed. So tall and so big around some of them. We stopped in one spot at a tree called the grandfather tree. It is over 1800 years old, 285 feet high, and 55 feet around. That is one big tree. We took a few pictures for our picture gallery on the website. Graham and I look pretty insignificant standing beside it.
We finally made our way through the very winding roads that are Highway 1 on the coast region. The tightest turns I have ever seen and they never seemed to end. It was 6-7 hours of straight winding, turning, and up and down. Not an easy feat in a 37 foot RV. Graham was exhausted by the time we got to our campsite. I had my eyes closed a lot of the time, so I guess it was a good idea that I didn’t do any driving on this stretch. Sheer rock cliffs that drop hundreds of feet to nothing but rocks below with a churning boiling ocean surf coming in was much of the view along northern California’s highway 1. And very few if any barricades along the road’s edge. The soft shoulders with crumbling road broken away also did a lot for my level of safety. Beautiful countryside and gorgeous scenery, but now that I have seen it, I think I’ll remember what it looks like and I don’t need to go back and see it again.
Our travels took us next to San Francisco. We had time to stop there before we went to San Jose for the game there. This is the fun part of this tour. Stopping and seeing so many places and things that we had read about, and are now able to see. We had a nice campsite right in the city across from Monster Park (formerly Candlestick Park) and took a shuttle to Fisherman’s Wharf. Lots of sights and sounds (and food) to check out there. We did all the touristy things in that area and took lots of pictures. We were in the Wharf area for 7 hours and didn’t even get to see all we wanted to see. Oh well. We’ll just have to go back. We did go on a harbour tour and cruised under the Golden Gate Bridge and by the infamous island of Alcatraz. Such history behind both sites. It was also interesting to hear how San Francisco survived and re-built after two very disastrous earthquakes.

Vancouver

2006-11-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

Vancouver

In Vancouver, we were staying with Graham’s cousin Darrell and his wife Tamara. We stayed for five days and once again it was nice to be in one spot for a few days with no driving. We did a lot of visiting and touring around in those five days with "Elmira" friends that now live in Vancouver and of course ate too much. The relaxing part was great too. The Vancouver organization was great to us and Darrell, Graham, and I attended the game. We sat way, way high up this time in the media section. Heights are not my specialty, but the view was great and after a while, you don’t notice how high you actually are. The Canucks unfortunately went down to defeat late in the third period and ruined our perfect record. We are now 4 & 1 for the home team. The official countdown is now at 5 teams down and 25 to go.

Graham's Game Report

Vancouver vs Nashville

Oct. 31, 2006

GM Place

The Canucks are off to a great start this year playing the majority of their games on the road. Tonight they fell behind 2-0 early in the game and battled back to tie the game in the third only to give up a late goal and lose 3-2. Nashville has not lost since the game in Chicago on Oct. 12. Their pre-season picks as favourites by experts looks to be well deserved. A very tough team to play against. The Canucks got good leadership from Captain Markus Naslund and great goaltending from Roberto Luongo. The Canucks look play-off bound this year.

Weekly Travel

2006-11-14T17:29:00.000-05:00

Weekly Travel

It was time to start the climb up and through the Canadian Rockies. There were a lot of small lakes and streams along the way. The main road is built along and follows the path of the streams. Lots of winding and at times lots of climbing. Some areas had snow and others had none at all. I don’t know how the locals drive some of these roads regularly. They are so high at times above canyons and cliffs. It is a loooooooooong way to the bottom. Another neat thing was the wildlife overpasses. Instead of car overpasses, in some places they had wildlife overpasses so the animals could cross the road back and forth without being on the highway. Almost all the areas along the highway had very high heavy fencing along the road so the elk and deer couldn’t run out on the road. Then every so far, there would be an overpass over the road so that they could cross over. Visiting their friends, I guess. Once into British Columbia, we stopped at the visitor centre in Golden and got a bunch of maps and tourist info. By afternoon the temperature had gone up to a balmy 51F. Not hot, but sure warmer than this morning. We stopped at Sicamous for the night and enjoyed a barbeque cooked up by chef Graham.
The next morning we were off to Vernon and stopped there to visit former Elmira Sugar King Andrew Coburn. He is playing hockey in Vernon. After a nice lunch and visit with Andrew, we made our way through the Okanagan Valley to Kelowna and stayed with Ron and Liz Ruppel. We stayed at their house for the night and then in the morning we were up and moving on to Vancouver. It is a beautiful drive through the valley area along Lake Okanagan. The road we travelled on was crazy to drive on, but it was worth it to see the spectacular scenery. We went through the Roger’s Pass on this stretch of driving and reached an altitude of 5,619 feet. The temperature dropped quite a bit. It was high enough for me, and I was glad when we eventually started making our descent.

Calgary

2006-11-14T17:03:00.001-05:00

Calgary

Up and at em again and we headed down the Calgary Trail to Calgary. We passed through Ron McLean’s home town of Red Deer, Alberta on our way there. We found a nice campsite at the outskirts of Calgary. Internet access has been sketchy at some spots, but we did manage to update some stuff at an office inside the main building. We have had no luck contacting the Flames representative the past week, so we camped for two days and went into the city and found the Saddledome. We managed to get parked out the front with the help of Bob who is in charge of security. A team rep did come out and took our posters in to hopefully get them signed, but we weren’t allowed in to see anyone. We got our tickets and put in time till game time with a nice walk along the river and Stampede grounds which are attached to the arena. It covers quite a large area. Graham met with a local sports station host named Bruce Dowbiggin and was on his show for 45 minutes in the afternoon. He dropped by the RV to meet me and graciously gave us a book he has written. We once again had great seats for the game and Calgary won handily by a score of 6-1. We are now 4 & 0 for the home team while on our tour. 4 teams down and 26 to go. We waited after the game for our posters which were being done and Liz from the concierge desk after checking for them, retrieved them for us. We were on our way right after the game to drive out of the city. It’s not so busy and hectic in the morning trying to maneuver the 37 machine around in rush hour traffic. We drove to Canmore, Alberta and stopped there for the night. It of course was dark when we got there, but in the morning it was amazing getting up early and watching the sun come up shining so brightly on the mountain tops. It was quite a sight. Our waitress at one point looked out and said that she never gets tired of looking at the mountains. I can see why. The colours reflected from the sun are hard to describe. It was also a cool 21F and we had no heat.

Graham's Game Report

Calgary vs Phoenix

Oct. 24, 2006

The Saddledome

Calgary has been struggling to this point, but tonight they coasted to an easy 6-1 victory over the Coyotes. Not much went right for Phoenix tonight but they looked to be a little stronger than what they showed. Some tough breaks and too many penalties left them behind after the first period and they were never able to get in the game.

Edmonton

2006-11-14T16:59:00.000-05:00

Edmonton

We were followed into Edmonton with the HNIC crew and a TSN crew. We split the trip up from Lloydminster with each crew. We stopped at a town named Veigerville that hd the world’s largest easter egg. It was huge. Very beautiful too. It was a Ukranian design with copper inlayed into the design. We switched camera crews at that point and made our way into Edmonton. We camped for one night at a very muddy spot and made our way back into Edmonton the following morning for the game day skate. Graham got to go in and sit with G.M. Kevin Lowe and talk hockey with him and Scotty Bowman whom had come in at the same time. J.J. Hebert had things all set up for us upon arrival and made our stay very special. We once again stayed right at the arena on the back ramp area where the teams come in and out. They gave us a dressing room for our own use. We spent the day doing some media interviews, did some walking, and relaxing. It’s nice to stay in one spot for a bit and not have to drive. We had a tour of the CBC truck that produces the HNIC show before the game started. Don Metz who is in charge of production at the Edmonton facility toured us through and then came and got us during the game and took us through again so we could see it when the things were running on live time. We went and had a visit with Ron McLean and Don Cherry during the second period when they weren’t on air. As you can see by a couple of the pictures, Don had me wear the boa he had on at the beginning of the show. It was breast cancer awareness night at Rexall Place and he wore it to liven things up with his usual touch of humour. He told me to keep it, so I have it along with me now in the RV. You never know when it might come in handy to have a hot pink feather boa to wear!!!
We were also honoured to be special guests of G.M. Kevin Lowe and his wife Karen in their family box for the game. Kevin’s mom Jessie was there too as were two of the Lowe children. A very nice family and they made us feel so welcome. J.J. also kindly gave us an autographed Oilers playoff jersey from last year that will go for auction. It is the dark navy colour and I think I like it better than the white ones. It was a long day and we gladly crawled into bed that night. The countdown stands now at 3 teams down and 27 to go.

Graham's Game Report

Edmonton vs Detroit Oct. 21, 2006 at Rexall Place

Edmonton is off to a good start this year despite not playing their best hockey, according to the coaches and the players. They came out on top with a couple of identical break away goals late in the game. Detroit has been struggling on their current road trip and looked frustrated at times. Strong goaltending from Dwayne Roloson kept Edmonton in the game till their offense got going. Don’t count Detroit out just yet.

Weekly Travel

2006-11-14T16:57:00.000-05:00

Weekly Travel

We had some interesting stays along the way besides the arenas in Chicago and St. Paul. The wind managed to slow down a bit by the time we had almost driven out of Minnesota. I thought we were going to blow off the road at times. We also managed to hit two large flying buckets that are used to wash floors. The big ones with the wheels and handle on them. Some (insert synonym here – idiot, dufus, moron, bonehead) failed to tie down the items in his pick up truck. Somewhere between Chicago and St. Paul, when the wind was at its fiercest, the buckets flew off his truck and right into our path. The 37 Machine took a pretty stiff check to the front right bumper, but kept going, leaving in its path, a strewn mess of "bucket stuff". Luckily it didn’t hit the windshield.
Then there was Buffalo Lake State Park. We parked there one night. Right near Fargo North Dakota. Not a camper in sight. Nor a buffalo, or a lake. But I will tell you what seemed to be in abundance. Snakes. Little garter snakes kept sneaking around by my feet. They seemed to enjoy having me jump and scream, because they kept appearing. So it was a quiet night, just Graham and I, and the snakes and Ranger Rick at the Ranger Station. Almost creepy, yet so soothing and peaceful.
We also make a quick stop in Winnipeg to visit with the Leis family. David, Cheryl, Sophie and Adrian had us for supper and we had a nice visit with them. David was a neighbour of Graham’s when they were growing up. And David’s father Vernon Leis married us many moons ago. After spending a night in Winnipeg we traveled on to Saskatoon and stayed with another member of the Leis family. David’s brother Tim and his wife Anne and family graciously had us stay for the night. We enjoyed another nice meal and visit and in the morning were on our way to Lloydminster.

Minnesota

2006-11-14T16:53:00.000-05:00

St. Paul

The Minnesota Wild play in the St. Paul area at the Xcel Centre. A very beautiful arena. It was built specifically for hockey and no other sports share the facility. The 18,000 venue is sold out for each game. You are in the "State of Hockey" when you are in Minnesota. Wayne Carlson was our contact for the Wild, and he had us all fixed up in no time. We went to the game day skate and were very happy to meet with Kurtis Foster afterwards. Kurtis played with Dan in Chicago and was the first recipient of the Man of the Year Award that was renamed after Dan. He is having a good start to the season and is really enjoying playing for the Wild organization. We got the next set of signatures for the posters also. We had a nice visit with Kurtis and went back to the RV.
If the picture is clear enough to make out in the picture gallery, you can see that we are parked on loading dock #2 which is in the basement of the Xcel Centre. That was our spot for the day and night. We were made to feel so welcome by everyone in the organization and in the entire building. A special thanks to security people Jackson and Nick for looking after us. That is the good part about this tour. The people we meet. A kind person can show you what kind of person they actually are. We met so many truly kind people during our stay in St. Paul. The Wild won the game handily over the Columbus Blue Jackets making us a perfect 2 and 0 for the home team. Lets see how many wins we can get. Next stop, Edmonton to see the Oilers. Two cities down, 28 to go.

Graham's Game Report

Minnesota vs Columbus Oct. 14,2006 at the Xcel Center

A sell out crowd had a festive night in St. Paul’s as the Wild cruised to a 5-0 victory to remain undefeated. The Wild look to have a much stronger offence than in past years, while not sacrificing their usual stifling defense. Brian Rolston and Marian Gaborik looked unstoppable up front and the defense was solid. Manny Fernandez in goal earned his shutout. The Wild look like they will be a real force this year.

Chicago

2006-11-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

The windy city. What can I say. It was windy, windy, and windy. What a blustery day as Winnie the Pooh would say. We made our contact with the Blackhawks organization through Angela Armbruster and arrangements were made to meet with her before the game. But first, it was off to the Allstate Arena. Home base for us. A place we are familiar with in Chicago. Dan played two seasons there with the Wolves and won a Calder Cup. So many friends and such a wonderful organization. Dan loved his time in Chicago and every time I go back there I realize why.
We were set up right behind the rink and stayed for two nights. The weather was pretty chilly and it dipped below freezing both nights. And of course the wind never settled down. We had to get the RV winterized. If anyone has ever had an RV, you know you can’t have it out in below freezing temperatures without having it winterized. The pipes are small and freeze very quickly. Day two had us getting the 37 Machine (as we have nicknamed it) a winterizing and we slept better knowing that the plumbing was OK. It was a bit inconvenient not being able to use the plumbing till we got to warmer climates out on the west coast, but it was worth it. Kevin Kacer set us up with a dressing room to shower everyday complete with towels and supplies.
We got to the game early with our friends Billy and Laurie and met up with Angela. She very graciously gave us an authentic Blackhawks jersey signed by the whole team. A very generous gift for our end of trip auction. We also started our poster signings. We have two posters that have been made up for the tour and we hope to get them signed at each city. One by the captain of the team and the other by a member of the team. We hope to auction them at the end of the tour and donate the money to the fundraising for the new recreation complex in our home town of Elmira. We met with the captain Adrian Aucoin after the game and he was kind enough to sign the poster for us and stay for a quick chat. Chicago won the game so our record is 1 and 0 for the home team. We have 1 city down and 29 to go.

A journey begins with a single step as the saying goes. We’ve made a few steps, but still have a lot to go. But all the steps will add up and we will be finished before we know it. Thanks to all who are reading this for joining us on our journey and making it easier along the way. Next stop, St. Paul to see the Minnesota Wild.

Graham's Game Report

Chicago vs Nashville Oct.12, 2006 at the United Center

The smallest crowd in the history of the United Center was on hand to see the Blackhawks post a well deserved 3-1 victory. Sad to see a once proud franchise suffering through lean times. Tonight they looked like the Hawks of old. Martin Havlit and Michael Handzuis up front and Adrian Aucoin on defense and the Bulinwall sent the Predators to their third straight defeat this year. Things are looking better for the Hawks this year.

Welcome to 37 Rising Stars

2006-11-13T16:10:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the 37 Rising Stars Blog! Keep up with Graham and Lu Ann Snyder and their tour of every NHL city in North America! Read about the tour as it stops in each city, their daily travel adventures, and a report on each game from Graham. Check out the website www.37risingstars.com for their full schedule, photos, and more. Thanks for visiting and be sure to leave a message for Graham and LuAnn!