Our midget hockey team's foray into Nashville and Franklin, TN., in January 2011 is documented on You Tube by yours truly.
Minor Hockey Moments
Showing posts with label Nashville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nashville. Show all posts
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
My Nashville published in the Toronto Sun
In January when my son's West London midget team was in Franklin, TN., for a tournament, I used my "down" time to do a little travel writing. The first of two stories I researched that weekend is published today in the Toronto Sun and posted on canoe.ca. Everyone should visit downtown Nashville at least once - put Music City on your bucket list. There's also more on my travel blog, Wayne's World of Travel.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Music City Cup not ours
If the object of out-of-town tournaments is fun, my son's midget team is a big winner. If it's to actually capture the trophy, well, not so much this time.
We drove 11 hours to play in a four-team tournament in Franklin, TN, just outside of Nashville on the weekend and along the way enjoyed being tourists in Nashville, shopping in Franklin and Ohio, a little bit of poker and social drinking, the amazing Famous Dave's BBQ (everyone should eat here) and a couple of excellent Cracker Barrels.
And we played four excellent hockey games against teens from Florida, Texas and Alabama. We won the consolation game and, if I may be so bold, would've won the championship if we didn't have three kids out with injuries, the latest being the son of our manager who damaged his knee early in the first game of the tournament.
No hockey tournament is complete without drama and it seems every time we cross the border for a tournament in the United States, something odd happens.
This time, it was during the final round robin game against South Florida, a team which started the season on a sad note when its coach was killed in a car accident. Players are wearing patches honouring him.
Of course the same players who have the class to honour their coach don't necessarily play the game with honour. Profanities directed to our bench, cut throat gestures and strange comments (the most polite was "Why don't you go home?") were part of the Florida approach.
The strangest thing was when a Florida player skated into a stream of water being spit out by one of our players. The player thought he was the target of a spitball and went to complain to the referee. Neither the referee nor the two linesmen saw a spitball, but believed the Florida kid and tossed our player out of the game. That was followed minutes later by tossing one of our trainers, who happens to be the father of the tossed player, out as well.
We lost the game and maybe respect for all things Florida.
That's the thing about travelling far afield to sports tournaments. You're doing more than playing a game. You're representing your city and country in the eyes of other teams and onlookers. How you act plays a role in the image people form about your home.
We hope we left people in Franklin and Nashville with a positive image of London and Canada. We came away loving Tennessee. Florida? Not so much.
Oh, and congratulations to Houston, winners of the Music City Cup. They beat Florida.
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| West London Hawks midgets pose with manager Larry Heald at Famous Dave's in Franklin, TN. This barbecue restaurant was No. 1 for teens and parents. |
And we played four excellent hockey games against teens from Florida, Texas and Alabama. We won the consolation game and, if I may be so bold, would've won the championship if we didn't have three kids out with injuries, the latest being the son of our manager who damaged his knee early in the first game of the tournament.
No hockey tournament is complete without drama and it seems every time we cross the border for a tournament in the United States, something odd happens.
This time, it was during the final round robin game against South Florida, a team which started the season on a sad note when its coach was killed in a car accident. Players are wearing patches honouring him.
Of course the same players who have the class to honour their coach don't necessarily play the game with honour. Profanities directed to our bench, cut throat gestures and strange comments (the most polite was "Why don't you go home?") were part of the Florida approach.
The strangest thing was when a Florida player skated into a stream of water being spit out by one of our players. The player thought he was the target of a spitball and went to complain to the referee. Neither the referee nor the two linesmen saw a spitball, but believed the Florida kid and tossed our player out of the game. That was followed minutes later by tossing one of our trainers, who happens to be the father of the tossed player, out as well.
We lost the game and maybe respect for all things Florida.
That's the thing about travelling far afield to sports tournaments. You're doing more than playing a game. You're representing your city and country in the eyes of other teams and onlookers. How you act plays a role in the image people form about your home.
We hope we left people in Franklin and Nashville with a positive image of London and Canada. We came away loving Tennessee. Florida? Not so much.
Oh, and congratulations to Houston, winners of the Music City Cup. They beat Florida.
Friday, January 14, 2011
11 hours later
Eleven hours on a bus with a bunch of teenagers isn't all that bad, once you block out the teenagers' choices of DVDs and realize they don't want to watch The Waltons nor listen to country music.
We're on the road in Franklin, TN., and ready to spend a day as tourists (or shoppers) before the tournament begins.
I think we're all missing Tim Hortons, but take comfort in the haul from the duty free.
Here's hoping the hockey competition is good and we win every game by a nailbiting goal or two.
We're on the road in Franklin, TN., and ready to spend a day as tourists (or shoppers) before the tournament begins.
I think we're all missing Tim Hortons, but take comfort in the haul from the duty free.
Here's hoping the hockey competition is good and we win every game by a nailbiting goal or two.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Fun by the busload
Ten years in minor hockey and we've never done this before.
It's not unique for teams to pay the big bucks to charter a bus, but teams my son has been on have always opted for the flexibility of car conveys to out-of-town tournaments.
I'm not sure what to expect travelling by highway coach. I haven't done it since my poverty days of university since the train to Toronto or flights are more civilized ways to travel when a car isn't the right choice.
It'll be noisy, I expect, but perhaps maybe less so thanks to Ipods.
It'll be whiney. It's 11 hours of driving to Nashville, plus however long it takes to clear US customs at Detroit. Nerves are bound to be frayed.
Nevertheless, we're looking forward to it and approaching it all with a sense of humour and adventure.
Who knows, maybe we'll even win some hockey games.
It's not unique for teams to pay the big bucks to charter a bus, but teams my son has been on have always opted for the flexibility of car conveys to out-of-town tournaments.
I'm not sure what to expect travelling by highway coach. I haven't done it since my poverty days of university since the train to Toronto or flights are more civilized ways to travel when a car isn't the right choice.
It'll be noisy, I expect, but perhaps maybe less so thanks to Ipods.
It'll be whiney. It's 11 hours of driving to Nashville, plus however long it takes to clear US customs at Detroit. Nerves are bound to be frayed.
Nevertheless, we're looking forward to it and approaching it all with a sense of humour and adventure.
Who knows, maybe we'll even win some hockey games.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Tournament time again
There are big tournaments and little tournaments. Tournaments down the street and across the continent. My son's teams have done all kinds.
The most enjoyable and best value was a one-day peewee tournament in my hometown, Clifford. Naturally, city parents in London were initially skeptical about taking the kids to a town of 700. But the perspective of playing in a small town, the matchups, restaurant meal at Greenley's and skills competition made it a most memorable tournaments.
Not that my son played a lot. He became sick on the drive there, missed the opening game, the skills competition and watched the second game.
I was concerned about him - and me. After all, since dads live vicariously through their sons I was so looking forward to watching him play on my "home" rink in front of relatives and some faces from my past.
When his team made the championship late at night, he rallied and played well taking part in a romp over a team from Cambridge.
The trophy the kids won that day has only recently been rotated out of our arena's display case. I think I'll ask if I can have it instead of letting it gather dust somewhere.
Our ying to that yang in terms of tournaments happens this week as my son's team leaves for the most expensive hockey weekend of his career. We've chartered a bus and are off to Franklin, Tennessee, which is a half-hour south of Nashville. The drive is 11 hours, plus however long it takes for more than 40 people to clear U.S. customs.
Hopefully this time my son - and everyone else for that matter - stays healthy for the entire weekend of hockey.
The most enjoyable and best value was a one-day peewee tournament in my hometown, Clifford. Naturally, city parents in London were initially skeptical about taking the kids to a town of 700. But the perspective of playing in a small town, the matchups, restaurant meal at Greenley's and skills competition made it a most memorable tournaments.
Not that my son played a lot. He became sick on the drive there, missed the opening game, the skills competition and watched the second game.
I was concerned about him - and me. After all, since dads live vicariously through their sons I was so looking forward to watching him play on my "home" rink in front of relatives and some faces from my past.
When his team made the championship late at night, he rallied and played well taking part in a romp over a team from Cambridge.
The trophy the kids won that day has only recently been rotated out of our arena's display case. I think I'll ask if I can have it instead of letting it gather dust somewhere.
Our ying to that yang in terms of tournaments happens this week as my son's team leaves for the most expensive hockey weekend of his career. We've chartered a bus and are off to Franklin, Tennessee, which is a half-hour south of Nashville. The drive is 11 hours, plus however long it takes for more than 40 people to clear U.S. customs.
Hopefully this time my son - and everyone else for that matter - stays healthy for the entire weekend of hockey.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Happy New Year!
American blogger JBM Thinks is a sports mom, coach's wife with interesting insights. Hockey parents can just substitute the word "rink" for field or court in her new Top 10 list of New Year's resolutions you can find here.
My resolution? To help get a chartered bus full of Canadian teenage hockey players to Nashville and back, well fed, homework done and in good weather driving. And with a championship trophy. Not that I'm overly competitive, just that we do intend to win.
My resolution? To help get a chartered bus full of Canadian teenage hockey players to Nashville and back, well fed, homework done and in good weather driving. And with a championship trophy. Not that I'm overly competitive, just that we do intend to win.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Our tournament time goes south
The Christmas break is tournament time for thousands of minor hockey players and parents.
Mostly a week for house league events, we never had to do the travel/hotel thing during our Christmas years, unless you count going back and forth to Brantford for the annual Wayne Gretzky competitive tournament.
For those who've never been, the Gretzky tournament is a cut above most others in terms of the effort to make it a show of friendship and love of hockey. An Olympic-style opening ceremony at the Brantford Civic Centre, an historic old barn strategically located next to the city's casino, is an awesome experience.
Or at least it should be. The year our team played in Brantford, there was such a gap between games all but three players went back to London. It didn't leave much of a team representation to march onto the ice. But other teams were there, including some from far away, drawn by the fun of playing in the home town of hockey's greatest star.
Brantford has an arena and swimming pool complex named in honour of Gretzky and this year's tournament marks a milestone of sorts for that facility. It is undergoing extensive renovations and this is the last year will be played on the old ice pads.
Just by coincidence, the tournament has 99 teams entered this year. Another odd coincidence? It's 99 kilometres from our driveway to the Gretzky arena.
As for our current team, we're off the ice during the Christmas break. When we found out our own West London Minor Hockey Association had cancelled our midget division in a February tournament because only three teams had registered, I found a replacement tournament this week in Hespeler. But while I found a tournament, I lost a team with most families and our coach having made other plans.
Given that we played our most recent league game with only 10 players, entering a tournament would've been a disaster.
Meanwhile, the focus is on a mega-trip in January to Franklin, TN, a half-hour drive south of Nashville where we'll line up against the Huntsville Chargers, South Florida Golden Wolves and Houston Wild.
It's a day-long, two-driver, $7,000 chartered bus ride to get to this tournament, so it's a little different than scooting done to Western Fair or St. Thomas for a few games.
Our teenagers will appreciate it, right?
Mostly a week for house league events, we never had to do the travel/hotel thing during our Christmas years, unless you count going back and forth to Brantford for the annual Wayne Gretzky competitive tournament.
For those who've never been, the Gretzky tournament is a cut above most others in terms of the effort to make it a show of friendship and love of hockey. An Olympic-style opening ceremony at the Brantford Civic Centre, an historic old barn strategically located next to the city's casino, is an awesome experience.
Or at least it should be. The year our team played in Brantford, there was such a gap between games all but three players went back to London. It didn't leave much of a team representation to march onto the ice. But other teams were there, including some from far away, drawn by the fun of playing in the home town of hockey's greatest star.
Brantford has an arena and swimming pool complex named in honour of Gretzky and this year's tournament marks a milestone of sorts for that facility. It is undergoing extensive renovations and this is the last year will be played on the old ice pads.
Just by coincidence, the tournament has 99 teams entered this year. Another odd coincidence? It's 99 kilometres from our driveway to the Gretzky arena.
As for our current team, we're off the ice during the Christmas break. When we found out our own West London Minor Hockey Association had cancelled our midget division in a February tournament because only three teams had registered, I found a replacement tournament this week in Hespeler. But while I found a tournament, I lost a team with most families and our coach having made other plans.
Given that we played our most recent league game with only 10 players, entering a tournament would've been a disaster.
Meanwhile, the focus is on a mega-trip in January to Franklin, TN, a half-hour drive south of Nashville where we'll line up against the Huntsville Chargers, South Florida Golden Wolves and Houston Wild.
It's a day-long, two-driver, $7,000 chartered bus ride to get to this tournament, so it's a little different than scooting done to Western Fair or St. Thomas for a few games.
Our teenagers will appreciate it, right?
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