Day Eight - Snow Park and Rampart Game

Tuesday, February 17 - The boys had a day off of playing hockey, but it wasn't a day to rest by any means. All the boys met at the Colisee between 8 and 8:30 am and then we all piled in the van to head to the Valcartier Village Snow Park for snow tubing. We arrived at the park around the time it opened...which was 10am. After the park tickets were purchased, the boys were given the rules: "they cannot roam the park by themselves, they must always have another teammate with them" and "they had to meet in the lobby at 3:30pm". And they were off. Most headed over to the highest hill - the Everest...and a few walked around the park until they found other hills that didn't have waiting lines. Basically, at this park, you pick up an inner tube and pull it around by it's "leash". To get up the hill, you jump on another inner tube that pulls you up the hill. Once up on the hill, you sit on the inner tube and go down. You can go down by yourself or attach yourself up to 7 other people and go down as a group (the maximum number of people to form a group is 8).

Not only did the boys enjoy the day, but several of the families (Jon & Kim, Mark & Molly, Lisa and Louise) enjoyed the rush of tubing down the hills. It was a beautiful day - perfect for such an activity. It was warm (relatively speaking)...probably in the mid to upper 20s, no wind, no clouds and lots of sun. Going up a hill, tubing down and then walking through the snow, makes for some hungry boys. So, after a few house of playing in the snow, it was time for some of the boys to find lunch.

Lunchtime at the Snow Park
Several of the boys met up at one of the resturants at the top of one hill. There, several of the boys ordered Poutine - The quintessential Canadian comfort food, especially in Quebec, consisting of French Fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy and sometimes additional ingredients. Hot Dogs, regular french fries and sour gummy worms made a complete meal for most others.

With full bellies, they were ready to hit the hills again. The snow park provided a lot of fun for all; it even provided an opportunity for some of the boys to meet other kids from Finland (some girls, that is) and snow tube with them. Right at 3:30, all the boys made it back to the lobby and we boarded the van again and headed to Cafe de Hockey for dinner before heading to the Colisee for the Ramparts Game.
Dinner at Cafe de Hockey

Back at the community center (aka Cafe de Hockey) we dined on Turkey Sandwiches w/brown gravy, french fries, boiled peas, lettuce cups, slaw, and the assortment of sweets and fruits. One of the boys favorites is the Dannon yogurt drinks in the small little bottles. A couple of times, the boys were competing against each other to see who could guzzle the most bottles of yogurt...until the coaches suggested that it might not be a good idea to drink so many before a game. The boys were excited about going to eat at the Cafe de Hockey because Tuesday and Thursday evenings are cheerleading practices. These are the girls the boys met last week. Unfortunately, after the boys located where the girls were practicing, they were told to stay away...so, after they ate dinner, they hung out in the hallway until it was time to depart for the game. Many took this opportunity to rest - as they were tired from all the fresh air and running around the snow park.

The Rampart Game

The Ramparts are a Quebec Junior Hockey Team. The coach is Patrick Roy (who was a Goalie in the NHL - last place he played was for the Colorado Avalanche). Two of his sons play for him; one is a goalie and the other is forward (if I remember correctly). We sat up in the nose bleed seats - but it was a great place to watch the game. The Ramparts won the game. The boys had a good time watching....and eating more hot dogs.

After the game...we made our way down to the section where we meet up with the billet families, and everyone went home...hopefully for a good night sleep. Tomorrow there are two exhibition games planned - in the morning we are scheduled to play Victory Honda. We don't know who we are playing in the afternoon yet. We were scheduled to play the Colorado Thunderbirds, but they won their game this afternoon so they will play a tournament game tomorrow instead.