One Last Post - The Legends game...and the road home

The Legend's Game on Saturday, February 22, 2009
After a brief delay...the concierge at the hotel misplaced Robert Savoie's keys to the tournament van, which he finally found in another car he just parked...Coach John, Venus, Nicole, Pat, Coach Robert and I loaded up the van and headed to the Pepsi Colisee for the Legend's game. This game was an exhibition (or a tribute) to some of the NHL players from the past who played in the Quebec International Tournament at a PeeWee. Mark Messier and Mario Lemieux were some of the most well known players; Wayne Gretzky's father - Walter - was one of the honorary coaches for one team; and then there were several players in the 60s and 70s.
The introduction went on for an hour, with highlights of the tournament from the last 50 years which was shown as a slideshow on the Jumbo-tron and the ice below. Afterwards, all the players were introduced, each with a hightlight of their hockey career...and all in French. The game finally begun. It was fun to watch all of these "greats" skate and play a game. But as some of our boys mentioned (over & over again)...the game was slow...sometimes it felt like you were watching slow-motion highlight. But the boys seem to enjoy it.

After the game, all the boys went back to the host families - for most this was the last evening they would be spending with their Quebec family.

Sunday...Last day in Quebec
I didn't see the boys Sunday - until some of them showed up at the doorstep of the hotel in the evening. Some of the boys spent the day at their host family, relaxing and getting in some homework. Some, had the opportunity to go to the Colisee to watch the championship game between the St. Louis Blues and York Simcoe Express (St. Louis won in the AA division 4-3). A couple was treated to the snowboarding competition near the hotel.
While I have been trying document "team" things...I would like to quickly share with you my Sunday...I, was treated to a day with my son - who spent all, but a few hours, trying to make a dent in the 2 weeks of homework he needed to complete before heading back to school on Tuesday. He sat in front of the computer writing 19 paragraphs about the ancient China civilization...but we did take a couple of hours to walk through Old Quebec city - enjoying the Charles Dickens winter scenes (fluffy white show falling on an old city; with stone building from the 1600-1700s covered in snow; narrow cobblestone roads and small evergreens w/white lights outside the storefronts). Old Quebec is a beautiful city, rich in history...and probably more enjoyable to visit and walk around in June or July.

Sunday evening - Kyle, Nick, Victor, Brian, Tyler, Kevin and Max were dropped off at the hotel, where they were put up over night. Their billet families had to work early the next day, which made it difficult to make sure that we were reunited with them before departing on Monday. As soon as the room arrangements were figured out, they were taken up stairs to deposit their belongings and then headed to the hotel pool for a while before heading out to dinner.

Monday...the journey home
Monday morning greeted the remaining boys (Calvin, Morgan, Hiroki, Jake, Carson and Chris) a little early than most, as they were dropped off at the hotel around 7am. The rest of the group, met up with them in the lobby a little before 11am.

Bags packed & in the truck;
boarding passes printed & passports organized
Time to load the vans...one...last...time

It seemed to finally hit some of the boys that the 2 weeks was coming to an end. I looked around the van and there was a moment when the realization hit...

"I can't believe we are already going home."
"I feel like we just got here!"
"I remember what we did the first, day - I remember unpacking."

"I don't want to go to school tomorrow."...Well, you knew that one was coming, right?
Taking the opportunity of the audience I had in my van, I asked the infamous question the boys are asked several times a day:
"Looking back on the time you spent at Quebec, what is the one thing you will remember...the one thing that sticks out the most/the first thought that comes to you (and Hiroki: "it can't be about shopping")."

After some thought, most who were in my van shouted out - "Playing the outdoor hockey game" and "pond hockey"

Carson, added "scoring 2 goals in the game against Rive-Sud Ouest Express PWAA on my 13th birthday (the win gave them another chance to play in the tournament)."

Comments regarding going to the Snow Tubing Park were added to the list eventually.

Planes...security & customs...hunger...
Coming back was a little adventure. However, Air Canada was very helpful getting us all checked in - there is nothing like seeing 14 tired, coughing hockey players, 2 tired coaches and 1 parent, with masses of luggage & hockey gear coming to check-in. They were very helpful and it went smoothly. After going through security, we had some time to kill in the Quebec airport before boarding the plane for our first leg of our journey home. This part was uneventful - in fact some of the boys were able to get a little rest before departing in Toronto.

Once in Toronto, we finally made it to the area where we needed to collect all our luggage & gear before preceeding to customers. Unfortunately, almost all of the boys hockey bags, a few stick bags and several pieces of luggage didn't make the plane in Quebec and would have to be sent to all of us later. Once that was cleared up, we collected all of the things that we did get and headed to customs (which took awhile, but did go smoothly), then to deposit the luggage again so that it would be put on the next flight...then through security one more time. Now that we were all cleared, we needed to get to the plane as it was boarding. Unfortunately, there wasn't ample time for all the boys to get food in the airport...so we had to wait until the food for $ was wheeled around.

In the plane, we all got arranged and set for the 6hours...some of the boys weren't feeling well at this time as they were coming down with the cold/cough/fever that seemed to start making its rounds toward the end of the tournament...and all were very hungry! The airplane personnel confirmed that they would be bringing food around (for sale) and drinks as soon as the plane got airborne. However, due to the luggage crew having an accident (they accidentally drove the luggage truck into the plane) we were delayed. They first had to inspect the plane to make sure that it was safe (that check out fine - passed inspection); next they had to remove that crew to investigate them and write up reports, so we had to wait for a fresh crew to come and finish loading the luggage. Finally about an hour later, we were up in the air and after reaching the cruising altitude, the food wagon came out - pizzas, ramen noodles, roast beef sandwiches, chicken salad wraps...I don't think that the airline crew knew what hit them. They probably made more money from the dining cart on this flight than they ever have before!!!

Once everyone's bellies were full, some of the boys closed their eyes to rest; some played their psps...but the majority of them took out their school books to make an attempt to get all of their work done before the flight landed. And I believe that that majority of them were successful.

Back home...

It is hard to believe that we were just landing in cold Quebec 2 weeks ago...and now we are back home in balmy California. Now that all remains is 2 weeks worth of laundry to fold, stories about pin trading and "shopping", tales of the games that were won and the few that were lost...memories of a lifetime!

Well, I agree with the boys...I cannot believe that the Quebec tournament is over. It was truely an amazing experience - for them and for me. I grateful for the opportunity to be apart of this experience with your children. They are all wonderful boys - all well behaved - you all should be very proud of them. I am!