I met Brian Burke in an elevator, oh, and played at the ACC.

and wow, what a nice guy!

another skater and I had just finished playing a pickup game at the ACC (it was awesome, more on that after the jump) - and on the way out we had a very brief conversation with him

Us: Did you have any scouts watching today?

BB: Nope, I didnt fire anyone today either.

*rimshot*

With that, he wished us a merry christmas and we did the same. Also, I never realized this, he's rather tall.

About today:

The staff at the ACC is very kind, accommodating and cheery. We were led in Gate 1, forced to sign over our homes/loved ones (waivers), and then led to the ice-level into our change room, which was:

1. clean

2. had soap AND sinks.

3. had shampoo/bodywash in the shower area

4. had hot water.

5. didn't appear to be the worst offender in the GTA for "hey, look at that, bare skin = staph infection!"

I'm pretty quick at getting into my gear, so I was the first one out on the ice around 9:55 am. There wasnt a mark on it.

It's smooth, gouge-free (i'm looking at you, chesswood), and while not the fastest ice i've skated on, it was just flawless. I talked to one of the ice-crew and he said it was put together around 5:30 am. I find that very impressive that they can go from one setup to another in such a short time.

Our actual game was a non-reffed 24-skater affair just for fun. I got a garbage goal (hey, they all count, right?), had about 10 SOG, and one of them was a hard wrister off the iron.

Let me tell you, when that building is empty, those things ring forever. It was absolute music and it gave me shivers. I'll never forget that PING.

All of us got more ice-time than we could handle and we were even slower than usual towards the end. Everyone received a commemorative jersey (i'll post pics later) and, fittingly, the fat-bastard that i am, i got #42! :) :) :)

Anyhoo, back to watching World Jr's for me. Cheers all! HAPPY BOXING DAY!

edit: pics! some are too wide for the frame, no idea how to resize them. sorry!