Professional Tailgating: Flyers vs. Islanders

As part of my birthday gift my wife sent me to the Flyers Islanders game on Thursday night and here are some of the sites and sounds from the game.

The old Spectrum is no more, so sad

The flyers hat trick wall

This seat could be yours for next season

Former United States World Junior Championship hero Al Montoya in goal in goal for the Islanders. Montoya was named top goalie during the 2004 event.

Fomrer Shore Conference hockey player JVR interviewed between the second and third periods

OTWT NHL Draft Notes

Another day, another draft, and another edition of the OTWT Scouting Department Notebook.

So here we go:

• There are a ton of Islander fans at the draft glad to see they made the trip to Montreal.
• Pronger to the Flyers, now all they need is a goaltender. The Flyers gave up a ton two first rounders and a young defenseman.
• Garth Snow had to pick Tavares. If not the fans would have burnt down the arena.
• Love the GM trying to speak French in honor of the draft being in Montreal. They sound like I did when I took French in middle school.
• Avs pick Matt Duchene gave everyone a lesson on the different sticks players use.
• Just saw a guy at the Ottawa Senators table playing on Twitter.
• Having Toronto GM Brian Burke wired for sound is awesome, so refreshing.
• Ottawa gets a steal in Jared Cowan, was great as a 17 year old in the Memorial Cup in 2007.
• All of the European draft picks have the classic slim ties. They are classic.
• The Preds selected my favorite player Windsors Ryan Ellis. Love him.
• Love the video of the high school players drafted, its like the old videos of european basketball players that are drafted in the NBA draft.

A Little Slice of History

For the last couple of years hockey has been on the back burner, but this year after the great World Junior Championships, my love for hockey was back. During our recent trip Toronto, Wifey and I found sometime to take a walk down to the Hockey Hall of Fame and in the end it was well worth it.

The original Stanley Cup

The current Stanley Cup, you can even walk up and touch it

Patrick Roy Canadians sweater as part of the 100th anniversary of the Habs exhibit.

Robinson, LaFluer, Savard do you really need to say anymore.

Super Mario, Simply the Best. You guys have the Great One, I'll take Super Mario any day of the week.

The next Syd the Kid, John Tavares. His All Star Jersey

The Memorial Cup exhibit, Junior Hockey's version of the Final Four.

World Hockey Championship's Exhibit

There are great exhibits all of the hall, but standing next to the Stanley Cup is something that I will never forget. Here are more photos of my trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The King of Toronto

Hockey is king in Canada and during my recent trip to Canada, the Toronto Sun newspaper showed how big the game is. On Wednesday the Sun decided to break rank with other major newspapers in the country and not put the death of a local solider in Iraq on its front page.

So what was the big story that The Sun led with, sure it had to be something bigger then a solider death. To some it might be, The Sun lead with Toronto Maples Leaf's GM Brian Burke's comment about trading up in the June NHL entry draft to get John Tavares. Some scouts compare Tavares to Syd the Kid in Pittsburgh and getting the junior sensation would make the Leafs matter again. But come on putting this on the front of a major daily is something that the staff of The Sun should be ashamed of, this shows how much the game means to the people of the Canada and the city of Toronto.