Anyhow what a fantastic city Montreal is. Anyone who follows my Facebook page knows we went to the Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay game on Wednesday and I tell you, what a highlight that was.. it was opening night for the Habs and I don’t care where else you’ve watched if any NHL games before.. you cannot beat the atmosphere in the Bell Centre when the Habs hit the ice. It really is electric and so much fun – every hockey fan should experience it once in their lifetime.. at least! I’ve been fortunate enough to have done it 3 times so far.. once when I was a kid at the Forum, and twice now in the new Bell Centre.

Besides that we went to old Montreal last night and met up with Liz’s brothers while we were there – I  have to tell you, last night was just as much fun as NHL night! First we bought ourselves some IMAX tickets for the Hubble 3D show – then we walked around town a bit and took in the architecture and sights of Old Montreal. Wow.. it was so amazing, everything from the gargoyles on top of the building to the interior door handles inside are just amazing. I made the stupid mistake of not taking my camera downtown either. Oh well, I had my trusty iPhone.

Getting to the best part though.. we had dinner last night at this Steak and Fries place and get this…. they let us bring our OWN wine in to drink it! Well this was pretty much an open invitation to get boy-band drunk.. so we headed to the liquor store and got 4 bottles of wine to accompany our dinner then bought some more beer and chatted back a the hotel for a bit.. an excellent time.. I love this city!

Not only are we heading to Montreal for a few days, but then we are heading to New York City for the weekend! Oh baby!! This is one of those trips that most people keep thinking they want to do, but never get around to it, and now is the time for this kid. Myself and Liz are going along with her sister and her sisters boyfriend, they are Habs fans, but we (read: “I”) don’t hold that against them.

Pic taken the last time we were there

I wanted to write about how we ended up getting the tickets and the hotel and such. First, we used Stubhub.com for the tickets.. unfortunately they were $140 a pop, but really.. can you see the getting cheaper for opening night? I don’t think so – and we were willing to pay that much for them. For those of you whom have never been to a Montreal Canadiens hockey game, it’s a must see.. the atmosphere is absolutely ELECTRIC! One of the highlights of the trip the last time we went to Montreal for certain.. if not THE highlight actually.

The next thing we needed to do was get a hotel room. I’ve used Priceline in the past with great success so we decided to try that again as well. Sure enough, after some research (using biddingfortravel.com) in order to find out what were the 4-star hotels and which were the 3.5 star, we went a ‘biddin.

We ended up getting the Omni Hotel Mont-Royal which is from what I’ve researched is a great hotel (#30 out of 165 on Tripadvisor) and we got it for the price of $100 a night. Perfect! Especially when we went on their website directly after and couldn’t find it any cheaper than $210 a night! Pretty slick sale price if you ask me!

The only concerns we have are of course the driving when we get there (especially the nutty drivers in Montreal!!) We will definitely have a GPS like the TOMTOM ONE 130?S Automobile Portable Navigator to aid us when we’re there because I know even from the last time I was there trying to drive was pretty crazy.. it’s not exactly a city which is set up very well for drivers.

Now we’re on to trying to book everything for New York. We’re thinking that we’ll get something in New Jersey and just take the shuttle or subway or whatever they have built there to get into the Big Apple for the weekend – I’m really looking forward to it since the last time I was there was only for a day and it was pre-9/11 if that gives you an idea of the time frame.

As always, if anyone has any ideas or suggestions on travelling to NYC, please feel free to comment! I love hearing and reading the and they are more than welcome!

Obviously in the summer I like to spend as much time as humanly possible outside – nights, days, whatever.. I want to be outside. I really, really like the nights that I can spend making a fire in the firepit and having a beer or glass of wine just doing nothing – that would be one of the best things about summer.

Wedding season is another, as you know I’m also a semi-professional photographer and during the summer months I’m going to be spending a lot of weekends with a lot of amazing people due to the fact that they’re trusting me with their wedding photos. I really can’t wait. I do enjoy weddings – people are always so happy and easy going.. very fun.

My neighbors are another big reason why I enjoy the summer. I’m very lucky to have some of the best neighbors that anyone could ask for and I’m really fortunate to have two unbelievable people living next to me whom are no stranger to taking the hot tub cover off and open up the pool for lots of social days and nights just sitting around drinking.. come to think of it, that’s likely one of my favorite things to do in the summer. Lounge around chatting with the neighbors.

During last summer, and this one I’ve been able to play hockey in the summer and golf at the same time.. it’s like I’m living in Tampa Bay!

I’ve posted tons of gardening tips and things that I like to do as well – man, this list is getting long!

What do you like to do during the summer? What are your favorite summer things?

After going down 3-1 in the series vs Washington I for one thought they were done. I was wrong.

No way in hell was I putting them to beat Pittsburgh, the defending Stanley Cup champions and a team which in my opinion had an extreme amount of depth… (if any non-Montreal fans out there actually bet on Montreal to win this series then you in yourself have a right to brag). As soon as they went down 3-1 to them, I again thought it was just a matter of time – sadly though, after seeing how close some of the games were – I started routing for Montreal to win… I mean, who doesn’t love an underdog eh?

So needless to say after putting it away last night quite convincingly, I am extremely excited to see how they perform the rest of the NHL Playoffs. Fact is, if they were to get the Stanley Cup finals even.. wow.. that would really start Habs Mania!

So before I go any further, I’d like to say to all you Montreal Canadiens fans out there.. Congratulations on a well fought series win – it was well deserved and although the team may have lacked talent on paper, the amount of heart and determination showed by the team is something I’ve not seen in a long time.

Ok.. now onto my rant…

Will you Montreal fans stop hating on the damn Pittsburgh Penguins and specifically Sidney Crosby? I should re-iterate that I’m not a Pittsburgh fan but a Tampa Bay fan (yeah.. I know..) and as much as I think Pittsburgh certainly could have gone a lot further, the fact is they didn’t, and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Now that being said .. all you Montreal Fans out there whom are bashing “the Kid” calling him a crybaby, a loser, and everything else under the sun.. I want to remind you of something that happened not too long ago.

It’s called the Olympics.

Do you remember the Olympics or are you too short-minded to remember the single most significant hockey victory in our recent memory? Do you remember whom scored the winning goal? Yeah.. I thought you did.. in case you missed it.. here’s the video..

This.. brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it…

Did you call him a crybaby then? Me neither.. at that moment he could have been prime minister as far as I’m concerned.

Last nights win was a win for a team, not a country.. and as significant as it was.. it pales in comparison, hell they could be knocked out next round in four straight and that would really put a serious dent in the celebrations. I for one hope that doesn’t happen – but I certainly won’t be calling Halak a bum, or Cammeleri a choker.. right now, that’s exactly what you Sid-Haters are doing.

This is my opinion, and I welcome yours.. this is by far the best playoffs I’ve watched in a long time and hell, my team didn’t even make it!

By the way, I purposely did not mention the idiotic riots in Montreal last night.. I don’t even think it’s worth mentioning – nor the people whom started them.

My brother was in Vancouver after the game and in the streets and said that it was an unbelievable atmosphere. I can only imagine as I know that here in PEI everyone I talked to was beeming ear to ear and couldn’t get over it. I actually think that it will be one of those goals that people will talk about for years and years.. much like the “shot heard round the world”. Wow, I don’t care if I took the best sleeping pill in the world – if I was in Vancouver on closing ceremony Sunday.. it would have been a very long night!

There’s pictures of both of them looking pretty darn happy…

Will you.....

Obviously shocked (way to go Comrie!)

Happy Hilary.. HUGE ROCK! (Cost nearly $1 million)

30 seconds later, she must have dropped her ring..

Paparazzi are everywhere...

I think if Comrie ever comes to PEI, I better get some better life insurance.

He Looks a Bit Older Now

Yes that’s right.. tomorrow night, yours truly will be in nets facing off against the one and only Guy LaFleur, one of the most naturally gifted and popular hockey players to ever skate on frozen ice.

He will be joined by his ‘Montreal Alumni’ friends, namely:

• Stephane Richer (1984-1991 & 1996-98, 9 Seasons with the Habs)
• Yvon Lambert (1972-1981, 10 Seasons with the Habs)
• Richard Sevigny (Goalie, 1979-1984, 5 Seasons with the Habs)
• Sergio Momesso (1983-87, 4 Seasons with the Habs)
• Serge Boisvert ( 1983-87, 4 Seasons with the Habs)
• Alain Cote (1990-92, 3 Seasons with the Habs)
• Karl Dykhuis (1999-2004, 5 Seasons with the Habs)
• Gilbert Dionne (1990-1995, 6 Seasons with the Habs)
• Gilbert Delhorme (1981-84, 3 Seasons with the Habs)
• Mario Roberge (1990-95, 5 Seasons with the Habs)

Sadly, if you look at a few of the more resent alumni, they aren’t THAT many years post-retirement or whatever and you know what this means right? Yeah, me too.. I’m in for a lot of shots – and quality ones. It’s also been word that the players which are opposing these guys are a lot of former pro level hockey players as well (some of which I’ve played with recently and I can tell you are VERY good athletes) – so that should just increase the level and quality of play. Fun stuff!

Fortunately for me, I’ll be sharing the duties of goaltender with Stu Dunn, one of my good friends and one hell of a goaltender in his own right.

It should be a very good time, and an entertaining evening for certain. Tickets can be had for $20 which actually mostly goes to charity – so it’s a good cause and a great way to spend a Thursday evening. If you wanted tickets, fire me off an email

My only problem with this game is that my older brother may get a kick out of the fact that after all those years of me teasing him that “even I could stop Guy LaFleur on a breakaway”.. that I’m finally getting my chance to put my money where my mouth is. By the way, I wouldn’t bet against Guy.