What a whirlwind weekend it was! I’m just now coming up for air! This is the weekend of the Shoresy Classic, a series of charity hockey games between the cast of Shoresy and NHL alumni from different cities. The series began in Detroit last week…
Followed by a stop in Buffalo…
Then Saturday in Boston…
Then Sunday in Toronto—we’ll get to that—and then finishing off in Chicago tonight…
When news first broke of these games, only Boston and Toronto were announced. There was a LOT of excitement on our discord and folks started making plans. Not that TPSDegens need a reason to get together, but give them one and flights start getting booked…hotels are reserved…and tickets are purchased. It’s the #SudburyMagic all over again! Only this time the destination was Toronto…during Taylor Swift week no less!
Mind you, there was no Tay Tay on the day of the game in Toronto, but it didn’t help when booking travel and hotels. Some Degens arrived late Friday, others Saturday, others still arrived on Sunday after attending the game in Boston. I had a show with The Week Ends on Saturday night in Barrie, then the Shoresy Classic game on the Sunday. This after a week of working on the next episode of YWAO! I know, I know…tiny violins for me. But it was a packed week nonetheless!
Luckily friend of the podcast Gord (Toronto) came to the rescue with the planning and spreadsheet and things went smoothly.
On Saturday, those that were already in the city got together for lunch at Amsterdam Brewhouse. We had folks from Idaho (Robbie), Nebraska (Rebecca), Wisconsin (Sara), California (Awesome), Pennsylvania (Josh), and of course Miriam, Juan, Gord, Tom, Linda, Victor, Tanya and myself from Ontario!
It was so great to see everyone again and we also got to meet a couple of new TPSDegens Sara and Rebecca!
It was a great time with great people. The city was abuzz with Taylor Swift fans, but we paid them no attention, we were just happy to be together again…well…Tanya did take a moment to indulge a little in Taylormania…
Saturday night I went up to Barrie to Donaleigh’s Irish Public House to play a show with my band The Week Ends. I wrote about that show here, but basically the TPSDegens came up to Barrie to see the show!
So THAT was a late and exhausting night…
The next day was the main event. Once again we got together for a late lunch/early dinner at a really cool place in Toronto called Hair of the Dog.
We were joined by some more TPSDegens, Michelle (Sudbury), Kassie (Simcoe), Reuben (Florida), and Adrian (Maine). It was a really cool spot with great food and the bonus was it was across the street from the Mattamy Athletic Centre (formerly Maple Leaf Gardens) where the game was to take place.
After dinner, those of us with VIP badges made our way over to the arena. First on tap was a photo-op with The Blueberry Bulldogs and the Toronto Maple Leaf Alumni…
It was a thrill to see such Maple Leaf legends as Wendel Clark, Rick Vaive, and Todd Gill in the room and it was really cool to see all the cast from Shoresy that we’ve interviewed in the past including the man himself Jared Keeso.
I did take the opportunity to ask the Jims (Jon Mirasty, Brandon Nolan, and Jordan Nolan) to come on the podcast. They were the only ones we haven’t had on yet. I hope we can remedy that soon.
Next on the Agenda was the Q&A…
I missed most of it because I had to go move my car to a more permanent parking spot for the night. Not great planning on my part.
After the Q&A it was warm-up time…
We got to see who was on the team. We knew all the sluts were on, plus Corey & Liam. But there was also Delaney (Frederick Roy), Macpherson (Cam Fergus)—no Michigan goal was attempted—and—unfortunately—big ugly Palmer (Alex Penner).
Finally the game started…
We were excited to learn that playing in net for the Bulldogs was 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist—and one Silver— Sami Jo Small!
It was a fun—but not close—game to watch. The Maple Leaf alumni won convincingly 11-4, but there was a lot to enjoy from the back-and forth action including some amazing saves by Sami Jo. Her defense just failed her miserably.
There was a fight between Jim (Mirasty) and Mark Fraser, and there was a mid-game trade that sent Shoresy (Keeso) to the Leafs in exchange for Rick Vaive.
After moving over to the Leafs roster in the third period, Shore went on to score couple of goals.
We had a great time!
After the game, we stuck around and lined up for some pictures with the Sluts…
Then it was off to the Phoenix Concert Theatre for the afterparty which featured a live performance by Jo Dolo.
It was a memorable weekend to say the least! Now I need the week to recover!
Leave a Reply to TPS267: Shoresy Classic Wrap-UpCancel reply