Hockey Hall of Fame

One last non-food related post about Dave and Carla's post before I get to the cupcakes.






















Dave mentioned that he wanted to go to the Hockey Hall of Fame.






















It's a place I wouldn't have gone on my own, but I'm so glad I went.






















It was really fun to go with Dave and Carla, who are bigger sports fans than me and John.


















And they give you a little chocolate coin when you go inside!

















They have everything hockey related that you can imagine.





















Hockey is larger than life.

















So much so that it needs its own cathedral.






















Here's Dave admiring a case of memorabilia from Wayne Gretzky.






















I love the old Maple Leaf sweaters.


















They had a replica of the Candians locker room, through the years.























They had old and less old goalie pads you could try on.






















Then we went to see the room with the Stanley Cup.


















The Hockey Hall of Fame is in a building that used to be a bank, and they keep the cup in a beautiful rotunda room with stained glass.





















They have a guy who sits with the Stanely Cup all day long. He just keeps an eye on people in line to take pictures.



















The Hall of Fame is kind of a huge place with lots to see and do. It's really interactive.



















We happened to be there the day they announced who would be on the Canadian Olympic hockey team. This is a picture of lots of Canadians listening to it and then remarking to the people sitting next to them about each choice.


















This is the hockey zone (I think), with lots of games - Wii, a Foosball table, and a virtual be-the-goalie game.


Near the end of our trip, Dave and Kevin played an epic game of the U.S. vs. Canadia Foosball.



















If you happen to be around Toronto and you need some entertainment, I'd recommend the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's ok if you don't know a lot about hockey - you can learn a lot from going, and it's compelling either way.

London Knights vs. Guelph Storm

I'll bring you plentiful cupcake recipes soon, but first, hockey. Altogether, Dave and Carla had one of the most stereotypical Canadian adventures possible: it snowed a ton, we went to Swiss Chalet, and we learned about hockey.

















We drove to Guelph for the game, about an hour and half away. Carla's friend Kevin's fiance lives there, and she had us over for delicious chili before the game.



















I know this sounds obvious, or silly, but I'm really struck by the hockey culture in Canada - particularly the Junior Hockey League culture.



















These guys are really young. Some aren't even finished with high school. Playing for this hockey team is just what they do before going to college where they play more. This arena (while probably used for other things) is primarily used for their games. Every seat might not have been filled, but there were a ton of people there.

















It turns out the Knights are really good! The Guelph Storm are less good. But it wasn't a slaughter: 4-2, Knights.

There was one awesome fight during the second period, but mostly, things went really fast. They only stopped for a minute or two between plays (or whatever they're called in hockey).


















They also had cheezy games in between periods. These people are racing to making a human sized hamburger.



















Here's their colorful Zamboni.


















I liked watching the goalies stretch.


Here's some pictures of us at the game.




































Here's Dave, probably trying to answer one of my many questions about hockey. It turns out I remembered more than I thought from my brother's NHL video game for Sega.


















We had such a good time at the game. Now I really want to go to a Western game, since some of the former Knights are on the team.