The Home of Hockey

Toronto, Canada is the home of hockey. It is the location of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and until recently was where they held the NHL Awards. It is also the home of the NHL Combine, the first weekend in June. You walk around the city and no matter the temperature people have been known to walk around the city showing their Maple Leafs pride. No matter how bad that team is, they still have one of the best fan bases in the National Hockey League and can continually fill their seats.

Henrik's Picture from the Scouting Combine

The NHL Combine takes place about two weeks before the actual NHL entry draft. It is when the top 75 NHL prospects come together in Toronto to prove to the 30 league teams that they are NHL ready. The prospects are put through rigorous fitness testing and interview from General Managers of the 30 teams. Since the 80s, we have been family friends with former Penguin, Ranger, Red Wing and Flyer, Ulf Samuelsson. Both his older sons, Philip (20) and Henrik (18) are NHL Prospects. Henrik, the younger of the two is Draft Eligible this year. He was the one participating in the combine this year. Philip, my brother Julian, and Philip's best friend from college, another NHL Prospect, Brian Dumoulin, decided we would go to Toronto and just "check up on"Henrik's progress. Really all we wanted was to go to Toronto. Julian, Philip and I hadn't been there in a few years so what was the harm in going back.

The first day we were there Henrik was completing his last full day of activities for the Combine. That gave us some free time. We decided to go to the International Hockey Hall of Fame and see what was going on there. The one thing that I was disappointed wasn't there was the Stanley Cup. That was to be expected though. The Stanley Cup spends the summer traveling the globe because each member of the Stanley Cup Champions and their organization get to spend a day with the cup. To this day I couldn't tell you what I would do if I got to spend the day with the cup. But I most likely won't get the opportunity because I will never win the Stanley Cup so it's a non issue. The Hockey Hall of Fame was  almost a haven for these boys because Hockey is their life. Both Philip and Brian played at Boston College on Full Scholarships and now have made the jump to play professionally, Brian for the Carolina Hurricanes* and Philip for the Pittsburgh Penguins. My brother does the color commendation for the New York Islanders radio broadcasts. Watching the three of them there was like watching a little kid open the present they had been waiting for on Christmas.

After going to the Hall of Fame, we met up with Henrik and one of his other prospect friends for dinner. We all went out and talked to the two boys about their time at the Combine. They couldn't really tell us much, but considering the circumstances what they did tell us was big news. Henrik told us that he had spent a lot of time talking to the team their dad used to coach for, the Phoenix Coyotes. He was hopeful that something would come out of that conversation. We will just have to see.**

Toronto v. Boston

The second day we ventured away from the hockey side of Toronto. We went to the Red Sox/Blue Jays game. Seeing the way that the Blue Jay's stadium was only half full, as you can see in the picture to the left, further proved how much Canadians love their hockey. If I had a dollar for all the people I saw during this trip either wearing a Maple Leafs jersey, a t-shirt or was showing their Maple Leafs pride in any way, I could buy myself something really nice. The Blue Jays on the other hand, it was almost as if Toronto would be ok if they left. There were more Red Sox fans there than Blue Jays fans, to a point where if you closed your eyes you wouldn't be sure if you were in Fenway Park or not.

It was an interesting experience being in Toronto and seeing these different sides of it. To see the inter workings of the NHL by seeing the boys during the combine. You also saw how differently they feel about baseball in Canada as opposed to the United States. If this was a Red Sox game in Boston, I would be willing to bet those seats would be packed. The Phillies are 10 games back and they are still consecutively selling out games. The Blue Jays are lucky if they will ever sell out.

I can't wait to come back to Toronto, and I can't wait to see what happens with Henrik in the Entry Draft. I am so proud of him so to see him do well would be great.

* Please Note: After this post was written, on June 25 during the 2012 Entry Draft, Brian Dumoulin was traded to Pittsburgh with Brett Sutter and Carolina's 2012 first round draft pick in exchange for Jordan Staal.

** In the first round of the 2012 Entry Draft, 27th Overall, Henrik was chosen by the Phoenix Coyotes.