Hey gongers,

It’s that time of year again, league championships are ending, hockey equipment is being thrown back in the cold storage, the sun’s out (guns out) and most importantly, players are making their way back to the gym to get prepped for next season.

A proper off-season training can make or break a player’s training camp, so there are many important decisions to be made in order to line yourselves up for success.  The first of those decisions is choosing the right strength coach to shed your blood, sweat and tears with over the next 4 months.  Today’s post is going to lay out exactly what you need to look for to ensure you end up training with the right coach.

Here are 5 qualities every strength coach needs to possess in order to have a positive impact on their player’s career:

1. Passion  
• This one goes without saying.  Being a strength coach/personal trainer is one of the most exciting and rewarding jobs in the entire world.  If you’re working with someone who is lazy, complaining about long hours and has nothing positive to say, then it will negatively impact your training.  I grew up as a young hockey player with the aspirations of one day playing in the NHL, and I treat every player I work with as if their career were my own.
• Positive energy and hard work are necessities if you want to find a trainer who not only cares about their career, but yours as well.
2. Education
• Any meathead can take a 16 hour weekend course and call themselves a strength coach.  It takes a lot more than big biceps and chiseled abs to know your way around the gym.  Not every great strength coach out there possesses a university degree, but it’s always a good start.  As much as post-secondary education is an asset, most good coaches will tell you their learning took off after university.  There are tons of great trainers out there putting out mind-blowing information for young coaches such as myself to learn from. Therefore, a good coach should always be providing you with new techniques and exercises to help take your game to the next level.
• If your strength coach is boring you to death with sit-ups, bench press, toe touches and 5ks, it’s probably time to find someone new.
3.  Work Ethic
• This one ties in closely with passion.  Being a strength coach is not a 9-5 job by any means. I often find myself at the gym for 10-12 hours a day, 5-6 days a week and when I’m done at the gym, I’m rushing home to write programs, research new material, or test out exercises so that when I wake up the next morning, I’m prepared for whatever my clients throw at me.
• A hard working strength coach combined with a hard working player is the recipe for success.
4. Chemistry
• Over the past 6 summers I have had the pleasure of witnessing Claude Giroux complete his off-season training.  Claude spends his summers in Ottawa working out with trainer Tony Greco and I’ve heard him say on numerous occasions “no one can push me the way Tony does”.  Tony is a master at picking players up when they’re down, pushing them through plateaus, and turning their words from “I can’t” into “I will”.  I’ve been very fortunate to learn some of Tony’s techniques and apply them when working with my players.
• Even the best training program is useless if a coach doesn’t know how to motivate their athletes.
5. Class
• For the most part, the strength and conditioning community is a humble and welcoming society.  But just like any high school, there are the cool kids…and the kids who want to hang with the cool kids.  No one wants to train with a coach who is consistently bad mouthing others trainer methods in order to hide their own insecurities. Nothing is set in stone in the strength world.  Theories are constantly being disproven, and for every argument, there is an equally good counter argument.
• If you end up coming across a trainer like this, my advice to you is run (or skate) away because chances are, they’re in the business for the wrong reasons.

Bottom line, choosing a passionate, informed and hard working coach who is willing to go the extra mile will help you succeed not only on, but off the ice.

Check back soon for my next post on 5 things every strength coach looks for in a player.

Jake Wright, CSCS

Follow me @JakeTLAFreak

About the Author

Jake Wright is a highly praised personal trainer, strength coach and part owner of two Greco Lean and Fit Centres in Kanata, Ontario.  He started his fitness career in 2007 under the guidance of Tony Greco (www.tonygreco.ca) and earned a BSC in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo.  Since the start of his fitness career, Jake has coached and trained clients to reach and surpass their fitness goals, including professional athletes, post-rehabilitation patients and general fitness enthusiasts.

Jake and his fellow trainer and business partner Adam Bracken both grew up in the Ottawa minor hockey system and have a passion for helping young players fulfill their dreams.  Together, they create and survey the programs for upwards of 50 players each year during off-season, with clients ranging from NHLers to young aspiring minor hockey players.

If you’re in the Ottawa area at any point this summer and would like to know more about what Jake and Adam can do for your off-season conditioning, feel free to stop by 100 Schneider road, Kanata, Ontario or check them out at www.grecotrainlikeafreak.com.

Well, I don’t really know how to feel.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything for here, but I’ve had so many emotions since that Game 7 OT loss that I had to put it somewhere. It’s called a rant for a reason. There’s a lot to say, and it’s not necessarily organized very well. Take from it what you can.
By the time this gets published, many of you may have forgotten all about it. But for any Leaf fans out there, I know it’ll sting for a while.

I’ll give you a quick bio of myself:
I’d consider myself a die-hard Leafs fan. I’m 17, Toronto-born and raised and a fan of hockey since the age of 3. Like everyone, I’ve picked teams to support in the playoffs and even in the regular season once the Leafs were out of contention. I’ve never even considered rooting for another team full time, but it’s a challenge for me to watch a game and stay neutral.

Anyway, back to the game. I don’t need to summarize it for you. It’s the worst game 7 collapse in league history. That’s all that needs to be said.
At any other point in a hockey game, scoring 3 goals in 11 minutes and 2 in under 30 seconds is rare, but not so uncommon. It’s inexcusable and unprecedented for that to occur in a playoff game, no less a game 7. Nobody wants that to happen. Nobody plays playoff games to lose. You can blame whoever you want, but it was a team loss. You can also talk about the overtime goal, but let’s face it, the game was already over by that point.

To quote my father, who uses this line after every unpredictable sporting result, ”That’s why they play the games.” If the result was obvious, they’d just hand out awards on paper. But they don’t, and that’s what makes sports what they are.

For fans of 29 teams in the league, it was probably chuckle-worthy, hilarious even.

For Leafs players, fans, and anyone else with an emotional attachment to the game, it was embarrassing, disgraceful, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, the list goes on.

Joffrey Lupul’s tweet sums it up:

https://twitter.com/JLupul/status/334341399434649600

As a fan, will it haunt me till the day I die? No, but it’ll hurt for a while. I’ll have to see how the rest of the playoffs pan out before I can wonder how the Leafs could’ve done before they went all 1929 Stock Market, launching Toronto’s own version of the Great Depression.
It’s a collapse, it’s historic, and it never should have happened. At 2-1, 3-1, and 4-1, 4-2, and even 4-3, I thought “What if we lose? No, we’ve come too far to give up now.” Well, I was wrong. Sucks to suck.

It’s easy to rip on the players for choking, and because it’s professional sports, that’s bound to happen. We live in a culture where it’s okay to get down on someone for their mistakes, simply because we expect them to do better. I can’t say I think we should just shake it off, but at the same time, it’s the lowest point of any of these players’ careers. It won’t make it better to call them out. It’ll be interesting to see how this game is used as a learning experience for the team. Moral victories count for nothing, but losses can be mined to find answers and even more importantly build toughness and desire, which will make next year’s Leafs team even more exciting to watch.

I’m not going to analyze every single goal of the game, for the sole fact that there’s no point. That’s been done enough already. If you want the highlights, you can find them online I’m sure.

I cried a few tears after the loss. It wasn’t just the result, it was the manner that it happened in. The only other hockey game I recall that came that close to feeling that way was the epic collapse of Canada’s Jr. team against Russia in the gold medal game. But even then, the World Jrs. are a once a year tradition. I live Blue and White 365 days a year.

Boston, congrats to you. I don’t know how you did that. I want you to lose, but at the same time your success wouldn’t be surprising.

The East is weak this year. Pittsburgh, the #1 seed looks shaky at best, we all know what happened to # Montreal (in my eyes a team that got to that placing by consistent performance, but no domination), and #3 Washington was also knocked out. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see the Bruins make the Cup Final.

The West, meanwhile, features 4 teams that are scary for anyone to face. An aging Detroit seem to be in the Conference finals year after year, San Jose is on the upswing after years of disappointment, LA has won 20 playoff games in their last 5 series and Chicago had the league’s best regular season record.

After the recent events in Boston, it’s true that maybe their city could’ve used the win more than ours. I don’t know if it’s helping anyone heal really, but if it does, that’s great. The fact that sports (hockey specifically) has the power to ease the pain from such a tragic event shows just how much a part a life all these games are. It’s ridiculous that we can get so emotionally invested in something we have no control over. It works both ways.

Maybe it would’ve been the Leafs’ year if we pulled out the series win, maybe not. At the end of the day, a first round-exit is essentially the same as a Cup Final loss- whether you were miles or inches away, either way you’re still short of the Holy Grail. To take an idea from Leafs Blogger Steve Dangle- look at Cup winners of the recent years- LA, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Anaheim and oh yeah- Boston. None of those teams won the Cup without making the playoffs the year before. As much as experience is talked about over and over again, it’s really something that is necessary for success in the NHL. It’s still really unlikely the Leafs would’ve made the final, as much as I would’ve liked them too.

Personally, I watched the game from Maple Leaf Square, on the massive TV with an absurd amount of other fans. I’ve never had a night filled with more emotions. After the game, a stunned silence broke out. Then there was some anger, but most people just wanted to find their way home.

Sports fans are all the same.  People try to play it off as different, but they’re really the same everywhere. You’ll find loyal and disloyal fans everywhere, angry fans, drunk fans, stupid fans and smart fans. You’ll find stories of fans sticking together and breaking apart. Leafs Nation, whatever that is, has all of those in there.
There are definitely a lot of people who aren’t fans of the game and just there to party. I welcome them. Playoff hockey is exciting. Just don’t criticize a team if you’re willing to wear the jersey, and don’t represent a fan base poorly. If you only bleed blue while they’re winning, at least be respectful enough to not demean them after a loss. Personally, a friend of mine was hit in the eye by an errant beer bottle thrown after the game, probably by someone who didn’t watch a single regular season game. Is that person a representative of the Leafs fan base? Of course not. It’s ridiculous to take individuals and take them as a whole group which consists of tens of thousands of people.
Anyway, the Leafs exceeded my expectation with their three victories in the series and were one overtime goal away from putting all their mistakes behind them. Final results are all that matter in sports, but we WERE the better team in the series.

To quote the Globe and Mail’s James Mirtle:

Bruins win the game 5-4 and the series 4-3 despite leading for only 21.5 per cent of the seven games.

It may not have been pretty and we may not have been able to perform when it counted, but a domination of one of this era’s most consistent teams and a core that won a Stanley Cup just two short years ago is definitely reason for optimism.

Lost in it all, and merely a footnote at this point is the general consensus before the series and after games 1  and 4 where the Leafs would get blown out by the Bruins and they were lucky to even get to that point. Well, those critics were shut up. Thank you, Kessel.

To the two separate guys on the subway who both talked to me about keeping my head up and the insignificance of a hockey game in the grand scheme of life, thank you. It helped a little, but the pain wasn’t completely gone. Hockey is just a game, but the opportunities that it provides are so much more. And for that, my love of this game will never day. Optimism is great, but pain is allowed too. It’s not the end of the world, and it’s not the end of the Leafs.
The chances of you two subway heroes seeing this are about as likely as a team coughing up a two goal lead in the final 1:30 of a playoff Game 7 third period. (See, I’m trying to make jokes already. Self-deprecation is a great quality to have.)

The future looks as bright as it has in years in Toronto, and there’s finally concrete proof to say that. The Leafs are a young team.

Just look at James Van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri, Phil Kessel, Joffrey Lupul. All of those forwards were taken in the top 10 of the NHL draft in the past decade. All four of them have potential to be perennial 25-30 goal scorers, and they’re all just starting to peak now.

James Reimer, you played out of your mind this series. You were unable to close it out, and that sucks. Had you made a few more key saves, you’d still be the hero you were just a few days ago. You’ll get back there, I have the faith.
The flashes of  brilliance you’ve shown this year makes me believe in you as a top 10 goalie. Whether or not you can keep it up, Miika

Cody Franson went from scapegoat to hero to scapegoat again. Not mentioned nearly enough is that he was one of the top-10 defensemen in the NHL in scoring. A severely underrated player that did not at all surprise me by scoring two in one of the biggest games of his life.
Besides the millions of dollars thing, Dion Phaneuf, I feel bad for you.
Why people think you’re overrated, I don’t know. No one says you’re good, yet you are. Another top-10 player in defensive scoring. Consistently put on the ice against the top lines in the NHL, yet definitely overworked. 3rd period gaffes are caused by a tired body, yet you’re tough to get by in the first 50 minutes of a game. Hopefully this offseason we’ll acquire someone else so you don’t have to shoulder so much of the load, or one of the guys will step up to that role next year. Jake Gardiner’s been slowly developing into an elite defenseman.

In short, there’s tons of reasons to beleaf.
This was the first time since I was 8 that the Leafs were in the playoffs, and I can tell you this was obviously the most painful loss of my life. Every fan base has them. As an athlete and a fanatic of several other sports (as well as the Canadian National Hockey team), losing sucks. This loss hurt the second most out of any in my career, save for the actual one this past fall where my football playing career ended abruptly in a provincial qualifier. As there’s always another season of hockey to be played, I’ll recover from this one.

Will the Leafs win a Cup in my lifetime? I’d like to think so. If the atmosphere for simply scoring a goal was anything like what it was last night at Maple Leaf Square, I can’t really imagine how it’d be like to go through days or even weeks straight of that.

My record at Maple Leafs Square is now 0-2, with both of them being two critical overtime losses. To think of a curse is ridiculous, but those are two of the most empty feelings I’ve ever felt in my life.

This probably describes it the best how to feel. It’s a pretty accurate representation of how all fans feel after a tough loss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdwchohlMjI 
So I’ll move on, and for any other true Leafs fans out there, you will too. It hurts, yes. Let it hurt.  But we’ll be back. I can’t wait for next season to start.

Some other great reads and videos on the game:
James Mirtle, Globe & Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/breaking-down-the-leafs-meltdown-what-went-wrong/article11919728/#dashboard/follows/
Sean McIndoe (@DownGoesBrown) on Grantland.com

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/62023/torontos-game-7-gut-punch

Steve Dangle- Leaf Fan Reaction

http://youtu.be/WaYzemDjCHoa

Hey Gongers! Occasionally we here at GSH get to try out new products from other innovators in the hockey community! A recent send to the team was a hockey lifestyle beverage called Hockey Soda! The creator of Hockey Soda hooked us, and some hockey friends of ours, up with some cases of the super tasty energy drinks! I got on the phone with Joe Bonfiglio- the man behind the drink- and got to chat with him all about the company and his passion to cater to the hockey community with his beverage line! Enjoy!

~A-Snow (4J) @AmySnow17

The hockey world is full of innovative thinkers. Nightly we see them on the ice, outthinking a goalie, staying one step ahead of a defenseman and coming up with new moves to wow fans with. Daily we see them in the pro shops and offices that support the game, designing new skates, testing new pad technologies and even designing clothing lines to mirror a lifestyle lived and loved by many. Of course the last reference is a nod to the men behind Gongshow Gear Hockey, a group of players who cornered a niche market nearly 11 years ago and never looked back.

Like the boys at Gongshow, another man sat back and observed the game he loved to play, the players he coached and with a little bit of a nostalgic push, decided to enter the niche world of hockey driven products. Joe Bonfiglio wanted to offer up a hockey lifestyle beverage geared towards the needs and demands of hockey players and what he created is a citrusy carbonated energy drink known as Hockey Soda.

Hockey Soda has been seen on red carpets for the movie Goon (you’ll remember of course that Gongshow proudly made the merchandise for the hockey film), distributed to hockey pro shops across North America- including Total Hockey- and received with great reviews by the hockey community. What shouldn’t be missed in the creation of the beverage is the innovation and drive shown by Joe Bonfiglio to cater to the hockey lifestyle when people said it was risky business.

“When I first thought about the idea I wasn’t going to do anything with it. After talking with my father-in-law about it he really encouraged me to go for it and the rest is history.”  

“Initially the concept was going to be like a nostalgic kind of thing,” says Joe, “Some of the old hockey rinks in Connecticut used to have the old soda machines behind the counter and you could mix different flavors of soda together and they would see it as a hockey soda…the concept really resonated with me.”

While the initial plan was for hockey soda to be just that, Joe says as he thought about it farther, the players and environment around him helped develop Hockey Soda into what it is today. “The more I thought about it and watched the players I was coaching drinking energy drinks and things like that I started wondering if I could create some kind of lifestyle beverage for hockey players. If you look at other energy drink brands they tend to target extreme sports and really, what’s more extreme than hockey?”

Joe couldn’t have been more on spot with his assessment of not only the game of hockey, but what players were really putting into their bodies. He went to the drawing board and created a drink that caters to not only the hockey lifestyle but athletes in general. A mix of ingredients allows Hockey Soda to be not only a pre-workout beverage, but also a recovery drink. Versatile and tasty, Hockey Soda’s popularity continues to grow.

Recently John Buccigross became a brand ambassador for Hockey Soda. Says Joe of the recent addition of John Buccigross, “To add Buccigross to our team just strengthens our grassroots approach and our commitment to producing the best hockey energy drink on the market. We have some cool giveaways planned as well as a series of videos in development.”

Hockey Soda now sponsors the #BucciOvertimeChallenge on the social networking site Twitter as well as The Mayors Manor First Goal Contests. Hockey Soda could also be seen on the red carpet of the Goon premiere and Joe was nothing short of floored to see the stars of the film walking around drinking his product! “That was really exciting! It was great to see Seann William Scott and Liev Schreiber walk into the premiere holding on to Hockey Soda. It put things into perspective…it was really surreal.”

One thing is for sure, Joe Bonfiglio is an innovator in the hockey world and is bringing a great product to the table. Says Joe, “There’s a built in fraternity or family in hockey and I wanted to appeal to that.”

Players have responded well to his concept, including one NHLer saying, “It’s unreal! I love the way it tastes!”

Joe is nothing short of an entrepreneur and has some advice for young people like him, “If you are going to do something, in the business world or other, make sure you are passionate about it and go all in. Your whole heart should be in it.”

Joe plans to keep expanding the brand and has new additions to the product line in the works for the near future. In the meantime, look for it in your local hockey pro shops or online at hockeyenergy.com.

W.S.P. and pair up a case of Hockey Soda with a Gongshow bucket and enjoy your summer Gongers!

Cheers!

~A-Snow (@AmySnow17)

For players finishing up their CIS or NCAA careers or for those that are playing professional in North America and want a change of scenery, Europe is a great option for them. These players are on the bubble of being professional players or finding a 9-5 job. Europe provides that break in their lives that can bring in some steady cash flow while giving these athletes an opportunity to find themselves in the professional game. If all goes well, these players can make a very lucrative career in Europe and even find themselves back to North America in the professional ranks. If these players do not find themselves, then they are able to have a great experience of living in Europe and travelling a continent that holds a bounty of history and culture.

First of all, you need to have an agent that has good contacts within Europe. There are several individuals out there that state they can find you a place to play. I had agents contact me via Facebook or online databases for European hockey telling me they would find me places to play. They were discussing fees and percentages before they had even found a team for me to play on. My suggestion is that you have an agent that you are familiar with and has some resourceful contacts overseas. Ask your agent for some player references and talk with his players that are currently in Europe. Find out how long it took your agent to secure jobs overseas for these players. If your agent does not have any players overseas, it does not mean that he has no contacts in Europe. Maybe all of his players play in North America. Still, it may be in your best interest to seek out the help of a European agent because hockey in Europe all comes down to whom you know. My agent, Mike Bernier (Bernier Sports Management) was not the most connected agent for European circuits. However, he guaranteed me that he would find a place for me to play – and he did. Over the last two years, through extremely hard work and dedication, he has been in contact with teams from almost every professional league in Europe. His connections have improved significantly. It makes things much easier when your agent knows people and has established relationships overseas.

You have some offers on the table from teams in different leagues, but you do not know where to play. The best advice I can give you is talk to some of your friends that have experienced European hockey. They are the best indicators of where to play and for what reasons. Hockey is a small world, and between your agent and yourself, you will be able to find some reliable information about the teams/leagues that are interested in your services. Leagues and the teams affiliated with those leagues change from year to year, so it is always a benefit to ask questions.

Now, everyone knows what the best leagues are in Europe: the Russian KHL, Swedish Eliteserien, SM-liiga in Finland, Swiss A-League and the German DEL. However, having a team interested in you that is based out of the best league does not mean anything significant. Teams have money problems all over Europe. In fact, out of the four teams I have been involved with in Europe, only one team has not had issues with money. Other places have issues with their rinks, fan base, travel accommodations or other factors that can influence a decision. You, as a player, need to do your best in acquiring all forms of information that can help you make a sound decision that will benefit you in the long and short terms.

One of the first decisions that you need to make as a player is what you want to accomplish while in Europe. There are two options: play in the best leagues possible to get noticed OR to make the most money possible. For example, the top Polish league may offer you 5K Euros per month for twelve months, but the Allsvenskan league in Sweden may offer you 4K per month during the season. The facts are that the Polish league is not as great a level of hockey as the Swedish Allsvenskan, but Poland would be offering you 28K more for the year. Do you go with the money? Or do you go with the recognition of the better league that could lead to a more lucrative offer in the future? This is a decision that you have to make yourself. Do you come to Europe to chase the money and jump from league to league or do you bide your time and play in recognized leagues that lead to even better leagues?

Style of play is also something that you want to look into before making a decision. If you are like me, and put an emphasis on playing physical and tough, you do not want to aim for the Swedish Eliteserien league or Swiss A-League. The SM-liiga in Finland is starting to incorporate a more physical style of play to their game. The DEL has a lot of North Americans playing in it and is mixed very well with toughness and skill. The Austrian league (EBEL) also has a lot of North Americans that play a physical style. The EIHL in Great Britain has a plethora of North Americans as well. It is a strong league that focuses on skill and toughness. However, do not make the mistake that a certain individual made this year playing for Cardiff whom thought he could just get by playing like an idiot. He was gone before Christmas. Most of the leagues in Europe are full of strong skaters. The rinks are larger and most of the players have been playing in these rinks since they were young boys. Therefore, you need to recognize your individual skills and choose a league that fits your assets.

Now, we have all heard about the horror stories of European hockey leagues. Some of them have been depicted through the media and some have been heard through the grapevine. The debacle in Russia with the outdated planes has been extensively documented. Another aspect of the KHL that is not widely known is that most teams do not permit a lot of time at home during the season. If you are a single hockey player with no family, then this is not really a problem. However, if you bring your family over to Russia with you chances are that you will not be staying at home most nights, and the travel schedule will be very hard on your loved ones. Some leagues chose not to take players that have a wife/girlfriend or children just because it will cost them more money. Safe to say that making a decision on where to play in Europe constitutes thinking about what is best for you and your family.

Some of the issues that I have experienced first hand are very common in Europe. Teams will tell you anything in order to get you to their team. Once you are there it is a different story. It really does not matter what you have included in your contract. I mean, I guess some teams keep their word, but there are also teams that go against your contract and do not really care about what you think. You are in their world now; you play by their rules. I have custom made sticks included in my contracts, but I had a team not comply with my contract and gave me shitty twigs. I have also had teams that were extremely late with their payments, and some teams that did not even pay their younger or local players at all. The finances of European teams are very sketchy. The majority of their money comes in from sponsors around the city. If a team is not performing up to standards than the sponsors refuse to allocate their required funds to the teams, which in turn makes it difficult for teams to pay their players. Once again, asking your agent or other North American players about the teams and leagues to stay away from would be a good idea before signing over in Europe.

At the end of the day, if you are anything like me, all you want to do is play hockey and win games. However, at the same time, you are providing a service to your team and should be paid according to the terms of the contract. There is a plethora of benefits to European hockey, but nothing is ever as good as it seems. You need to pick a destination that fits your abilities and long-term goals while eliminating as many deterrents as possible. And make sure that you always have a clause in your contract that is open-ended so that you can leave the team whenever you wish if they are in breach of your contract. That is golden. So, best of luck in Europe, and see you around.

Dants

Event Details:

SATURDAY, June 29TH 2013 – Save this date in your calendars!!!  The Gongshow Gear Sales Team will be setting up a booth downtown Ottawa at The Great Canadian Cabin’s  2st Annual Hockey Day in the Capital: 3 on 3 Ball Hockey Tourney.   See tournament details below;

 Register your team TODAY for just $15 per player.  Each team includes 4 players plus 1 goalie for a total of 5 per team.  32 TEAMS MAX, FIRST COME FIRST SERVE.

 Each team will receive:

•  1 ice cold Molson Canadian for each player

• 1 tasty cabin dog for each player

• Guaranteed 2 games (double elimination style)

Schedule to be announced day before the tournament.

 Winning team receives:

• $1000 to www.GongshowGear.com  Plus some Swag!

• $500 donation to a charity of your choice

• Dinner for 5

• VIP limo service to and from an upcoming Sens Game with tickets to the game

• 5 Bracelets for entry to all York St Venues during Canada Day weekend.

The lads from the Gongshow will be set up selling gear with some great deals so come down, get some swag, shoot the breeze, and share an ice cold Molson Canadian with the boys and Molson Girls.

 There will be chances to win all kinds of unreal Gongshow prizes.  COME ONE, COME ALL!!!

 Here is the link to sign up  http://hockeydayinthecapital.eventbrite.ca/#     

 ** Teams May Not Register In Person. All Sales are to be done online and are final.

For more info please contact – Robbie Williams robbie@muskokawoods.com and or Paul Hyndman phyndman84@gmail.com

 *** Remember this event is FIRST COME FIRST SERVE so get your team in early.

 Wheel, Snipe, Party!!

Event Details

Will the Kings overcome the dreaded “Stanley Cup Hangover”?

Who is the Canucks starting goaltender? And how do they really feel about each other?

Will Patrick Kane’s mullet make a comeback?

(Spoiler alert: yes)

What song can top Rebecca Black’s “Friday”?

I feel like Tavares and Subban are prime examples of that

(the talk of their flow is a moot point because no one beats this guy and his Little Mermaid hair move:)

Anyways back on topic and away from Karlsson’s hair blowing in the breeze. You become tight for life with your teammates but being able to play on the ice with your actual brother, especially at the NHL level, is preeeetty special and not that many guys are able to do so. The final game of the season between the Rangers and the Hurricanes will mark the first time that all four Staal brothers will be in the NHL, in the same arena, at the same time – Marc on the Rangers, and with Jared called up, the other three on the Canes.

Along with the Staals, there are a fair number of other hockey brothers out there

Sometimes they live together

Train together

Know everything about each other

(This may or may not be a fair test because I haven’t fully ruled out that they are the same person yet)

(I know that one is old and *everyone* has seen it, but I still find it hilarious)

Even get a little rough

And last but not least, my favourite brothers…

There are quite a few more examples of brothers in the NHL but I didn’t want to get too carried away

Thanks again for accepting me here I’ve had an overwhelming response on my Facebook page from many members here.
One question I get asked a lot of is how did the book Goon become the cult classic that it is.
As I briefly described earlier I didn’t start skating until after high school in fact I was just about 20 years old when I started.
And I only started to skate for recreational pleasure & I had no dreams or expectations of making anything out of it except to have fun with my friends who all skated.
The book Goon came to life after a few years of playing professional hockey.
One of my very best friends Adam Frattasio who I grew up with in the town of Hanover, Massachusetts was the one who actually had the idea.
Adam who had a journalistic background and did many sports related articles for newspapers and even Sports Illustrated Magazine had said to me one day your story is really unique and you should write a book about it.
You see I never imagined I was ever going to play professional hockey that would be so ridiculous of me to even sit here and tell you that was my plan.
All I really wanted to do in the beginning years is simply learn to keep my balance on skates so I could play games with my buddies who rented ice on Friday nights.
All my friends and I love hockey fights & we would watch countless hours of hockey fight tapes and we would study each fighter and try and figure out what made him as good as he was.
So of course when we got onto the ice or even playing street hockey we would always pretend we were one of the NHL heavyweights and we would have fights against each other.
And I’m not kidding when I say we literally would drop our gloves square off and pound each other in the face like a real hockey fight but we would just friends

fooling around.
Anyway when I got my first try out in the ECHL with the Carolina Thunderbirds I actually got cut from the team because my skating was so poor.
But as fate would have it the fighters they kept were not doing their jobs and I got a call from the head coach a couple of months later asking me to return.
The book Goon more or less came to life because I kept a written diary of my daily events once I got to Carolina.
You see, I was so overwhelmed and in disbelief of what was taking place in my life and knowing it wouldn’t last forever I decided to chronicle all my actions.
And specifically I would write about the minor-league hockey players lifestyle like practices, bus rides & road trips, nightlife and of course the games.
Of course I was there to fight and keeping a log of each games opponent EX; who I fought, how I did & describing how I won or why I lost, was he a lefty or righty etc. but this diary was mostly for my education & to be able to review before the next game I played against that same team.
I was always one who believed in keeping notes & watching videotapes basically to study my opponents.
And I guess I did this because I truly respected all of these guys & realized how much more they were experienced then I was.
Almost every night after a game that I had a fight in I would call home to speak with Adam and tell him how it went.
I would buy all the newspapers in the mornings and clip out the articles or box scores that had any mention of my fights as I would begin to start a kind of scrap book.
Eventually Adam basically said to me after hearing endless stories about the minor-league hockey lifestyles from bus rides & all my on ice conversations before & after fights that it was inevitable he would have to write a book.
So for about a year Adam spent his time chronologically putting in order from my beginning days of learning how to skate & through the years of playing into a story format.
I think one of the best things that Adam did which makes the book so authentic was that he contacted every single player that I ever fought and spoke to that person asking if they could give him their best recollection of Doug Smith.
From there Adam took those quotes whether they were positive or negative and use them in the chapters throughout the story.
The book itself was titled Goon simply because we felt it was the one word that could grab a hockey fans attention.
I never considered myself a Goon nor did any of my opponents in fact it was often said that my opponents were in disbelief of Doug Smith because I was actually so polite and respectful towards them.
My philosophy of fighting was to simply challenge the other teams heavyweight or whoever it was that was bullying my teammates & make him fight… I never had to be a Goon in the sense & whack a guy over the head with my stick to get him to go.
So the title Goon was simply a grabber just like the photo on the cover which shows me moments after a game in the AHL where I had been in a fight and got whacked pretty good ending up with a beautiful black eye.
The book miraculously was picked up and published and within six-months it really took off on the sales end of things and had a tremendous run.
Today the original Goon book is out of print because we sold our option to Hollywood so they could retain the rights to make the movie.
There are copies out there for sale I see them on eBay and Amazon which makes me smile to this day.
Adam has since completed a second addition of the book as we had added numerous chapters to the original story and we are at this time waiting to release it.
Thanks again for allowing me to tell my story and please feel free to contact me or ask me any questions you may have.