West Championship celebration...

After the game, the Oilers won 2-1 and are Western Conference Champions, we made a reservation at Buca de Beppo. A fine Italian restaraunt that was kind enough to stay open and let us in. They have a Vince Lombardi room at all their franchise's in the country. Class, pure class.



Any place that pays tribute to the greatest coach in the world is okay with me. No I did not spill on my shirt, it was warm and I was sweating.



We were seated in the Pope room and had a meal that was outstanding. I know Cory does not like to see food on my blog but screw it. This meal was sooo good I needed to preserve the moment. First here is a pic of Robby Mac and his spicy meatball...



Look at the size of that meatball, not Robby, the actual meatball. The portions at this place are enormous and none of us finished our plate. It was just unbelievable. Not the fact that I could not finish, the size of the portions. Please, just follow along.



The bill came and it was fairly reasonable for nine guys. Not bad for a whole ton of food.



Those in attendance, clockwise from the bottom, Dwayne, Adam, Roger, Sean, Me, Sandy, Cam, Robby, and Jordi. It was a wonderful meal to end a great run to the Stanley Cup Finals. I don't get to travel to the finals but I do get to cover it in Edmonton so more to come. Plus I have some video of the Campbell Bowl to show you when I get back to E-Town. Good night, I have a 7:50am flight to catch...

Game 5 at the Pond and some celebrities...

Game 5 at the Pond

Game 5 and they still have us up in the cheap seats. The Oil have little jump again but as it stands they are up 2-1. Greener just beat the snot out of Marchant and is in the box.

We have some celebrities in the crowd tonight. The last person I ever thought that I would see in Anaheim at a game. Probably one of the greatest hockey players I have ever takent the ice with.... not really, but he is good.



Sandy Muldrew made the trek from Edmonton to the game. He is here, um, working. Nice to see him. Unfortunately Sandy decided to hug Wayne in the press box so he was taken away in this car...



Sandy just wanted to hug the greatest player ever. Too bad he made a bad decision. Wayne just isn't a 'hug' guy.



The other celebrity here tonight is the greatest player in hockey history, The Great One, Wayne Gretzky. Nice to see him out to support the Oilers.

Sitting in YEG on another Air Canada Delay...

Self Portrait

I hate delays. I normally have to get to the airport at least two to two and a half hours early to clear customs with my Carnet. A Carnet for those of you who never fly with one is an inventory of my gear that we use to show that we are not going to the states to sell it and to show that we are using it for business purposes. It is kind of a big pain in the ass but we have to use them. You need a stamp leaving Canada, Entering the USA, and then leaving the USA and reentering Canada. Yes it sucks and is a big time consuming deal.

So I get to the airport early so as to get to customs and get my stamp. Sometimes they are closed as to clear flights coming in so you can often wait. So this time I got early got the stamp then go and sit and wait for my boarding pass, then wait to board. So a delay makes me sit even more. I love Air Canada and it's almost bankrupt partner United Airlines for all the lovely delays.

Back to the Carnet thing. In some airports US Customs is not in the international terminal. So a person, that person being me, has to lug all my 5 bags to that terminal, find the office, get the stamp, lug it all back to the international terminal, and then check it. A lot of fun. In PHX the terminal was this way, and as luck had it, it had not rained in over 300 days, well, it was a downpour on this day. I love travelling wet.

In fact it rained in LA the other day when we left also. Wasn't bad though, I only had two terminals to travell between.



Hey, Don Cherry and Ron McLean just walked by. Wow, real life celebrity on my plane.

More live shots after the game...

This is it. Live after game 4 loss. Had to pack up all my shit to travel again to Anaheim. I love that.


That's not Ryan

After the game last night, Ryan, the Score shooter from Calgary, had a bit of an accident after the game. He was leaving the rink on Wayne Gretzky avenue and a woman in a blazer ran the red heading east on 118th ave. BAM, Ryan hit her. Her blazer rolled over and was basically totalled. His truck was damaged but not as bad as hers. Everyone is all right so that is at least one consolation. The other one is that his gear was okay.

Game 4, Oil no show...

Game 4 at Rexall Place

So the Oilers just took the night off on Thursday night. Lost 6-3 in a rowdy rink of fans who were itching for a sweep. Ducks had nothing of it and threw 46 shots at Dwayne Roloson, 26 in the first period. The Oilers did not look like world beaters on this night. Great, more travelling. Back to Anaheim for game 5. Hopefully they can whip their ass there so I do not have to go back. That's right I said it, WHIP THEIR ASS. Have a good day.

Live shot chaos...

Lives after Game 3

Here is our set up for our live shots after game 3. This is where we have been set up for all year to do post game lives. Before the game I set it up out in the seats by the visiting bench. For the Western Conference Finals the amount of people going live has doubled, even tripled. Off to the left of us, is Sportsnet. They brought out their whole Hockey Central Panel to do the show here.


Cory assuming his usual pose

Cory and Bradley, set up the lighting and such for thier hits here in E town. Cory takes care of Cory. That is Nik Kyprios and Cheech in the shot. Cheech is a TundraTalk Podcast vetran. Bradley, who is not pictured, is just bradley. He is the guy who got the first offical Canadian Boom Pole (patent pending) out of production in San Jose. He has since given away his Canadian Boom Pole (patent pending) to someone else. Ungrateful son of a Bi#@h. Oh well he will get his later.



Ryan Varty, of the Calgary Varty's, took these pics. I like to give photo credit when I can. Even if the guy is from Calgary.

A bit of history...

What is wrong with this banner?

So we have been relegated to the ends of the rink now to watch the game because of all the media in town. While we were sitting there we noticed that one of the banners was goofed up. They banner maker put an upside down two on it instead of a five.

This year they replaced all the old banners with new ones so we thought it was a bit weird. Someone told us that on the original banner was screwed up so when they replaced them they made the new one an exact replica. The history in this building is amazing.

Game 3 and mass media...

Game three at Rexall Place was a wild affair that featured three fights, two by Georges Laraque and Fedorik, 9 goals, 8 in the third, and another Oiler win. That is 7 straight now. The Oilers are one win away from the Stanley Cup final. Unbelievable. I never would have thought that this team had it in them. They just keep getting better every game. Mike Peca had just picked his game up and taken this team on his back. I am slowly coming around to believing that this team could go all the way.



With this team going deeper and deeper into the playoffs more and more media shows up at the rink. At the beginning of the season some days it was just me, Jordi, Cory, Gene, and a few fish hacks. Now there is at least 5 cameras every day, at the most 10, and tons fo fish hacks and national mic monkeys.

We had three production trucks in here for these games and I hear there will be four next round. Bettman was here also last game. He got soundly booed by the fans at Rexall Place. I love that when it happens. It is getting crowded.



Our live hits have been going well. The IFB gods have been looking down kindly on us. As you can see here it is getting crowded, that is the CBC truck behind us, and Sportsnet to the right of us. The only consolation is that the local stations in Anaheim have not followed their team. Last night there was a guy going around and checking frequencies of our wireless mics so they can make sure that no one walks on each other. There is so much that goes into this that we will never know.

Flying back to Edmonton...

California Coast

Flew out of Cali today. LAX is a zoo. We left the hotel at 5:30am to get there for a 10:30am flight. We had to beat the traffic. Of course it rained. This travelling thing is really taxing. I don't understand how guys, even the players do this. I have worked at least 30 out of the last 31 days. Donna has been taking care of Mckenna and the house while I have been out traipsing accross the country following a hockey team. Living in hotels, eating out, working long days, and drinking beer has taken it's toll.

ONe thing that has been really hard is not being able to watch Trailer Park Boys on sundays. That sucks.



ON this flght since we had to book it late we flew first class. That was the only seats left. Man, I had no idea what I was missing. Really, if the common folk knew this there would really be problems.



Part of flying first class gets you into the VIP club. Now this is the first time I have ever been in one of these things, and it kinda made me a bit uneasy. On the magazine rack were books with titles like Money, Privelidge, and Executive. It was real quiet. There were no TV's and free internet. Leather seats, a big bar, and a veggie buffet. BUT once I saw the fridges, I was sold. All the booze and drinks you can pound into you, FREE. That's right, I said it, FREE.

My first thought was that if the common people see this, how the other half lives, there is going to be a class war, a revolt, but once I saw the free booze, I did not care anymore.



I jumped right in with both feet and started pounding them into me. Nice thing to do since Air Canada has basically put our trip to a standstill.



Jordi watched a movie and I pounded a few down. Long day turned into not so long. I really want to travel first class again.



Oh yeah in Vancouver we had to stand in line for about and 45 minutes to clear customs. Look at all those people. Man, what were we thinking. No wonder I needed a drink.

Game 2 at the Pond...

Game two at the pond was better attended by the Duck fans. Oilers won again 3-1. they are just playing outstanding hockey. Only two wins from the Stanley cup final.

Still a lot of empty seats. I just can't believe that there are empty seats for a western final hockey game. There were a lot of Oiler fans in the rink. Not really that tough of a thing to do. Like a person would never wear an opposing jersey in Oakland or Philly. In Anaheim, I really don't think anyone is afraid of a Mighty Duck fan. Really, what is there to be afraid of, that 13 year old with the green and purple sweater? Ha.

Here are a few that I saw. These guys were more than happy to pose for a pic. Oh Cairns is a guy from Regina, and of course he sucks.

Visit to Marty, New Podcast, and NBC...

Marty's Crib

Had a nice day visiting Marty at his home in Cali. After the raucus night of poker in the morning Marty took me in to see his office at NBC in Burbank. You know the home of Jay Leno and Ellen and other stuff.


Marty drives fast

We did a podcast on the way to my hotel. CLICK HERE to listen to the hilarity of two guys riding on the I-5 going way to fast and not paying attention to the road like they should. It is quite funny.


NBC LA



Can you believe that they tore out Carson's studio and made it the set for Access Hollywood? The end of the world is coming. Carson literally turned in his grave.


Leno lives here


Security around here is a joke

Poker game at Marty's...

Killer game

After the lovely dinner we retired to the authentic Green Bay Packer Poker Table. Marty made it himself, and is quite proud of it I might add.

Invited to the game was Sergio and I. Marty has quite the eclectic group of guys who live in his neighborhood. Mike is a math teacher. He is in the blue shirt. Mitchito Sanchez, who is wearing black. He is a studio musician who has played with the likes of Don Henley and the Eagles and Gloria Estevan. Rob, who is in the denim shirt, is a homicide detective for the LAPD. He was the lead investigator on the Beretta trial, Robert Blake. Don't ask him about it. And on the end of the table Larry. He is an electritian for the city of LA, and he was quite drunk.

Nice group of guys. We had way too much fun and way too much to drink. Larry did not make it home without making a repainting the fence. You do the math, or let the Math guy do it for you. I broke even, Sergio who has not played much poker went home lighter but played very well. Marty, as usual when I am playing poker whipped my ass. Oh well, He only gets to do it every seven years now. Wow, seven years since the last time I saw Marty. Way too long.

I highly recommend going to see Marty when you are in the LA area. Even when he is drunk.


Drunk Marty is a funny Marty

Saturday in SoCal...

Tom Selleck has nothing on me

When in Socal, do as the socal's do. So I decided to rent a Ferrari and go cruisng. I think it looks good on me. No really. Okay, I am just kidding. This car was parked out in front of the hotel. Marty told me that the hotels rent cars like this one for their high roller clients to use if they need one.

Hilton Anaheim

So the Hilton, being the smart ones that they are, well except Paris, realized that I am a high roller so they gave me the keys for the day. No, not really.


Serge braving the traffic

So after work today, Sergio and I decided to make the trek north. We were invited by Marty Frey, of the Burbank Frey's, to come up to his place and indulge in some bbq chicken and ribs.

Now the trip from Anaheim to Marty's house is 60 miles. On a good day Marty says it should take about an hour. ON a bad day, two and a half. So apparently it was a good day because it only took about an hour and fifteen. Not bad.


traffic on I-5


We went past downtown

We took the I-5 all the way up and passed a few notable things. Burbank was one. Downtown LA was another.

Exit to Burbank

When we got to Marty's place there were two significant things waiting for us. Cold Beer, and BBQ. Nuf said.


Marty, the master of the BBQ

By the way the food was amazing. I think it was the special flavoring added by Daisy the dog licking the tongs. Did I mention that later that same dog ate the puke that was on the lawn. No, I probably shouldn't have.

Sorry.

Game 1 and this rink is quieter than a library...

not bad seats

We had really good seats for game one here in Anaheim. Way up high but at least it was not behind glass like some guys. No atmosphere at all behind the glass.

Speaking of atmosphere, this rink has none. You would think we were at a vikings game or something. Empty seats everywhere and quiet as a library.


empty seats

I shot some video of the open here to give you a bit of the sound to compare to San Jose and Edmonton. Have a look...



The noise, or lack thereof, at the Pond on Vimeo