(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

I will soon be flying to Prague  in order to commence the trip of a lifetime: a hockey tour of Eastern Europe!  We will have a game every day (more or less) for the time that we are there.  There are also some special events and there will even be time for a little sightseeing along the way.

I visited Prague in 1999 and was able to watch a professional hockey game between Prague archrivals Sparta and Slavia.  However, I have not played hockey in any European country other than Switzerland and now I’ll have the chance to play in four different countries (including a couple that don’t have a very high hockey profile yet).

This trip was not part of my initial 2014 travel plan.  I was talking to one of my hockey friends a couple of months ago and he mentioned that he was going on this tour.  It sounded great and I told him that I could be a last-minute replacement if anybody had to bail out.  Within days, that’s exactly what happened!

Not only will this be an incredible experience for my team, but it will also be memorable for our opposition.   Canada still enjoys an almost mythical reputation as the birthplace of ice hockey and home of the greatest players and (national) teams.  Of course, it also means that our opponents will be thrilled with any success that they have against us.

As you can imagine, there will probably be little time for blogging or photography on this trip…but I promise to do what I can and then catch up when I get back to Canada.

Game on!