For cousin Johnny...

We are in the midst of the playoff season for the Stanley Cup.

Our beloved Vancouver Canucks have made it through the first round and then last night....

A huge upset...The Montreal Canadiens beat The Washington Capitals to move on to their 2nd round.

They are the only Canadian team left in the eastern division.

Which brings me to my next post on Toronto...

The Hockey Hall of Fame.

A shrine for some. 

They come to pay their respects to those who skated to glory...

To bathe in the religion to some, that which is OUR game...Hockey.

These hallowed halls are filled with the ghosts of Saturday night...

The glass cases glow with relics of heroes from boyhoods of days gone by...

The history of the gear...

Here, Jaques Plantes' gaolie mask he designed himself...the very first.

1959..

Tired after years of being slashed, bruised and broken, he was the one who finally started the trend of keeping your face in one piece...from that....

to this...

 I spent many a Saturday night hearing the theme song for Hockey Night in Canada come on the t.v,

the snow falling outside, my brother and father, brown stubby beer bottle in hand,

sitting in happy anticipation...

The larger than life players making their way around the ice...

The announcer shouting those 4 words you either dreaded or loved...

"He shoots...he SCORES!"

There was something more which I came here for though.

It was to remember my dad's second cousin Johnny Quilty.

This is what he would have seen when he walked into the locker room in 1939-41...

He played for the Canadiens during this time...

Look...there he is up on the team rouster...3rd from the bottom right.

Johnny even won the Calder Cup for Most Valuable Player...

I found it here, in the same room as the Stanley Cup, with his name engraved on it.

Unfortunately, Johnny sustained a terrible broken leg in the following year with the Boston Bruins and never played again.

But he's remembered here...in this great building of hockey legends.

I felt obliged to have my photo taken with 'Lord Stanley'...

Yes, I was in the presence of greatness...

All of those years, growing up in the shadows of this great game...sometimes hating it for pre-empting favorite t.v shows...

But sometimes loving the feelings of pride when a country unites for the love of the game...

The 2010 gold medal game puck.

Cheers Johnny!