The Beer Leaguer

Let's Get Out of Here

• The Beer Leaguer • Season 1 • Episode 15

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SPEAKER_2:

With summertime, getting close or being here, I don't know when it starts. And kids getting out of school, that usually means people getting ready for vacations. And if you're getting ready for a vacation, you should be able to do something fun that you like. Not just go to an amusement park that a kid wants to go to, or go ride a giant water slide, because water slides aren't fun. You should get to go do something cool. And what's cooler than going to watch some hockey, do some hockey related things. So, on this episode of The Beer Leaguer Podcast, once again, Mason joins me.

SPEAKER_1:

Howdy.

SPEAKER_2:

And we're gonna talk about fun hockey related vacation ideas and destinations. So, gonna start with kind of a couple of basic ones. I think everybody knows, but Mason chime in on these things too, because I know you've done some of this stuff. If you know, for a destination, for going to a vacation, that's hockey, number one, Hockey Hall of Fame up in Toronto. Assuming you don't. I think that's kind of a must stop if you're a hockey fan of any sort.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, I agree. I've heard from Canadians that it's like the American version of Canada, too, so if you're from America, it's probably pretty easy transition.

SPEAKER_2:

I always tell people is, if you ever wondered, you know, because like in the US., Not as insane as in New York or LA., but it's definitely big, like a bigger thing and more more of a center, I think, than Chicago is, but it is very much an American city. Yeah, it's very much like an American city. So yeah, Hockey Hall of Fame, tons of stuff there if you've never been. That's a super easy one. You can it's one of those places that you can spend an hour or two or I think you can spend a whole day, depending on how much stuff, if you want to read all the plaques and read everything and watch the movie and do all the interactive stuff, you can or you can kind of go through it in an hour or two and see most of the things.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, I feel like it's, I haven't gone there with my kid yet, but I have actually, but she was a baby. I feel like the tweens to teens really get into the interactive stuff. So you can spend a lot of time there if you have a kid, aged kid.

SPEAKER_2:

Or if you're an adult, that doesn't mind making a fool of yourself.

SPEAKER_1:

Well, yeah, that stuff's fun. But I feel like that, yeah, some of those kids just like sit on those things all day. It's like a pinball machine in the 80s.

SPEAKER_2:

Yes, yes, it is. I know that you say that from experience, too, growing up in the 80s with the pinball machines.

SPEAKER_1:

I was in the 80s for a whole like eight hours, you know.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, no, I think that's, to me, that's a no-brainer. Go to, if you're at all around there and it's by a big city. So it's not like it's a weird, like you're going just to that. There's a lot of stuff around there. So it's an easy way to plan, I think, a vanly vacation and have that in there for a thing to do, or to make it a trip onto itself. Totally worth it. On the same kind of note is the US. Hockey Hall of Fame, which I have not been to. I honestly don't know anyone that has been to it.

SPEAKER_1:

This is the first time I'm hearing of it.

SPEAKER_2:

I think that's why. There is a US. Hockey Hall of Fame. I don't really know what else to say besides that. Because it exists. I'm making sure I give the exact right... Okay, it's in Evelith. That's how you say it. Minnesota.

SPEAKER_1:

I was hoping you'd say Minnesota. Okay, let's keep going.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, I was in Minnesota. I want to make sure I said the right place. I mean, it's up there. It's like way up there in Minnesota. So like I've been to like Minneapolis and St. Paul and stuff for hockey related trips. I've never made the trip to the US. Hockey Hall of Fame because it's pretty far from there. Also, everything I've seen from it is it doesn't look nearly as impressive as the just Hockey Hall of Fame scene. You know, obviously much smaller, cool history of stuff. It's more like a history museum of sorts.

SPEAKER_1:

There's Stanley Cup is one of the Stanley Cups you buy at Target these days.

SPEAKER_2:

Well, I don't think they'd have the Stanley Cup because it's the US. Hockey Hall of Fame.

SPEAKER_1:

So that's I know that's what I'm saying. It happens to Stanley Cup.

SPEAKER_2:

It would just be a Stanley Cup is just like a little statue of Mike Madonna. It's an old Mike Madonna starting lineup figure. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, so there is that. So if you're in that area in northern Minnesota, or I guess whatever in Canada is right there because you're almost in Canada, that would be a pretty quick trip to go check that out. Like I said, stuff I've seen for it is it's much more of just like a history thing. It's not the regular Hockey Hall of Fame, I guess you can call it. I don't know. The one in Toronto is it's one of those like Hall of Fame and museums. And it's, like we said, a whole bunch of interactive stuff. US Hockey Hall of Fame, just kind of go look at things sort of thing. It's also the same difference as if you go to any of the other Hall of Fame's that are more small, like kind of a smaller version. They seem to be like this. Have you ever been to like the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown? It's huge. It's got all kinds of artifacts and cool stuff in it and interactive displays and stuff to do. And they show movies. And if you go to some of these other smaller, specialized like Baseball Hall of Fame's, it's usually just like, we've got some cool stuff from like these four guys that donated things. And here's our hall of plaques.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

That's it, thanks.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

So.

SPEAKER_1:

It's like going to a TGA Fridays or something like that.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah. But that's something, if you're in the area, I think it's worth checking out. You know, if I was closer to it, I definitely would go. And now it's a thing you know about if you didn't know it existed.

SPEAKER_1:

I'm looking for an excuse to go to Minnesota. That's one. Well, there might be some more later on in this episode. I'm getting excited.

SPEAKER_2:

Another thing, I think similar to the US Hockey Hall of Fame as being not a huge attraction per se, but something totally cool to see, and they definitely have stuff to go look at, is Lake Placid. You can go to Lake Placid, New York, and where they actually, the 1980 Olympic Games happened, and Miracle on Ice happened, all that. I don't want to say all the stuff that was there for the Olympics is still standing, but the arena and everything, that is still standing for stuff, and they have a whole bunch of stuff there for it, obviously. And actually, a lot of stuff just in Lake Placid for that. So that's also a place if you wanted to, if you wanted 1980 US. Olympic Hockey Team memorabilia or anything like that, that place is crawling with it. It's tons of stuff there for it, which is kind of cool. It's a cool thing. It's a huge part of US hockey history, just world hockey history of stuff, and it's a cool thing to go check out and see that.

SPEAKER_1:

Do they have some kind of summer tournament, too, in Lake Placid? I could be lucid dreaming this up, but I feel like that's a thing.

SPEAKER_2:

Yes, they do have tournaments up there in Lake Placid.

SPEAKER_1:

In the summer?

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, sure, they do in the summer.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, that might be it.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, that's kind of all I had for just kind of one-off vacation destination ideas of stuff to throw in. I don't think there's a ton of stuff, because I'm mostly basing this for summer. Obviously, if you're going in the fall or winter, there's tons of hockey to go watch, tons of pro leagues, minor leagues, semi-pro leagues. You can go catch USHL games, Federal League games, OHL games, stuff like that. Which I figure people know those things and that stuff to look at, but I'm more kind of focusing on the spring and summer. Vacation crowd of sorts, so stuff you can sneak in when you're taking your kid to a water park or something or whatever for a week. Something if you need to get away for a day or want to take your kid to something else. Maybe something that's kind of educational. Get them out of the sun so they don't get heat stroke.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

So that's all I have for those ideas.

SPEAKER_1:

Solid. Good start.

SPEAKER_2:

Then the next thing I was going to talk about is if you want to actually go watch actual hockey.

SPEAKER_1:

This one's going to be tough, kind of.

SPEAKER_2:

It kind of is, because obviously there's not a lot of leagues that play in the middle of summer.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, you're going to say one league, which hasn't been around for a super long time, so it's easier now than it used to be. But yeah, there's not a lot.

SPEAKER_2:

There isn't, but it is totally possible. So one league that I would have suggested two weeks ago would have been something called Three Ice, which is a three-on-three, just ice, they're like a roaming tournament, sort of, I guess you'd call it. They just played in a couple different cities, and they had a bunch of teams, and it had ex-pros and minor leaguers and stuff like that, which was a super cool thing to see. They actually, they were supposed to come back this year, and they announced they're not. They're suspending for this year. And one of, this is just my own connection that I made, is one of the new things that's supposed to be coming in the fall, which I'm hoping it's not in the fall. I'm hoping it goes back to summer, because that was a nice catch some hockey. Something called Major League Hockey, which is actually going to be a three-on-three league, but based in actual cities. It's going to be an actual league, not this roving league setup that they have. They haven't announced, I don't think, any of the cities yet. They've said some of the states for it, and supposedly they have infrastructure in place for it and everything. I guess their website says they've already had a draft for people, which makes me think it might have something to do with the reason that Three Ice isn't playing, because it sounds like it's a very similar idea, but just kind of a bigger picture thing for it.

SPEAKER_1:

I remember you talking about this last summer, and it sounded interesting. I'll pay more attention to Major League Ice, or whatever it's called.

SPEAKER_2:

Major League Hockey.

SPEAKER_1:

Hockey, hockey, ice.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, because Three Ice was great. I went to that. A ton of fun. It was just a bunch of three-on-three games. It was complete chaos, as you expect. It was neat. Like I said, it was former. You had some guys that played in the NHL, a lot of former minor leaguers, some guys that still played in the minors, which is kind of the cool part about it being in the summer. You guys that were playing, they were kind of career minor leaguers. They're not playing in it. And then you also had, which was one of the funnier things to me, is you had random YouTube stars, I guess you'd call them. Some of these guys that do these stick handling videos and stuff like that were playing in this thing. Some of those guys were playing in Europe and stuff for a little bit. They were playing in this. It was just kind of cool to see them play actual, see them actually play and not just do like crazy trick shots and stuff. It's like one of the guys, what's his? Swaggy P or whatever. I think Swaggy P is one of these guys. And he's someone that does those kind of videos, like a lot of trick shots and stuff and crazy stick handling things. That's all I've ever seen of him. Obviously, most of these guys played growing up, that do these things. And then, like I said, some of them wind up going and playing in Europe for a little bit. That's what he was doing. And it was just kind of cool to see him actually play. Oh, he can actually play hockey. Oh, he's actually a good hockey player, too. He's not just a dude that can do 40 variations of the Michigan or something like that.

SPEAKER_1:

Just a hockey influencer.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, so it was kind of cool. It was cool to see that. So I'm hoping that Major League Hockey turns in more to something like that. So that's something maybe coming. Another one, and maybe this is the one you were thinking of, because this is the one I've seen a couple times. Totally recommend it. In Minnesota is the Beauty League.

SPEAKER_1:

Yep, yep, that's the one.

SPEAKER_2:

And yeah, this takes place at Bremer Arena in Adina. Adina, I don't know how you're supposed to say that. Minnesota. And this is a really cool thing. I think I've talked about it on some of the podcasts or some of the stuff before. I've gone up there a couple of times to see it. And this is like a weekly... I think the best way to put it is it's like a weekly competitive pickup game for pros. So it's a lot of guys that are like NHL guys, because it starts in, I think, July, and goes like July, August. So it's kind of like their warm up to training camp.

SPEAKER_1:

Right. Yeah. I know like one of the bigger names like Ansel has done it. I can't think of anyone else off the top of my head, but it's a pretty big one.

SPEAKER_2:

They get a lot. Obviously, they get a lot of the guys that are from Minnesota, because a lot of US hockey players, if you're a US hockey guy, it's like 50-50 chance you're from Minnesota. Right. And most of those guys are from that area, like in that kind of whole area of Minnesota where that is. So they're usually around there anyways. So it's a lot of those guys. So it's a ton of NHL guys, a ton of AHL guys are there, that are either just new to the AHL or have been in it for a little bit. And then you do have some college kids and stuff, the guys that just graduated and stuff out of there. So it's this kind of weird mixture, but they're all really good. It's really, really good hockey. And it's pick up, but it's really good pick up. And it's funny because if you watch it at the beginning of their season to the end, it's in the beginning. They're just joking around like, yeah, this is fun. All right, just get... You can look like two-thirds of guys are just like, I'm getting my legs back, just getting a good skate in. And then it gets to the end and it's like, oh, they're actually. But nobody's going flying out, like big hits and there's no... Somebody doing like a truba chicken wing on somebody. But it's pretty competitive and it's super high level, which is nice. And they're doing it a little bit different this year. It used to be they did it two nights a week in the past. Now I think they're doing it just one night a week, but they're also incorporating in like a women's league into it as well. And yeah, like you have players coming and going. Like I said, this is a lot of these guys getting ready for training camp. So it's, you know, a lot of them, like you don't really see as many NHL guys in the beginning. And then at the end, you see a bunch more NHL guys. So they get ready because usually training camp starts like a week or two after this finishes up. But super cool, super recommended. The arena is super neat. I mean, it is the nicest friggin place I've ever seen that hosts high school hockey. It's gorgeous. It's nicer than some minor league. Actually, it's nicer than most minor league arenas I've been into. Yeah, it's really nice. And yeah, it's super cool. You can also watch it online. Like they have, like they stream everything now.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, I've seen a few streams. I guess I didn't realize it was pickup style. That's interesting to me.

SPEAKER_2:

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_1:

I assumed it was kind of like more of like a beer league thing where they had set teams and maybe.

SPEAKER_2:

They kind of have set teams, but they got depending on who shows up for a game.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

Like, because they actually they have teams, but on any given night, like certain guys might not show up and they will switch guys around. So you don't have one team like, oh, you know, this team now, instead of having, you know, Gensel and Casey Middlestad and Brock Besser, they're all not playing tonight. So it's, you know, nine kids that just graduated college, some, you know, 22 year old from the AHL going against, you know, nine NHLers or something. You know, they'll bring guys, kind of move stuff around. Interesting. Yeah, that's a good thing to know, too. So if you are looking to just try and go see one guy, it is kind of tough. You know, if you go up there, like I just, like if you want to, I just want to see Gensel play.

SPEAKER_1:

Right.

SPEAKER_2:

No guarantee that just because it says, hey, he's on this team, that that team's playing, you know, whatever night, that he's definitely going to be playing for it. You know, it's not guaranteed for it.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, that's good to know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

But like I said, it's good and it's cheap. I mean, it's, you're getting to watch, you know, NHL guys. I mean, it's not quite, it's obviously not NHL hockey. It's not quite probably NHL hockey, but it's really entertaining. You know, and guys are also cool, but you know, you have guys doing like fun moves and stuff because they're like, I don't care. And it's, I mean, I think it was under 10 bucks for the, like for a night and it was two games. So it's super affordable.

SPEAKER_1:

Reason number two for Minnesota right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

So that's, that's, I've gone up there. It's called The Beauty League. So DA. Beauty League.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

So that's, that's, yeah, that's definitely a fun one to go watch and go check out. Then another one. This isn't just one thing. This is a place is the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan. I don't know if you've ever been there, Mason.

SPEAKER_1:

I've not been there. I'm assuming USA Hockey is like the organization that runs like youth stuff, right? That same USA Hockey or is it different?

SPEAKER_2:

Well, it's USA Hockey that runs the youth stuff, is kind of the governing body for Team USA at the Olympics for the hockey teams. It runs all that stuff. It's all one big conglomerate. And that's, that's their like headquarter rink, their home rink. Okay. Yeah, it's very, the very odd name USA Hockey Arena. Hard to figure that one out. But they kind of just have stuff going on all the time. And it's in Plymouth. So that's right near Detroit area. So it's kind of near stuff. You know, I don't know if anybody's really taking vacations to go to Detroit.

SPEAKER_1:

You go to God. It's going to make a joke. Now I can't even make my joke. You go to that one. You go to Flint. Just drink some water.

SPEAKER_2:

Hey, Flint is a lovely town. The headquarters of Pirani's Hockey. One of the larger hockey chains in the United States. They are from there. They also have Pirani's Arena, which is the home to the Flint Firebirds of the ECHL. That sounds right. But yeah, Flint Firebirds are from there. So that actually is a fun destination, and they have two giant stores, Pirani's does in the Flint area. One at Dortmahl in Flint and one in Livonia.

SPEAKER_1:

Yes.

SPEAKER_2:

Also, they're really nice and worth a checkout if you're in the area. So I would recommend going to Flint to go check out some fun hockey stuff.

SPEAKER_1:

Well, and I mean, we go to the warehouse sale, right? That happens in the summer.

SPEAKER_2:

We used to go to that one. They had it, yes.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, they stopped doing it.

SPEAKER_2:

But yeah, I'm a big fan of that area. That's more of a go watch the hockey up there in the winter. It's not really a summer activity.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

You can still go to Pirani's and go check stuff out. But those are the two big ones. If you're looking for big hockey stores in the US., because we don't have anything. Really like that around here. You know, Canada, they seem to have giant hockey stores all over the place. Or you can just go to Canadian Tire and buy all your hockey gear.

SPEAKER_1:

Or go to a Costco in Canada. I'm so jealous.

SPEAKER_2:

They have stuff. Yeah, we don't have it in the US., so we have Pirani's, but most Pirani's are pretty small. But those two, the Livonia and the Flint Store, are both very, very large. They're also a pretty good size one in Farmington Hills as well, all in the same area. I'm impressed I remember all these names of places in Michigan. So going back to what I was saying with the USA Hockey Arena, they have a lot of stuff going on there. Obviously, they have a ton of stuff going on there in fall and winter, a lot of games. High schools and stuff play there. They have a lot of year-end tournaments and stuff that go on there. But other things that they have going on in the spring and summertime to go check out is the US. National Development Program. They have stuff going on there, because that kind of goes on year-round, those things. They have different tryouts and games and scrimmages and stuff like that in the summer. And then this summer, in July and August, they're going to have the World Junior Summer Showcase up there. And that's actually the junior teams getting ready for the championships that I think are in December. But they're going to be playing a little tournament up there. So they're going to have a couple different countries playing up there over those couple of weeks. That's July and August, USA Hockey Arena, the World Junior Summer Showcase. So that's going to be a really good junior hockey to go see up there. And it's a cool arena. It's a very nice arena. I think you'd hope it would be for being the centerpiece of USA Hockey.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

So it's a couple sheets of ice. They obviously have a USA Hockey team store. So if you need to get your Team USA hoodie or whatever, you can get it there. But that's a cool place. It's a super cool place to go to and to check out and see that stuff. And getting to see any of those kind of tournaments are always super, super fun to go see. And speaking of tournaments to go see, I don't have dates on it yet because they haven't put them out there yet. But the last, I think every year since COVID and even before COVID, one of the things that a couple of different cities put on was the NHL Prospects tournaments. There's a couple of those that go on around the US. And I know they've kind of been moving them around the last couple of years, but there's been one in Buffalo for the last at least three years. And those usually happen in August. And that's again, like a precursor to training camp thing. And it's where all the usually have a couple of teams, four and six teams get their recent draft picks with the guys they just drafted, and they come out and play in a prospects tournament. And so that's usually your first chance to see most of these draft picks and guys that maybe just came over from Europe and get to see them play. They use that a lot of times to determine the kids that they bring over from Europe and keep over, the kids that they let go back or let go back to their junior teams or something like that, and get to see them. I usually don't get like, you know, I'm sure if the Sharks playing one, you're not going to see Macklin Sellebrini playing in this thing because he probably doesn't need to, but you'll probably see whoever, you know, like the Sharks would draft in the second round and stuff like that. You don't usually see like the very top number one picks in this stuff, but honestly, it's most of the guys that are out of the top 10 you'll a lot of times see, because this is what determines, you know, one, whether or not they get invited to the regular camp, and then if they do, kind of where they're going to be at the start of it.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, interesting. I think I've heard of this. I want to say they had one in Pittsburgh not super long ago. I could be making that up, too.

SPEAKER_2:

They had like a one-off thing in Pittsburgh, I think, with this, because Pittsburgh's usually played in the one in Buffalo. Yeah. So I know they had one in Michigan, I think, last year. They've had them around. They usually don't announce them until maybe the end of July is when they start announcing them. They kind of announce it kind of late in the game. And it's usually between four and six teams. So I've seen it. It's usually at the team practice facility. So I've gone to the one in Buffalo the last couple years. It's at their practice facility. And it's usually had... It's got Buffalo, it's had Pittsburgh, it's had New Jersey, it's had Boston. It's been one or two other teams that have kind of floated through with that. And it's really cool, because it's your first chance to see a lot of these young guys. And it's guys actually giving a crap, because this is usually what determines whether or not they're going to get to, where they're going to wind up at. I know last year at it, that was really where Zach Benson from the Sabres made a huge impression on everybody to get him, once regular training camp started, get him more playing time, which eventually led to him making the team as an 18-year-old rookie. Before this, everyone was like, I wonder if he's going back to juniors, or they're going to try and send him to Europe, or what's going to go on? He's 18, he's not making the team, but he played so good in this prospect challenge that we're going to give him actual playing time and see what happens.

SPEAKER_1:

That's cool.

SPEAKER_2:

And other cool thing is if you go to stuff like that, I highly recommend, because they're usually during the week and kind of wrap over to the weekend, they're usually just four or five days, I highly recommend trying to go to those things during the week and not on the weekends, because the weekends are packed, but during the week, when I've gone, that's when you get to meet cool people.

SPEAKER_1:

Oh, yeah?

SPEAKER_2:

Like that's where I've met Scotty Bowman, I've met Cam Neely, because they're just there, you know, like they're at these practice rinks, these practice rinks don't have like, you know, oh, they're in a suite somewhere.

SPEAKER_1:

Right.

SPEAKER_2:

Practice rinks don't have stuff like that. So they're just out there, and there's like not people around, you know, that's there because it's like a Thursday, like who's going to a Thursday afternoon prospects game at, you know, two o'clock?

SPEAKER_1:

Right.

SPEAKER_2:

Not a lot of people. So it's, you know, like you, maybe two dozen other people, and then like different teams, front office guys. So, yeah, that's cool thing. It's a cool thing to see. Also, too, I've seen again, just at the Buffalo one, because it's the only one I've been to, is at the last, I think, two games that Buffalo played in it, a bunch of the Buffalo players actually were there watching. Watching the Buffalo team play.

SPEAKER_1:

There you go.

SPEAKER_2:

And again, just sitting there, sitting in the stands because there's, it's a practice ring. Practice rings don't have...

SPEAKER_1:

No VIP section.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah. I mean, you know, practice rings hold like a couple hundred people usually, if that. So that's a cool thing to go check out, too.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah. And again, that's something that would be a good one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

That's something you have to keep an eye on because they announce it late in the game.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah. Buffalo would be a good one because you're right across the river from the falls, and you could go do all that touristy stuff, too, with your family afterwards.

SPEAKER_2:

Exactly. You're really... That's a good way to sell it. So, yeah, that's a fun thing to go check out. Mason, do you have any you would like to add into these lists?

SPEAKER_1:

Not really yearly destinations, but I was kind of thinking before we started the podcast, fun ones for me have always been Stanley Cup Champion Parades. I'm a Penguins fan, so I've gone to the Penguins in recent history. So, you know, this year, I don't know, you could end up in Edmonton or, I've got a blank in now, Central Florida. I've never been to Edmonton, so I don't know if that'd be a good hang or not. Central Florida, there's all kinds of crap in Florida. Go to Disney World. That'd be pretty sweet. You took mine with Hockey Hall of Fame. Like I said, I've been looking for an excuse to go to Minnesota, so another shoutout to hockey parades. I would hope they'd have one. It's the PWHL Minnesota team won their cup, so that'd be cool to go to the First Women's Parade celebration. I hope they have one. Yeah, I don't know. You've piqued my interest with the beauty league women's stuff, too. I'm very into women's hockey. I was pumped in Minnesota women's hockey, so I'd be interested in more things centered around that, for sure.

SPEAKER_2:

Another idea similar to the parade idea, post-Stanley Cup, one of the cool things I always do at the Stanley Cup is it goes around, and people get their day with the cup. And what most people do is they take it to their hometown and have a big get-together at an arena or something like that. So that's a hard one to find, unless you know somebody that plays in the NHL or is on an NHL staff that's from your area or from an area that you're going to or something like that. But that's something to look forward to. To me, that's something more along the lines of, oh, we're going to go visit Aunt Edna, who lives somewhere probably in Minnesota. That's where all the hockey people are from, or Massachusetts. And like, oh yeah, I know that the next town over is where so-and-so guy that plays on Florida is from. That's something to kind of keep an eye out for, you're out for, of stuff that you might be able to get to go to one of those things. Because a lot of those things are not private events. A lot of them are for the town, because they're like small towns.

SPEAKER_1:

That would be really cool.

SPEAKER_2:

So that's, again, something we kind of have to, you can't really plan that well. And I don't think they really publish a lot of that stuff out beyond the very, very local area. But if you know a place where somebody is from, especially if you have relatives from a place, they would probably know that there's hockey people from there. That might be something to keep your ears open for if you want to go have an excuse to go visit relatives.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, that's a good idea. That would be a cool one, kind of like a bucket list kind of thing that doesn't happen very often. You have to stumble into it.

SPEAKER_2:

Any other ideas there, Mason?

SPEAKER_1:

Any other ideas? Let me think. Nothing off the top of my head. I've gotten into rollerblading the last couple of weeks, so maybe just going to California rollerblade on the pier, that would be fun. Not necessarily hockey-related. Yeah, I think those are my ideas right now.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, I'm sorry. There's no more RHI for you to go watch, if you even know what that is.

SPEAKER_1:

I don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_2:

Probably before your time. RHI was one of the two competitive roller hockey leagues in the early 90s that were out there.

SPEAKER_1:

Is that the league you played in?

SPEAKER_2:

These are the ones where people got paid to play.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah. I somehow still lost money playing roller hockey. I don't know. Somehow that happens. Which is, I think, all the more reason I should never start a hockey league myself. I can't imagine how much money I would lose. So I think, I don't know, I think hopefully that gives some ideas for some things to go see and some kind of excuses to make for hockey-related journeys. I wish there was more stuff, kind of more southern.

SPEAKER_1:

But yeah, there's really not.

SPEAKER_2:

There's really not a ton of stuff for that. You know, just not a hockey down there. It's all new. I don't really have a huge base for that. As other stuff I would say to do, if you are looking for hockey things to do when you go out, you know, I think this is a pretty shared idea, but look and see if there's pickup hockey where you're going. Maybe you can go play some pickup hockey or at least some stick and puck somewhere. If there's a rink around there, if you're going out of town to go see family or going on a vacation or something like that, because there's a lot of pickup hockey that goes on, and maybe you can just get out there and do something with some of the things. And I'd probably say probably more stick and puck than pickup hockey, just because you don't have to take your own hockey bag with you then. If you go into stick and puck, you probably need more than just skates and a stick and helmet, but if you're just going to like, stick and puck, that's all you kind of need.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, that's a good point. Another thing in the same vein would be, if you're near an NHL city, I know the Penguins at least do this. They have end of year equipment sales that happen usually in the summer. So it might be worth a quick Google search if you're in Dallas or Chicago or something. They may have a cool equipment sale going on somewhere.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, a lot of teams do that, and a lot of teams do that through their team stores. So that's a good thing to look out for, is look for the official team shop, and those are the people that usually run it. So that would be the people to watch for or reach out to and ask if they do it. Because some teams don't do it at all. Some teams just do it open to the public. Some teams do it strictly for season ticket holders. Some do it season ticket holders on this day and then the general public the next day. So it's a lot of different. It's usually run through a team shop to find stuff. Maybe either buy equipment for yourself or finally get somebody's used gloves if you really want them or something like that.

SPEAKER_1:

I really want the not used or gently used sticks. We were talking to a buddy of ours, one of the tournaments we went to, who lived near some Podunk College in Michigan that actually had a good hockey program. I have no idea which university it was, but they basically had a yard sale, their hockey stuff, and you get top of the line, gently used equipment for cheap. So I'd love to find something like that. So if you know of anything in Northeast United States, hit up The Beer Leaguer and let us know.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, a lot of major hockey programs, and I don't mean just Division I, but even Division III hockey programs do stuff like that. Do things with their equipment and get rid of stuff. So it's something worth investigating to see if they have something along those lines. With that, I was going to say something I like to do, that I don't know how niche it is, if it's just me, but I really like just checking out different hockey arenas, especially the minor league ones and some of the college ones, because I just think they're cool. I just think they usually look cool. They're usually just set in weird ways. The newer ones to me aren't as exciting, because they look like every other arena. It's the old ones, and that's why I like the minor league, and I'm talking lower level minor league or college ones. And that's something else you can check out when you're going on a vacation. If there's not hockey going on, a lot of these places, you can at least go check them out and kind of go see some of what it looks like and see things. You know, a lot of the college arenas, they're going to be open. They're going to have stuff. Most of them don't shut everything down because college is still kind of going on in the summer in unlimited capacity. So a lot of them will have things going on in the arenas. So maybe you can even go for a skate at some of these places. Like I know Yost Arena for University of Michigan. They have like weekly, I think twice a week even, than open skates. So if you want to just go skate there, that's like a pretty historic arena, and it looks unlike any place else you've probably ever played. So go check that out, and you can go for a skate. It may be a fun thing to see. That's something I like to see, and that's something why I like traveling to check out the minor league places just because a lot of them are cool because they're different, because they're old. Yeah, and it's funny because they're old like that, but they're not kind of like the cookie cutter set up. I usually have weird histories of stuff of, oh, well, this was built in 1927. It was originally a theater that housed many famous Broadway acts, and then it turned into an open air market. And then we finally enclosed this one end of it and started having handball tournaments. And in the 50s, we put ice in there, and they have stuff like that.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_2:

That's one of the things I like to check on travel and see those things. And there's the famous clip going around. It's been on YouTube and Instagram and TikTok and all that stuff of that arena. I don't remember all where it is. It's in Canada, which is all I can say. I'm pretty sure Western Canada, but they have a... To go to the ice, it's a staircase that's suspended over the ice. I know you've seen this. I'm sure. I think everybody's seen this. It's like to get on it. It's like a staircase that you start walking on and then it drops down. That's like a super weird... I mean, that'd be cool to go down that, but I want to see that. But that's like... I don't know where it is, but that's not some newer place. That's like a cool older thing to go check out.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah. Like a legit barn.

SPEAKER_2:

You know, there's... One of the AHL cities is... I believe it's Syracuse. Syracuse or Rochester. I don't remember. One of them has a stage. It's basically a horseshoe arena around the ice, and then one end of it is a stage. Because they have concerts and stuff, but when they're playing hockey, it's still just a stage right there behind the one goal. I just think stuff like that's cool and interesting stuff to see. I like that. Even if you're not getting to go watch a game, getting to go check out some of these places is a pretty interesting thing to see, I think. Think of any other ideas, because as we're saying stuff, I'm thinking of stuff, and I probably should write it down, but I'm not. So another thought I had is if you are in like Hockey Hall of Fame and go to Toronto, another cool thing to go check out while you're up there is you can go to the original Maple Leaf Gardens. Obviously, it's not Maple Leaf Gardens anymore. It's a Loblaws grocery store. I believe it's a grocery store.

SPEAKER_1:

It's a grocery store, yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

Yeah, it's a grocery store for sure. And if you go in the grocery store, you can go see where Center Ice used to be. They have a thing on the floor. You can go look at where actual Center Ice for original Maple Leaf Gardens was. And they have a lot of stuff on the walls and cool hockey related things. But there is actually still also a rink there on one of the floors. And they play... There's beer league games. There is, I believe, one of the colleges right there plays games. That's where the... Some of the women's teams have played there in that arena as well. And there's stuff going on there all the time. But that's a cool thing. If you're in Toronto, cool thing to go check out and go see that, even if you just walk through the grocery store. And I'm sure you can find where Center Ice is, because there's usually a bunch of people around there taking pictures. Because that's a thing. And it's a grocery store, so you can grab a snack while you're there.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_2:

So I think that that's everything I can remember. Any other thoughts or ideas that you had, Mason?

SPEAKER_1:

I can't think of anything. I would love to know more places that are international, right? So I mean, obviously Canada and Toronto, but I don't know if there's anything in Europe or that area of the world where they'd be like cool hockey destinations. That'd be cool to look into.

SPEAKER_2:

That would be cool. I don't know anything about that either. I know nothing about that.

SPEAKER_1:

Hit us up on The Beer Leaguer if you're from Germany listening to this podcast, or Europe, or anywhere.

SPEAKER_2:

Well, you can go to thebeerleaguer.com and hit us up with ideas, or you can go into the description for this episode, and there is a cool link in there that says, text the show, and you can actually text us ideas. So you can leave a comment on wherever you're watching this, if you're watching on something that allows comments, or you can text the show, and let us know for that, because I'd like to go to some cool European hockey things.

SPEAKER_1:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_2:

You know, I don't know any things that happen in the summer, but I'd love to do that.

SPEAKER_1:

That'd be cool. I'd do it.

SPEAKER_2:

All right. I think that that's it, then, for this episode. Thanks, everybody, for listening. Like we just said, get ahold of the show. Leave us comments on YouTube. Text the show. I always end saying things of, hey, any likes, shares, subscribes, any of that stuff helps the show out. Reviews on things like Apple Music, Spotify, stuff like that is appreciated as well. All right. Thanks, everybody. Catch you in the next one. With summertime quickly approaching, I don't know, is it summertime already now? Probably is, isn't it?

SPEAKER_1:

I don't know when summer technically starts.

SPEAKER_2:

I'll say approaching, getting close to.

People on this episode

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Mike / Roz / The Beer Leaguer

Host
Contributor

Mason

Guest