I woke up this morning to the sound of rain pulsing down on our house skylights. It sounded like it was hailing but it was only rain...and lots of it. I was still psyched to go downtown to Concord Place where this event was taking place. My fellow volunteers were Facebooking me that they were heading that way too and were waiting to see me there. My shift started at 1pm so I decided I would get there an hour before to check it all out before they put me to work!
I bundled up in as many layers as I could since there was lots of rain puddles happening as I saw posted in this video that I screen capped. The puddles were so large and deep at one point that this one in particular had to be cornered off with chairs so people would walk around it.
When I got there, the tournament was in full swing and all the different road hockey rinks were busy.
After I checked in with the volunteer tent, I was positioned in the "Interactive Zone". This zone had air hockey tables, bubble hockey tables and a fuse ball table along with a video hockey game console. As soon as I got there, I was greeted by a fellow Whitecaps volunteer. His name was Paul. He had been there a few hours before me and was just keeping warm by drinking a cup of coffee that the Van Houtte company provided in their kiosks for free to everyone. I got a hot chocolate from there later on when I wanted to warm up.
As Paul and I watched the people walking by, we noticed our Whitecaps Club Ambassador, Carl Valentine, walk by. Later on there was a Whitecap's Russell Tiebert sighting. He was actually involved in the demonstration for the Cross-Fit company in a kiosk in the corner section of RHCC. He was joined by former Whitecaps and current Women's Canadian National Soccer team player and Olympic Bronze winner, Emily Zurrer. It was a competition between the girls and the boys. Three rounds of push-ups with hand claps followed by ten tosses of the medicine ball to one another and then lunges to the end of the carpet and back. Paul, Carl and I stood by and watched in fascination and cheered on Russell and Emily. They are from the Whitecaps family, afterall. Russell and Emily are pictured both in red jerseys as they were also playing on ball hockey teams. Team Russell won by half a lunge step.
Afterwards, Russell and Emily were both interviewed by the Cross-fit speaker. Here's Russell thanking his mother and his father....funny guy.
Once Carl, Paul and I congratulated Russell on his win, Paul and I headed over to the Interactive Zone again. We feasted on some free frozen yougurt with strawberry, marshmallow, gum drop and little white chocolate chip for toppings. It was pretty yummy. Around three o'clock, people started arriving for the autograph session. Unfortunately, it was still being set up and the players were still being rounded up as some of them were still playing.
Out of the possible five players, whose names you see displayed above, only two were able to make it to the autograph session. The autograph session was originally to be held at the Interactive Zone but was later moved into the Budweiser beer garden. Which meant that the two young ladies pictured in orange shirts here, were not able to get into the area. So, Steph and I took all the stuff and headed off to the beer garden to manage the session.
First up was former Canucks, Garth Butcher. He played defence in '82 and then from '84 - '90. He went on to play for other NHL teams after but he always remained a favourite in Vancouver. I was lucky enough to have a nice conversation with him while he was signing autographs. You can tell he really loves Vancouver and the Canucks organization. There's lots of respect there. He's also going to be at the Gordie Howe fundraiser, Scotiabank Pro Am for Alzheimers from Oct 26th - 28th in North Vancouver. Here's a pic I got with him. Such a sweet guy. He'd been giving autographs to a lot of people all day.
There was a Facebook comment made by a fan that said "Garth was a class act all day long." I have to agree with that. One of the nicest Canucks you could meet.
But once the autograph session was over, I left. It was the very first Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer in Vancouver and it was a success! I'm sure next year will be just as awesome if not more. I would like the date to be set a week or so earlier just so we could make it more of a success while we have nice weather. But I told the Event Coordinator, Savannah, that she did a great job and will be back next year!
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