Back To It

Friday, April 7, 2023

This weekend is all about getting back. Getting back to playing like we were a few weeks ago. Getting back to Canada. And most of all, getting back to having fun on the blog.

Before we get off the rails, I wanted to quickly recap last week. We had a great team win over Albany at home, and it was great to play in front of family and friends. Playing in front of people who I love is not something I will forget anytime soon.

This week is another cool one for me, as I will get to play in Calgary for the first time. My first ever lacrosse team was the Calgary Sabrecats, and we lived there when I was little during the early 2000’s.

My dad Jason grew up in Calgary and played most of his lacrosse there. Years later, after completing military college, four years of service in the Royal Canadian Navy, and an MBA, he moved to South Asia with my mother. My siblings and I were born in Singapore, and when we returned to Canada we moved to Calgary. That is where my brother and I first picked up the stick.

I haven’t lived there since 2004, but still have family there and I am still a passionate fan of the Calgary Flames. Playing in the Saddledome, the venue where I took in my first professional hockey and lacrosse games, will be pretty cool.

However, that is not to over-shadow the importance of this game for our team. Calgary is an awesome lacrosse team, and I can’t wait to put out our best effort in for what should be a rocking venue.

If you have been following along, you will know that a few weeks ago I did a power-ranking of my favourite things about Texas and about the U.S. It is only fair that for our return to Canada this week, I jot down a similar list of the very best things about Canada.

Okay, here goes nothing:

• My family
• Tim Hortons
  • Iced Capps
• Box lacrosse
• Manners
• The first snowfall of the year in elementary schools
• White Christmases
• High quality infrastructure
• Josh Medeiros
• Cottage Springs
• The Canadian side of Niagara Falls (Not U.S side)
• The garlic sauce from Osmows
• Using the f-word in a multitude of ways, especially instead of “umm” or “uhhh”
• The sunset over an Ontario lake in the summer
• The relative lack of extreme weather events in the Great Lakes
• The smell of a box arena in the summer
• The poutine from Harveys
• Canada vs. USA in hockey or lacrosse (or anything else Canada is good at)
• Hockey Night in Canada
• Mathieu Gauthier
• Wearing shorts to school unreasonably early in the spring
• The song “Nice for What” by Drake
• Cactus Club
• Connor McDavid
  • Sid the Kid
    • Mathieu Gauthier again
• That sugar on a stick thing when you put maple syrup on snow (it’s a real thing)
• Adopting the “tap” method of payment years before the states
• Taking your shoes off inside
• The Minto Cup
• Drinking a beer in a hot tub during the winter

I could go on for days, but I think I will cap it there for now.

Should be another great week. Thanks so much for following along, it really does mean a lot.

Until next time,

Donny