Montreal

Saturday February 4th, 2017.

	1st	2nd	3rd	Final
WSH	1	1	1	3
MTL	1	0	1	2

The third annual Canada Hockey Trip brought us to Montreal to watch my hometown Washington Capitals play the Montreal Canadiens. Although I am a true Capitals fan, almost twenty years now, I decided to stay the course and wear the home colors for Montreal.

Since I honor the Canadian city that I visit each year by doing this, I thought it only appropriate if I continued the tradition. Make no mistake though, I was rooting for the Capitals, although not as loudly as the drunk guy who sat two rows down from us.

As with the past two years, my sister and her husband (you remember they are Penguins fans) accompanied me on this trip. This year it was a 1:00 PM game and we once again traveled the 3 1/2 hours from my home on Lake Ontario. The skies were cloudy, and it was cold (17 deg.) but no snow. We made good time, parked right at the rink ($40 us) and had pretty good seats (Section 436, Row C, Seats 7-8-9).

Montreal is the mecca of hockey and the Canadiens are hockey royalty. They have more Stanly Cups (23) than any other team. Basically, they are the New York Yankees of hockey. The Centre Bell is a great place to watch a game and the crowd is by far the loudest we have encounter. The atmosphere was electric and it was a great game.

After the game we walked a couple of blocks from the Centre Bell and had dinner at the Ye Olde Orchard Pub and Grill. Good food, good beer and a very lively crowd. Once again the trip to Canada does not disappoint.

We have completed the three eastern most cities (Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal), now it is time to start planning our trips to the west. First stop, Winnipeg 2018!