We had some downtime before CBC’s Test the Nation and so I walked the 6 blocks from our hotel in the -24 wind chill to check out the shrine of the game, The Hockey Hall of Fame.

$13 to get in and check out the collection jerseys, sticks, and pucks.

You can try your hand at play by play.

You can walk through the vintage Montreal Canadiens dressing room from The Forum.

You can get your picture taken with the Stanley Cup, but unless you’ve won it, or want to win, you’d better not touch it!

Americans were everywhere. In town for a tournament or something? Was cool to see the 10 year olds on the Dallas Penguins and Birmingham Rangers running around checking out The Cup. They were loud and rambuctious, like Americans usually are, but to see Yanks excited about hockey made it okay.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

The merchandise for sale could have been better. I would have liked to have seen a collection of vintage sweaters, you know knitted of wool. A collection of each edition of Team Canada jerseys for sale. A complete kids’ line with Team Canada gear, instead of just Leafs and Habs. A complete international line, I would have liked to have bought a Team France jersey.

A goalie hall of masks would be spectacular. There was a wide and varied collection of the logos and history of uniforms, but the mask of the goalie is a truly special part of the game. A hall detailing the history and showing off some of the hundreds of masks that have been worn would have been great.

A collection of sticks and pucks and helmets and masks is nice, but more on the history of the game would have been cool.

SOMETHING I DIDNT KNOW

England won an Olympic Gold Medal in Ice Hockey back in the 30s. All but one player on the team was of Canadian descent.

Each player gets a mini sized Stanley Cup to keep, it’s about 12 inches tall.

The original bowl from the original Cup is kept in a safe

Mark Messier’s mask for induction into the hall, each player gets one made for him, made no reference to his 3 years with Vancouver, only Edmonton and New York logos made it.

FINALLY

It’s a small space for a big game, and while I had a leisurely 2 1/2 hour wander through the hall, there is still so much more I would have liked to have seen and experienced.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 11:40 am and is filed under photos, sports, travel.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.