The title of this post might be a little cliche but it's so true that I couldn't not run with it. Despite a rainfall warning that resulted in a river flowing down Granville Street, Saturday's street hockey games during the Relive It celebrations downtown brought out some impressive crowds, great times and plenty of smiles.
I had a blast playing in the "celebrity" game which was more like a "media" game with a few local celebs sprinkled in amongst us for good measure. Benefitting Five Hole For Food, teams were picked traditionally with all of our sticks going into a pile and then being separated randomly forming two motley crews. The streets were blocked off for the day so thankfully we didn't have to participate in that other Canadian tradition of calling out "CAR!" and moving the nets every 5 minutes!
Photo courtesy of JeremyLim.ca
I was fortunate to have Kris Krug (left) and Mike Klassen (right) on my team. As it was a friendly game nobody was keeping score but if one thing is certain it's that we kept Meena Mann (centre) and her goons including Olympic bobsledder, Justin Kripps (background), at bay! Of course I use the term "goons" in the friendliest possible way as the good-natured smack talk preceded this game on Twitter and extended offline throughout the rain-soaked 45 minutes.
Photo courtesy of JeremyLim.ca
Below are all the folks that played in our game along with their Twitter handles if you care to follow them and see all the smack they talk!
Photo courtesy of JeremyLim.ca
Back row (L to R):
- Brendan Moran (@bybrendan)
- Kris Krug (Photographer, @kk)
- Bob Kronbauer (Vancouver is Awesome, @VIAwesome)
- Dave Olson (Hootsuite, @uncleweed)
- Dan Mangan (Musician, @danmanganmusic)
- Justin Kripps (Olympian Bobsledder, @justinkripps)
- Mike Klassen (City Caucus.com, @MikeKlassen)
- Kelcey Brade (CTV, @ctv_kelcey)
- Jesse Bowness (Mortgage Specialist, @jessebowness)
- Sonia Stirling (VanSavvyGirls, @SoniaStirling)
- Chris Walts, DDB Canada, @chriswalts)
- Matt Kieltyka (Metro News Vancouver, @MKieltyka)
- Adam Forsythe (News 1130, @adamforsythe)
- Ryan Sullivan (News 1130, @sullivancouver)
- Hosea Cheung (24 Hours Vancouver, @hosea24hours)
- Jack the Vancouver Giants’ mascot (@WHLGiants)
Front row (L to R):
- Riaz Meghji (Breakfast Television, @riazmeghji)
- Richard Loat (FHFF Founder, @mozy19)
- Andrew Fleming (Burnaby Now, @flematic)
- Claudia Kwan (Global, @thatclaudiakwan)
- Dawn Chubai (Breakfast Television, @dawn_chubai)
- Sam Plumb
- Dean Broughton (Vancouver Sun, @DeanVanSun)
- Meena Mann (FMA, @MeenaMann)
And lastly, for good measure, if you look up "mean mugging" in an online dictionary this photo of Dan Mangan and I comes up. Pre-game scare tactics!
Photo by Kris Krug on Flickr
Thanks to Five Hole For Food for bringing together all of these personalities for a friendly game of street hockey. I would love to see this become a regular thing where the local media (and a few actual celebrities) get together for friendly competition!
