The Hockey Road Trip – Recap
Last weekend a group of buddies and myself headed to Boston for the ultimate hockey road trip. (See previous blog) We had a great time, and here are some of the personal highlights of the trip:
Thursday
- We loaded up the car and hit the road by 8am in Ottawa. Made our first pit-stop at 8:04 at the local Tim Hortons
- Made great time threw Montreal and crossed the border into Vermont with very little resistance. Loaded up on “Canadian beer” at Duty Free to last the trip
- Decided to pull off the highway in rural New Hampshire and stretch our legs. We stumbled across the “New Hampshire State Gun and Liquor Store.” What a great combination!
- We arrived in Boston around 4pm and checked into our hotel which was a stones toss away from the Boston Gardens.
- During the next 3 hours leading up to game time at a local pub and walking up to the Gardens while wearing our Phil Kessel Leafs jerseys we quickly realized two things:
1) How passionate Bostonians are about their Bruins, and
2) How bitter they still are over the Kessel deal
- Needless to say, we were verbally accosted throughout the game, but it was great to see the passion and incredible atmosphere that is painfully missing in Ottawa at the Scotia Bank Place.
- It was a great game with countless momentum swings and the Leafs eventually lost in a shootout, but hey, we’ll take all the points we can get right now!
Friday
- After shaking off the morning haze from a successful night we decided to explore Boston, and we couldn’t have asked for a nicer weather, it was beautiful out!
- Only a ten minute walk from our hotel was “Quincy Square” where we stopped for lunch at Cheers. Although Cheers was a little before our time, it was neat to see where the show was taped and we made sure to sit at the bar and enjoy a beer.
- Next, we headed down to the Boston Harbor and took in all the sights
- After that, we jumped on the train and headed cross-town to Fenway Park. What an amazing building! The history and character of Fenway is incredible, it was almost surreal to be standing in front of the park. We headed over to the “Boston Beer Works” which overlooked the field from the inside of the restaurant, very very cool.
- Sticking with the hockey road trip theme, we attended a college hockey game Friday night between Boston University and cross-town rivals Boston College. If you haven’t watched an NCAA game live, I strongly recommend you see one, it’s a great experience. The live band brings a whole new element to the game you don’t normally see and the school pride amongst the student body is phenomenal.
Saturday
- We checked out of our hotel Saturday morning and got back on the road to Ottawa. We made great time and decided to stop in Burlington, Vermont for lunch. It was another beautiful day and we sat on the patio in the picturesque mountainous town and enjoyed the view.
- Finally we arrived back in Ottawa after an 8-hour trip and drove directly to the Scotia Bank Place to complete the road-trip with a Senators/Leafs game on a Saturday night. Needless to say we were pretty exhausted as we arrived at the rink, but we quickly found our second wind once the game got going. The Leafs played another great game and this time we were rewarded with a 2-1 shootout victory over our rivals from Ottawa. What a great way to end a successful trip!
All said and done, we had a fantastic trip and were able to watch 3 hockey games in 3 nights while taking in the sights and scenes of a new city.
I would love to hear your hockey road-trip stories whether it is for an NHL game, Olympics, Oldtimers tournament etc.!



