Shane Malloy and I have been here for a few days, signing and selling our books “100 Ranger Greats” and “The Art of Scouting” in the fanfest area which is pretty cool. There are a lot of great exhibits (especially the floorball) but the one thing every fan had in common was their love of hockey. I was playing floorball with a 7-year-old who asked me if I played hockey - - that was a funny moment. He only said that because I dazzled him with my alleged stick skills.

Some fans wore cowboy hats and some brought glittery wigs. The men, the women, their eyes were all riveted on the ice. The best crowd was clearly the Sunday night crowd that saw Mississauga playing Kootenay. The reason is simple, folks in Toronto love their teams above all else, were the other crowds good? Yes, but they weren’t sell outs.

The games were great and I have a lot of material for pre-draft articles that are coming soon. One night after Mississauga lost their coach, Dave Cameron was asked, “Where do you go from here”? His answer was even better, “Well we have an 11 o’clock meal at the hotel.” And he did, we saw him at Boston Pizza and we laughed about that response!

This year I’ve had the chance to cover the Memorial Cup, The ECAC’s, and the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup series are on the horizon, that’s a lot of great hockey but I have to say that the Canadian fans passion is hard to match. Now when they see a baseball game, like the Jays-Astros game I took in, then they have some work to do as far as showing up and with overall baseball knowledge. There were some hardcore fans there for sure but they seem to be in the minority.

Junior hockey continues to be among my favorite to cover because the talent level is very good and the fans are really energized. The players will also talk for a long period of time after a game and the reporters really do appreciate that.

Shane has another week to sell book s but I will head home to watch week two on the NHL Network and urge everybody out there to do so. Watch the team from Saint John, they are incredible, I think they can beat some AHL teams already. My feeling is Saint John is the team to beat. With their solid goaltending and elite offensive talent, I will be surprised if they lose.

Oh, note to the music coordinator in Mississauga, “The Jefferson’s Theme Song” (extended version) should never be played at a hockey game! See you back in the states!