hockeypopa loves hockey

I have been in love with hockey since as long as I can remember. When I was very young I had a paper route in the Old North End of Burlington. I would always us my tip money at all the corner stores in the neighborhood(there were 5 of them) to buy new hockey cards when they came out. Of course I collected Baseball, Football and Basketball cards as well.

Nothing could compare to the smell of a freshly opened pack of Topps cards. That bubble gum smell was amazing. I hoarded cards like there was no tomorrow. I would bring the extra gum to school and trade them for my friends cards.

Bobby Orr, Guy Lafleur, Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Phil Esposito, it did not matter I loved them all.

Skating on the ice at Rosevelt Park in Burlington was a blast. I remember the first day I went wearing my Bobby Orr Rally Skates. When I got out there it was beautiful.

The sun gleaming off the snow, everyone flying around or falling down as I did very often to start.

As I got older I played many a pick up games in that park. On Saturday's and Sunday's we would have a monster game with all the kids in the neighborhood.

On Saturday nights I would rush home for Hockey Night in Canada.

Those times are long since past. I still sometimes go back and skate there but it is not the same hardly anyone in the old neighborhood skates there.

The corner stores that are still there do not even sell cards anymore.

Too bad kids today will never know what that was like.

Today I have my own store in a hotel. I do sell some cards in it. I love it when kids come in. Most of the time I give away more than I sell, but it puts a smile on my face and brings me back to those times when I was a kid.

I watch hockey today still mostly watch my daughter play. She is 15 now and has been playing for 10 years.

I love watching her play.

I have had many adventures traveling with her and I will share some down the road.

I have a dish so I can watch all the hockey I can. My awesome wife of 20 plus years puts up with me and my obsession with hockey.

So mush so she let me have a room for all my memorabilia and cards I have collected.

My son never got a chance to play hockey. He was born with a brain tumor. He has had many surgeries through the years and has survived them all.

He is an awesome kid. He was 6 when we discovered he had a brain tumor...he is 18 now.

He is doing well and lives at an awesome place in New Hampshire for kids just like him called Easter Seals. Because of him me and my family were able to meet one of my all time favorite hockey players..Mario Lemieux.

This was done through a program called Pen Pals promoted by the Penguins.

I have been blessed with an awesome family and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

I have been lucky enough over the years to have met some of the greatest hockey players ever...

Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Bobby Orr, Tony Esposito, Jean Beliveau, Maurice Richard, Henri Richard, Mark Messier, Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald and so many more and I will share some of these stories as well.

If anyone has any question let me know.

I want to talk about everything that has to do with the greatest sport ever.

Collecting cards, autographs, memorabilia, books, movies, Olympics, Trades, anything at all to do with hockey.