Doyle: Thursday Memorial Cup Update 1

It is the eve of the opener of the Memorial Cup, and this entry starts before I actually get to Rimouski. This will be the travel entry while the next will stick to what is happening right in and around Rimouski relating to the Cup.

Typical Air Canada ridiculousness, this time at Montreal airport. Not only can you self check-in but self-tag your bags. That is great but when you still have to line up to drop off your bags and the line builds because only one person is at the counter and there are issues with that person - then the "efficient" system fails. Oh well, through the mess and then onto a small plane for a flight to Baie-Comeau and a quick stop there before flying to Mont-Joli. I did not realize until yesterday it was not a direct flight. A good chunk of the plane was taken up by a group of Australian university students who were heading to Rimouski. I never did figure out exactly why they were going to Rimouski - as it was not for Memorial Cup.

Into Baie-Comeau, and the airport was in the middle of nowhere. It was so isolated one of my cellphones did not ever work there. But after a quick stop for some fuel, drop a few people off, pick a few more up, we were onto our 12 (yes twelve!) minute flight across the river and a bit west to Mont-Joli. Upon arriving I saw a friendly site, a volunteer wearing a Memorial Cup jacket, so I was able to catch a ride with him to Rimouski and my hotel.

So that's the travel update done, now it's officially time to get into Memorial Cup mode.

tdoyle@loosepucks.com