Doyle: Friday Memorial Cup update

The 2009 Memorial Cup gets underway tonight here in Rimsouki, Quebec with the hometown Oceanic taking on the WHL champion Kelowna Rockets. For some, the day of the game is the calm before the storm.

After the travel and getting settled in, decided to take it easy a bit to start the day, meaning sleep in. When I get into a new city I like to roam around and check out the surroundings. I also needed a few things so I headed towards the mall that I saw on the ride in from the airport. Little did I remember how far away it actually is from the hotel. Oh well, nothing wrong with a good walk. One of the challenges is the language barrier but I seem to be surviving. I have dealt with a couple people who speak very limited english. I attempt to use my limited french first. Once they lose me I basically say in french "Pardon me I don't understand, my french is so so." and then the conversation turns about half french and half english by both of us to get through what we are trying to accomplish. But overall I find everyone to be very friendly. There is also plenty of support for the Oceanic. Flags, jerseys, and other items can be found all over the place. One store at the mall had a jersey in the window from the 2000 Memorial Cup championship team.

By mid-afternoon activity was picking up around the hotel as members of the Kelowna Rockets were getting ready to gather and head over to the arena. I ran into one member of the team in the elevator, who said he was excited to get the game underway, and knew it would be quite a scene in Colisee Rimouski this evening.

The pressbox seating is quite tight, but the view is pretty decent as we're in the endzone that Kelowna is defends twice in the opening game. It is high but not very far back from the end boards so it is an excellent spot.

Warmup is underway, game on!

tdoyle@loosepucks.com