Fencing Sabre in the 2015 Can/Am Veterans Cup

Today was the fifth annual Can/Am Veterans Cup for fencing. It's the biggest Veterans only tournament in North America. 137 fencers turned out at the Vango Fencing Centre showed up ready to fence. many fenced more than one weapon as there were a total of 198 entries for all three weapons.

 Vango is a first class fencing facility.

 

I originally was going to fence in the Men's Epee and Men's sabre but when I tore a calf muscle a few months ago, decided not to push it and fenced sabre only.

Despite coming off an injury and with little practice, I managed to go 3-3 in the pools. I won two matches 5-4, one being a 4-2 comeback and the other a 4-3 comeback, but also lost one 5-4 where my opponent made a comeback on me.

In my first elimination match, I was down 9-7 but amazingly for me, scored three defensive points to take the match 10-9. if you look at the final standings you will see Mikhail Mironovas won the gold. Well, my next elimination was against him and he cleaned my clock 10-2 on the way to his Gold.

I ended up in 12th place out of 27 fencers and am happy with that finish. This was the last tournament for this season. I am so looking forward to heading into next season healthy!

Before my session I had a chance to take a couple of pictures from the Men's Foil tournament

Interesting way to get a hit.

Now this one, although off target, looks like it would hurt.

I love this sport!

Toronto Rock Dumped by Edmonton Rush in First Game of the NLL Championship Series

Tonight the Toronto Rock were home to the Edmonton Rush in Game one of the Championship Series. The Rock have not been in the championship since 2011 when they won their sixth championship. Edmonton has only been in the Championship Series once, in 2012 where they lost to the Rochester Knighthawks.

Tim, who sits in front of us and has had season tickets for years, came with a huge "T" to cheer on the boys. Gillian, Tim's girlfriend, and her friend had the flag a waving!

As always, Scotty Newlands sang the national anthem.

The boys get together for a pep talk before the game.

Opening face-off!

It all started well with Toronto scoring the first two goals of the game in the first three minutes and eighteen seconds of the game. Shades of last week?

No!

Edmonton responded with five straight goals to end the quarter with a 5-2 lead.

Some pictures of the first quarter action.

The second quarter showed some hope. Although Edmonton scored the first goal of the quarter, Toronto responded with two of their own. That was short-lived, though, as Edmonton scored the next three goals to end the half, more than  doubling the Rock score with a 9-4 lead.

Some action from the quarter.

The Rock cheerleaders performed.

Toronto was never really in the game in the second half and lost 15-9. Things got a little testy near the end of the game. Not surprising as as it was a very physical battle with a lot of hard hits.

The Toronto Rock cheerleaders came on with smiles but really the day was done.

Even in defeat, the Rock circle the arena to thank the fans.

This coming Friday night the Rock play in a win or go home game in Edmonton. It's on TSN and Teena and I will be watching!

Beer of the Week - Piton Lager

Teena was in St. Lucia a week ago and she came home with a couple of Piton Lagers brewed by Windward and Leeward Brewery, which is located in Vieux Fort on the island.

In the early 1970s, Heineken was looking for a place to set up their first brewing operation in the Caribbean. Vieux Fort was chosen for the quality and abundance of the water in the area, plus there were many concessions made by St. Lucia under their Incentive Legislation to bring jobs to the island.

In November 1975, the brewery went into operation with 60 employees. By 2005, the number of employees grew to 101.

So, how is the beer?

Piton Lager comes in a surprisingly small 275 ml (9.3 oz) clear bottle. As light is one of beers' greatest enemies and the Caribbean is know for its sunshine, I wonder why they don't use brown bottle to keep the beer from becoming lightstruck. Maybe that's the reason for the smaller bottles. It takes less time to drink a small bottle of beer so it has no time to become adversely affected by the sunshine.

There is a strong grassy aroma that I noticed right away when the bottle was first opened. The beer pours a very light yellow or straw colour. As it was so light, I thought it would be a very watery beer but it has a stronger lager flavour, much stronger than North American lagers. There is no hop bite anywhere throughout but it is not sweet. It would be a decent beer to have in the hot St Lucia climate.

Beer of the Week Stats 

Beers Profiled 278 
Breweries 248 
Countries 45

The Craft Brasserie and Grille, Liberty Village

When Teena and I walked by this building in our neighborhood a few months ago, we were excited. Signs on the window proclaimed that a craft beer bar with 120, yes 120 beer taps, was due to be opened! I could hardly wait. This week we found out that The Craft Brasserie and Grill was finally opened.

And yes, there are 120 craft beer on tap!

I love the set up of the room. There are windows open into the refrigerated keg room.

The pictures on the wall were brewery orientated.

The taps.

Cayla, in the centre, is the manager and was great to talk to. Kat was our server and looked after us very well. She was always checking back to see if we were OK. To me, I like to ensure that I have an order in for a fresh glass of beer before I am done with the one I am working on. Kat made that happen.

Our first beers. I had a Black Oak Summer Saison and Teena had a Dirty Blonde from Old Flame Brewery in Port Perry, Ontario. Both were excellent!

The kitchen area is open at the back. You can look through the window, or through the open doorway.

The food was great. Teena had Galbi Smoke Wings which are Korean style wings. They were huge and she really enjoyed them. She said she would order them again.

I had a Forest Burger, which is a beef and pork burger with mushrooms, Fontina cheese, crispy onion and truffle aioli. I would have this again in a second!

How much did I like it?

They also have beer samplers called flights. I like how they write the name of the beers in chalk on the flight boards. Most places don't do this.

Our visit was great. It is a 10 minute walk from home and this will be a regular place for us to go.

Fun Mail - My May Beer of the Month Delivery

Today was fun mail day. My Beer of the Month Club package came in the mail. And what did I receive?

Inside the box were four Green-Thumb Ginger Root Unfiltered IPA from Garden Brewers in Hamilton. Should be quite interesting.  Nickle Brook Breweries, who I have written about before, supplied four Continental Drift Belgium Style Pale Ales. Should be nice. Finally there were four Ransack the Universe Hemisphere IPA's from Collective Arts Brewing, another brewery that I have tasted beer from.

Looking forward to trying them all!

Book Review - You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes

When Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield was on his third and last mission in space aboard the the International Space Station (ISS) from December 19, 2012, to  to May 13, 2013, he took thousands and thousands of pictures. In his first book, An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth, Hadfield told the story of his life, career and his three missions to space. In Your Are Here, Around the World in 92 Minutes, the focus is on the pictures that he took while in command of the ISS.

In "You Are Here", astronaut Chris Hadfield creates a surprisingly intimate and compelling visual essay about the planet we live on, choosing the best from the thousands of photos he took on the International Space Station.

Chris Hadfield's new book shows us our home--our city, country, continent, our whole planet--from a unique perspective. Curated from images never before shared, Chris's big picture reveals why our planet looks the way it does and why we live where we do. Chris sees more in these images than we do, not just because he's spent months in space but because his in-depth knowledge of geology, geography and meteorology allows him to read the mysteries the photos reveal.

"You Are Here" opens a singular window on our planet, using remarkable photographs to illuminate the history and consequences of human settlement, the magnificence (and wit) of never-before-noticed landscapes, and the power of the natural forces shaping our world and the future of our species.

This is a fun book. The pictures are incredible. On some pages are images of earth that take the shape of animals, birds and fishes. The book is organized by continents and Hadfield in just a sentence or two gives his interpretation of what the photo is about. Some of his comments can really make you think.

If you think images of earth are amazing from Google maps, you will be blown away from the photos that make up this book.

Above is a picture of Toronto at night which Hadfield sent via tweet on January 19, 2013