Friday October 14th – Saturday October 15th
Friday morning we awoke bright and early and drove to the head offices of
our lead sponsor Accessible Media Inc. for a very special meet and greet.
Roughly a dozen students with visual impairments from the Toronto District
School Board had traveled in along with their vision teachers to speak with
Mark on the second last day of his journey, and have a behind the scenes
tour of the AMI offices.
Mark spoke to the group, most of whom had been part of a 2011 Courage Canada
Learn to Skate program and will be on the ice with us again in 2012, and
there were even a couple of aspiring Toronto Ice Owls in the group! Besides
being our lead campaign sponsor, AMI has also produced a fantastic series of
audio described video updates showcasing the campaign, as their goal is to
make media accessible to all Canadians through accessible programming on
their television station TACtv and their audio broadcasting through
Voiceprint. The students were treated to a tour the studios and were even
able to record their own demo.
Once the students went on their tour, AMI CEO David Errington introduced
Mark to his staff, and Mark spoke to the group about the campaign, his
story, and Courage Canada. It was a very memorable morning, thanks again to
David and AMI for all that you have done and continue to do in support of
Courage Canada, we really appreciate the support!
We soon need to depart as Mark was doing a live interview with CTV Toronto
in the early afternoon. So we said goodbye to the students, teachers and
staff at AMI, grabbed a quick lunch and took Mark to his interview. He was
asked about the campaign, Courage Canada, and the sport of blind hockey and
had the opportunity to explain the sport and the many opportunities for
Canadians who are visually impaired to play hockey to a large viewership
which was great.
After the interview the rain had actually died down and the sun started to
peak out in the late afternoon which was great news as we still a good day
of skating we needed to get done to ensure we’d be at Weston Arena on
Saturday on time. Mark and Cam hopped out in the far east end of
Scarborough, and made their way down the sidewalks of Lawrence Ave. through
Scarborough, over the DVP, and through the luxurious Bridle Path
neighbourhood where we soon after stopped for the day.
We were now officially in the heart of Toronto, leaving just over 10
kilometers left for the trek, but that would have to wait for Saturday
morning. We drove to a spot near Don Mills and Lawrence Ave. where we had
arranged to stay in the RV for one last night, had dinner, and bunked for
last night of the campaign.
On Saturday morning we woke up to surprisingly decent weather. They had been
predicting heavy rain and very strong winds which would have been
reminiscent of the final day of the 2009 Courage Canada Quest to the West
Campaign in Vancouver. Instead it was grey, cool, and little gusty but the
rain held off and left us with a good morning for a final skate.
Cam had arranged for his friend John Flood to drive the RV so that the whole
team could skate the final leg of the campaign (Thanks very much!). Mark,
Cam, Matt, and Phil all headed out at our starting point and skated the 10
kilometers into Weston in our Courage Canada jerseys, full reebok gear, with
our hockey sticks, and Mark leading us with a Canadian flag.
We made good time and arrived in Weston with 20 minutes to spare which
allowed us time to skate to skate around Mark, Cam and Phil’s hometown. We
skated past Cam’s house, past the house where Cam grew up, over to Mark’s
house, and through the elementary school where Mark and Cam first became
friends. We skated over train tracks, through the Weston farmers market, to
the world famous Peter’s Barber Shop where so many leafs have gotten their
hair cut; we skated down Weston road, around the corner, and finally we
skated to Weston Lions Arena where Mark and the boys had played their minor
hockey and continue to play as adults with a love for the game.
In 2009 Mark, Cam, PJ, and Jason had left from Weston Lions Arena on the
original Courage Canada Quest to the West in-line skate to Vancouver, and
now 2 years later Mark led Cam, Matt and Phil back to the arena to finish
the Courage Canada Halifax 2 Toronto campaign and to complete the journey
across the mainland of Canada. We rounded the corner and were greeted by a
group of dozens of people cheering us on as we skated by the front doors,
then we skated around the building to the zamboni entrance where Mark led
the team into the arena onto a red carpet on the ice and across the official
finish line.
The red carpet was lined with budding hockey stars from the Weston Minor
Hockey Association, as well as Matt’s parents Rob and Wendy, Cam’s parents
Terry and Margaret, and finally Mark’s parent’s Massimo and Sandy who held
the official finish line, and along with Mark’s brother Luca, welcomed him
home. The arena was packed with 100′s of family, friends, and community
members who had come out to show their support for Mark and Courage Canada,
as well as members of the Toronto Ice Owls and Montreal Hiboux Blind Hockey
Teams who reminded us what this is all about – the love of Canada’s great
game of hockey, and the right of every single one of us to participate in
it!
Luca had done an excellent job on the arrival, and after a rousing rendition
of O’Canada Mark spoke to the crowd. Mark spoke at length about the journey
and the importance of all the support he had received, he spoke about blind
hockey and the future of this great game in Canada. Mark thanked his team
for supporting him throughout his journey, he thanked his sponsors for
helping make it happen, and he thanked everyone – including all of you who
read this blog – for your continued support of Courage Canada! We can’t do
this alone and thank you all very much.
After his speech there were several dignitaries who were there to
congratulate Mark and the team including Leafs greats Johnny Bower and Dick
Duff, AMI CEO David Errington, Team Canada sledge hockey goalie and
paralympic gold medalist Paul Rosen, York South-Weston`s MP Mike Sullivan,
MPP Laura Albanese, and City Councillor Frances Nunziata who all made
special presentations. Mark and the team were all very honoured – thanks
again for the support.
It was a fantastic ceremony followed by a media scrum, but Mark and the team
had to quickly head to the dressing room and put on their hockey gear for
the blind hockey demonstration game. What better way to end a Courage
Canada campaign for the sport of blind hockey than with a demonstration of
the great game, so members of the Toronto Ice Owls and Montreal Hiboux were
divided on teams interspersed with many of Mark’s sighted friends, and we
played a thrilling modified blind hockey game that ended 2 – 1 for team
yellow in a shootout.
The arrival was a huge success – thank you very much to the Weston Lions
Arena for hosting it, to all the dignitaries who spoke so highly of Mark and
the cause, to all the blind hockey players, to Luca for organizing it, and
to all of the family, friends and Courage Canada supporters who came out to
make the event successful – we could not have done it without you!
While the arrival festivities may have been over our hectic arrival day was
not, and we had no time to relax as the Toronto Maple Leafs were doing a
feature on Mark and the campaign at their game against Calgary that evening.
Mark and Cam quickly traded their hockey gear for formal wear and rushed
downtown for a live interview with CBC.
Afterwards they were welcomed to the Air Canada Centre and provided
fantastic seats right behind the leafs bench, were invited into the
Directors lounge, and then Mark was interviewed during the first
intermission to the delight of family, friends, and the rest of the team who
were also at the game. After already being welcomed by the Montreal
Canadians and the Ottawa Senators on the campaign, it was a great way to end
the journey being featured by the hometown Leafs who also provided a great
game with a thrilling 3 – 2 comeback win over the Calgary Flames.
As the Courage Canada Halifax 2 Toronto Campaign is now officially over this
will be the last entry of the campaign blog, however now the exciting work
begins. With your generous support, and the support of our partners and
sponsors we are switching gears and we’ll be hitting the ground running as
we find ourselves already at the beginning of the 2011 – 2012 hockey season.
We have big plans for this year with learn to skate programs for youth who
are blind or visually impaired scheduled coast to coast, and a blind hockey
tournament to plan to showcase this great sport among many other special
presentations.
While the campaign may now be over, the Courage Canada movement is just
beginning to pick up steam so be sure to check back to www.couragecanada.ca
regularly for updates and stay involved. It’s been a wild ride over the
last couple of months, and a very successful journey. Thanks for
everything, and as always…
Stay tuned…
