Arena Adventure: Olympiques de Gatineau

One of the things that excited me most about living in Ottawa was the abundance of live hockey to attend in the area. Of course you've got the Sens, but their games are ultra-lame unless Montreal or Toronto's in town, but aside from that, I happen to live in perhaps Canada's best junior hockey city. Here we've got the Ottawa 67's who have provided the NHL with the fourth most players in Entry Draft history, and across the river on the Quebec side we've got Les Olympiques de Gatineau who as recently as last year were crowned QMJHL champs.

Tonight was the third game of the year I went to, and it was game five of their second round series against Les Cataractes de Shawinigan (home of none other than our former prime minister Johnny Crouton). It was a do or die game, with the Cats being up three games to one. The O's would fall 4-2 in the contest, but it wasn't without its' excitement. The arena is called Robert Guertin Arena, but locals affectionately refer to it as "Le Bob".

The games are loud, passionate, and an unfriendly family atmosphere much opposite of the Ottawa 67's crowd. Beers are sold for a reasonable $4.75, and you can always count on a friendly horn or two to wake you up if you're heading to the game straight after a long day's work.

I look forward to attending plenty more games next year. Go O's Go!