Quebec
This moment in my life took place in October-April 2012.

The final minutes of the game in October we were about to win a paid trip to Quebec City to play in the biggest hockey tournament in the world, and we would be sponsored by the Colorado Avalanche Pro hockey team. We did it, we just won the Quebec Qualifier. It was a long 5 months of waiting for our gear to arrive. We had NHL stock jerseys that were exactly the same as the Avalanche wore, we got the same tracksuits, pants covers , and winter gear for the cold Quebec weather and the proud name of the JR. Colorado Avalanche. We had 1 more month of waiting and we would be playing the best teams from around the globe as we would be fighting to be crowned the best PeeWee team in the world.
The 6 months of waiting were over and now we only had the traveling, we had the worst flight there it was a total of 7 hours of flying to Montreal from Dallas. We arrived at the Montreal airport at about 11:00 - 12:00 am, then we had to then go through customs, we were finally in Montreal Canada. I guess we had it lucky the other flight lost their bags in Chicago, but they arrived the next day. Now, all that was left was the 2 hour bus drive to Quebec. After the 10 hours of crazy travel we arrived at the Fairmont hotel which was the nicest hotel I have ever seen, if not the nicest 5 star hotel in the world. It used to be a castle for royalty and is surrounded by stone walls and cannons are still visible. Everyone was so tired at 3:00 in the morning we passed out as soon as we hit the beds.
It was the shortest rest I have ever had before a game. We had to wake up at 8:00 to eat breakfast then meet our billet familys. That night we meet at a reserved restaurant to eat and we got to know our familys a little before we left . They had a very beautiful house in the suburbs of Quebec. Our first game was played at an ice rink inside a mall! We were surrounded by a roller coaster and ferris wheel. It was pretty unbelievable, a scene I will never forget.

We were going to play our first game, it was just a scrimmage game against the JR. Pittsburgher penguins, who were sponsored by another NHL team. We came out on top with a score of 5 to 2. We were done for the day and we spent some time with our billet family’s, we played knee hockey and pond hockey. The next day we had our first game against the PEI rockets (Princes Edward Island).We were the team to beat, we had an epic season and we only lost 4 games out of almost 100. PEI rockets were undefeated out of 79 games so there was a lot of pressure coming into this game. We ended up blowing them out of the water, we won 9-2. After the game we went tubing down this unbelievable snow hill, it was freezing but so much fun. Dallas was our next challenge, they were sponsored by a NHL team also, we tied them which was a good thing because they were a better team than we were. We had 3 games left to win the title, we had to beat the JR. Anaheim Ducks whose coach was a Hall of Fame NHL defensemen and they had a strong defensive team. We won the game by a shoot out goal, and the crowd went nuts. Our Billet families and the parents were screaming and jumping up and down . We had 2 more games left and they were going to be the hardest games yet.

We were entering a full house of people, a crowd of about 10000, the biggest crowd we ever played in front of and the PEI rockets were out for blood. The game started in their favor, they scored the first 3 then we scored 3 and tied it up and then they scored 2 more . In the final seconds the score was 6 to 7, this was our last chance. Our coach pulled the goalie but we lost the semifinal game. The team we beat 9-2 beat us and won the championship. Devastated, we said a sad good bye to our billet family and had the long 7 hours of traveling back to the states. We did continue on to finish the year to win the national title and were crowned the best PeeWee AA team in the entire country.
It was a very successful year of hockey for my team but I shall remember that last game we lost in Quebec for the rest of my life because it goes to show that you can’t win them all but you can keep on fighting. It was so far the best trip of my life. I had a wonderful Billet family, I explored a beautiful country and made memories good and bad. Oh and by the way, if you ever are able to go to Quebec, try the, Poutine, fries with gravy and cheese, they are delicious.