The recent snowflake invasion here in Vancouver, made me think about a trip to Hawaii I took last season. I am sure any Hawaii bound hockey fan dealing with winter weather conditions right now may want to drop by a particular little hockey Mecca I discovered a few blocks from Waikiki Beach.

It was my first trip to the Islands and as much as I wanted to lie on the beach and bask in the sunshine ALL day, I still had hockey business on my To Do list. There were a couple of Canucks games scheduled while I was there, so it was imperative that I found a place to call home for the games. And what a home I found!

Legends Sports Pub is a hole in the wall. It’s not a big fancy glitzy sports bar at all. Instead, it’s a cozy spot with banks of satellite receivers capturing a bevy of sports action daily, including any available hockey game from NHL’s Center Ice Package.

For fourteen seasons, John Harrison has been providing televised hockey games for his many sun-seeking customers at his pub on Nahua Street in the Honolulu Prince Hotel. He explained to me how the schedule works: it’s posted every Tuesday. And I mean it’s posted! You know how it is when you are on vacation; sometimes you can easily forget what day it is. John has the schedules taped up around the pub, so there is always one in your field of view reminding you when it’s game time. Yep, John is a thoughtful guy. Soccer and football fans rejoice – your games are scheduled, too! This makes for a fantastic, international crowd when all sports are going on at once.

John’s thoughtfulness also covers food and drink. First of all, you can bring your own food in if you like – wow! Or you can order in from local restaurants and he has the menus ready for your perusal, too. And get this… refreshing Mai Tais are only two bucks everyday until 8 pm. Now, remember – drink responsibly, and leave some Mai Tais for the other fans!

Legends is not only a sports pub…it’s a museum. Hockey is big at Legends. John has autographed sticks hanging from the ceiling. He has oodles of hockey photographs lining the walls. And a huge collection of sports logo caps that people leave behind at the pub.

And remember, it’s no biggy if your team loses while you are at Legends Pub because that warm Hawaiian breeze in a city covered in vacation Aloha Wear eliminates the sting of defeat rather nicely!

Legend Sports Pub: a cozy pub that caters to hockey fans, and sports fans in general
                
Website: www.legends-sports-pub.com
Street address:  411 Nahua Street (Honolulu Prince Hotel), Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808-922-7486

From Hawaii to the Hurricanes…Friday Dec. 8th 2006 Okay, so the city wasn’t quite as crazy as it was in late October when the Washington Capitals ventured to Vancouver for their once every three-year visit from the East. However, it was still a treat to have the Stanley Cup Champions, the Carolina Hurricanes and their slightly vague circular logo on the ice in front of me for their once every three-year visit from the East.

Sadly the hometown crowd didn’t get a chance to see Campbell River, BC native, hard working Hurricane captain, Rod “The Bod” Brind’Amour (damn that’s a great last name) as he was out due to injury.

At 3 –0 after 2 periods you’d think the Canucks would have this one in the bag, but not these guys, no. It seemed they wanted the fans to take a few more rides on the roller coaster (that is the Canucks way) and allowed the canes to score three third period goals. Thankfully Daniel Sedin scored the fourth Canucks power play goal of the night, during the bonus frame and put an end to the proceedings and I didn’t have to sit through a shoot out – yippee!

Yes, for the record I am not a fan of the shoot out. I am also not a fan of the schedule and I think I need to write a rant column about these issues for next time, even though I am not a fan of rant columns either.

One final note…

My game buddy for the evening, guest columnist, Helen Peterson will be off to Hawaii at the end of the month. She’ll be taking care of some hockey business while she’s there, and update us on Legends Sports Pub and scope out other places for Waikiki Hockey…baby!