Brendan Gallagher, Cole Caufield and Youppi! were the Canadians’ most sought-after representatives when the team arrived at the Steele Community Centre.
“You get off the bus and you see all these young people; it takes you back to the age you were. So you try to enjoy the moment and get the kids involved in the experience as much as possible,” Gallagher said.
Some had strange ways of getting involved. For example, a young fan asked Caufield to sign an autograph…in the forehead.
“That was a first. I told him it was a sharpie and permanent. He insisted anyway, so I did it,” laughed the Canada forward.
The Queen, Churchill and the Beatles
The Canadiens and Senators players aren’t the first celebrities to set foot in Gander. Even compared to those who have preceded them, they are far from holding the top of the pavement.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro, the Beatles, Albert Einstein, Frank Sinatra: they have all set foot in this small town in the Maritimes. At least they entered his airport.
It must be said that Gander International Airport was used as a refueling point for transatlantic flights at the time of its construction (1938) and until the late 1960s. So the passengers would loosen their legs while the gas station attendants at the airport filled up.
A facelift for The George
With the $250,000 prize she won, Twillingate, winner of the 2020 Kraft Hockeyville competition, can renovate her run-down arena.
Built in 1968, the George Hawkins Arena was constructed using parts from one of the hangars at Gander International Airport.
Today the roof of the institution is leaking, the compressors are rupturing and the life expectancy of the “Zamboni” is coming to an end.
For the record, George Hawkins is a Canadian World War I soldier who died on July 1, 1916 at the Battle of the Somme. 57,000 soldiers of the British Empire died that day.
alone in the world
Remember those Radio-Canada commercials that ended with “an hour later at the Maritimes”? Well, they weren’t entirely true.
Interestingly, Newfoundland (and the southeastern part of Labrador) has its own time zone: an hour and a half ahead of Eastern Time.
No other region in the world is in the same time zone. Still special to be unique.
Avid beer trailblazer. Friendly student. Tv geek. Coffee junkie. Total writer. Hipster-friendly internet practitioner. Pop culture fanatic.
