The only other time when I had ever been to an MLB game, was the last game of the 2014 season, where the Blue Jays lost 1-0 to the Baltimore Orioles. Two years later, I’m back in Toronto, in the same building as I was in two years ago, but it was a completely different team. There were three major reasons to believe the Blue Jays would take the win last night. Number one was that they were facing the San Diego Padres, who had not only never played in Rocers Centre, but were second-last in their division at the time. Number two was the pitching. Sanchez, who had been on fire lately, would start (and go on to pitch seven innings). Number three was that Jose Bautista was returning from a toe injury, and it was going to be his first game back since the middle of June.

The first few innings were defensively minded and there were few hits, but then, in the bottom of the fourth, Michael Saunders hit a triple into the gap and was brought in on a deep sac fly by Tulowitzki to give the Jays a 1-0 lead heading into the 5th.

Right away in bottom five, Kevin Pillar doubled and was brought in by the atrocious fielder Devon Travis on a broken-bat double. Later in the inning, Josh Donaldson was up to bat with Bautista on first and Travis on second. Donaldson got a base hit into the gap, scoring Travis and bringing Bautista all the way to third. So the5th ended 3-0 for the Jays.

In the top of the 6th, with a runner on second, a Padre grounded the ball to the shortstop, where the man on second got caught in a rundown. Finally Josh Donaldson, at the time their third baseman, took matters into his own hands and chased the Padres runner from third to second, diving and tagging his foot before he could make it back.

After seven scoreless innings and only three hits allowed, Sanchez got a rest and Grilli came in as reliever. Unfortunately for Grilled Cheese, things didn’t go as planned. The Padres hit a two-run bomb to the top deck to change the then 4-0 score to a closer 4-2 contest. However, Grilli would be pulled for the incredible reliever in Osuna, who got the save.

Final score: Padres 2 – Blue Jays 4

Anyway, I’m Josh. And that’s the way I heard it.

Hey guys, sorry I haven’t posted for so long, I didn’t bring the iPad to Montreal. Now that I’m back in the office, I can tell you all about Montreal. On the first day, we were tired so we worked at the us terminal for a bit, then took an hour walk to our hotel where we checked in. Then we looked around the Bell Centre a bit, grabbed lunch an awesome store that Milo would like the name of… GRIFFINTOWN!!! Then we went mini golfing and played air hockey, just to test if it was any different than doing it at home. Then we got a late night dinner at the “3 Brasseurs” and went back to the hotel.

The next day, we saw the Montreal Tower and the Olympic Stadium. This specific tower is the world’s tallest slanted tower ever. And the view from there was incredible in the beautiful day. After seeing the tower, we came down to the main part of the building, the stadium from the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. The running tracks were taken out and now it’s just cement, but the stands were huge, and I could definitely imagine everyone wanting to watch the olympics fit into that stadium. Another interesting thing about the stadium is that they still use it today, and have recently paid off all their debt from the olympics. Now they have a ginormous building with lessons and people renting it out, and it’s all revenue. Later that day, we walked down to see my mom and uncle’s cousin. Since it was an hour and a half walk both ways from where my mom’s cousin was, we crashed at the hotel room and watched some Blue Jays, or anything on that TV that wasn’t French!

The next day, we rented a small botorboat at H2O Adventures and cruised like kings for an hour in the beautiful weather. As we climbed out of our boat, dark clouds rolled over the sky. The rain patted lightly on the tarps set up in the marketplace we had gone to get gelato 10 minutes later, but 30 seconds after that, it was more like “PPPPPSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…” And then, “pat, pat, pat, pat…” For another few minutes, and “PPPPSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…”After we finished our gelato and we’re done listening to the awesome band playing at the market, we made a run for it to the subway, and went to the Musee Grevin, or as English speaking people like to call it, the wax museum. There were a ton of wax statues of celebrities, and some of them looked really cool. I got a picture with Steve Jobs, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Wayne Gretzky, and it’s be impossible to know the difference, one worker posed as a statue, then as you’d look at her, she’d abandon her gaze to nowhere and look you dead in the eyes. It was so creepy but so cool. There was another one where the museum dressed up a statue pretending to be on the phone with a worker’s uniform so some people never find out it wasn’t just a normal person. After the wax museum, we walked through Old Montreal, which was so neat seeing all the old buildings and the brick road kept in one place. Then we attended mass at the Notre Dame, which was so cool (because of the AWESSOOMMMEEENNNEEESSS of the architecture of the church and how old it was), but got boring after a while (not because it was church, but because the priest spoke French the entire time. However, we both agreed it was worth it to see the building and it was still pretty sweet to be in a church that beautiful.

Our bus rides from Montreal to Ottawa and Ottawa to Toronto were that night, and we’re back now. Montreal was super awesome, EVERYONE SHOULD GO AT SOMEPOINT IN THEIR LIVES!!! This would actually be an amazing vacation destination spot.

Anyway, I’m Josh Clark. And that’s the way it happened.

Hey guys! Sorry I hadn’t posted in so long until this point, I’ll try to be better about that. Today I’m getting a singing lesson with UJ’s teacher and I’m going to record a cover of “Say Something”. Right now we’re in the office, hoping to leave as soon as we can to walk around downtown before music lessons. Yesterday we picked up the Ps4 from UJ’s friends’ place, but despite a clear experience advantage, I only ever beat him once in a shootout on NHL 15. It’s been an incredible trip so far, and Montreal is just around the corner!!!

Anyway,  I’m Josh Clarke. And that’s the way it happened 😉

After a day at the office, my uncle and I went for dinner, then headed home to change from jeans into shorts because we were going to the park for some catch. We walked into the house it was hot and slightly cloudy. Uncle James told me that there might be a storm, you never know in Toronto because it changes so quickly. Within five minutes, we walked back outside in our summer clothes to thunder, lightning, heavy rain, and what I would guess 20 degrees Celsius. We went out to a big park and threw long bombs to each other through the rain. Even when the weather had died down, we were both still soaked to the bone. But with the warm-enough temperatures, rain just meant wet grass and wet grass meant we slid everywhere like crazy people when we dove. That was one of the funnest games of catch I’ve ever played.

Anyway, I’m Josh Clarke. And that’s the way it happened.

Yesterday was very exciting because I was going to see my uncle in Toronto and it was going to be my first time on an airplane alone. I was feeling pretty good about the non-eventfulness of the flight until about half an hour before we were scheduled to land, when I looked out the window, below the plane, and the clouds were lighting up. The flight attendant informed us that the “thunderstorm was a beautiful sight”. It looked really cool, but I was kind of nervous about the weather, considering I had to fly through them to get where I wanted to go. A man sitting beside me said casually, upon seeing yet another cloud light up like a Christmas light, that aircraft are struck by lightning all the time. Half of me still didn’t want to be struck even if someone told me it was safe, and the other half of me agreed with the first half. We descended for a while into the clouds, and for about 10 minutes, I didn’t see any lightning. Then, all at once, it started flashing. Once every few seconds. All around us. And the turbulence reached an ultimate high. Then we were pressed back against our seats and the plane began to climb upwards. This struck me as particularly odd since we were supposed to be preparing for landing. A few seconds later the captain informed us that we had been in the middle of a thunder cloud, and we had pulled up and out of it for safety reasons that are kind of obvious. He said the plane had left the Vancouver airport with plenty of fuel and that we were going to circle around Toronto until the thunderstorm moved elsewhere and it was safe to land. An hour and a half later, after the storm moved East and the captain landed the plane perfectly, I met up with my uncle. I have now officially been awake for 21 hours.

Anyway, I’m Josh Clarke. And that’s the way it happened.

What’s up my faithful followers? I’m in the air right now going to Toronto to visit my uncle. Super excited for my 2 week visit, and I’ll make sure to keep everyone who thinks listening to me is worth it updated daily. Sorry for the short post, but I kind of haven’t made it to Toronto yet 😉

Anyway, I’m Josh. And that’s the way it happened.

The Surrey Thunderhawks were ready to kick some butt today at South Surrey Arena, home of the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles.

Semiahmoo came out strong right away, scoring a couple of goals really early, although Christian was doing a stellar job in goal for Surrey.

After those goals Surrey didn’t have much momentum or confidence, until Trenton buried a beautiful goal later in the first. I (Josh) was coming in on the rush and rang a shot off the post, where Trenton was waiting in perfect position ready to bury his long-deserved first goal of the year. Finally, Surrey got on the scoreboard.

Although Trent’s goal gave the team confidence, the Thunderhawks stopped playing as well in the second period. The Thunderhawks found themselves down 5-1 going into the third period.

The score may not say it, but Christian was stopping breakaway after breakaway after breakaway, and standing on his head especially in the second period. Hats off to you, man!

Later in the third period, after we had scored a goal to make it 5-2, I scored from the hashmarks to make it 5-3, but it wasn’t enough. We pulled our goalie with 2:30 left in the game, but we couldn’t force the two tying goals past the great Semi goalie.

Although it’s rough to start the tournament 0-1, we played really well in the first and third and had some chances that didn’t go our way. On the bright side, we got a sportsmanship point (sportsmanship points are given if teams have less than 6 minutes of penalties in the game.

Final Score: SURREY THUNDERHAWKS 3 – 5 SEMIAHMOO

Thunderhawks MVP: Trenton

Thunderhawks Most Sportsmanlike Player: Ethan

Nice game to both of you!

Next game: Tomorrow morning vs. a different Semi team (all our round robin games are against Semi teams 🙂

Thanks for reading,

#12, Joshua Clarke 🙂

This year’s ball hockey Western Challenge Cup will be located in Surrey, BC. There are 10 teams in the U13 division, and 5 teams in each of the two pools. After a round robin in which every team plays the other four teams in the group over the span of two days, the top two teams from each division out of five make it to the semifinals. Pool A’s 1st place team plays against Pool B’s 2nd place team and vice-versa.

Surrey’s U13 team, the Scorpions, hit the floor first against Ridge Meadows. The first-years on the home team hope to get revenge over last year’s 3-2 loss in the gold medal game against Ridge Meadows in the U11 division. On the same day as the Ridge Meadows game, the Surrey Scorpions face Valley, who they played just yesterday and lost 4-1 despite 31 shots. On the second day, Surrey will welcome the Edmonton Express from Alberta, and the Victoria Vipers from the Island, who they beat convincingly in an exhibition game. I’ll be back with a report of the first round robin game against Ridge Meadows.

Thanks for reading,

Joshie Bear

LOVED the Canucks. There’s no other way of explaining my passion for the team than how I follow them emotionally (sometimes too emotionally), game by game through the season. I was even considering the ticket prices for the playoffs. Unfortunately, the tickets are way too expensive. So I’m going to watch every playoff game I can that doesn’t conflict with my ball hockey, my brother’s baseball, or my sister’s softball. Yeah. But there is onetime that I KNOW I can watch, and it occurs rather soon.

Last night I came home from a satisfying 7-2 ball hockey win, and before I could even take my gear off, our family got a phone call. My dad handed the phone to me. Auntie Andie (Annie Annie) was on the other end. She said that as a congratulations for getting into the school I applied for, she and Uncle Aaron had decided to buy me and my dad tickets to tomorrow night’s game 2!!! So if you’re watching the game tonight, I’ll be there cheering on our ‘Nucks! My brother and sister were so gracious about me going to the game. Milo let me try on his Canucks jerseys to wear for the game, but I decided I would wear my old-school cream and maroon coloured Vancouver Millionaires jersey. But that’s not all. A few minutes later, after I might as well have been bouncing off the walls (I was so excited!), another call came. This one was from Grandma Lynne. She said that Grandpa Darryl and herself were going to put forward some money so that I could get a jersey at the Canucks Team Store before the game!

If you’re reading this Annie Annie, Uncle $ Billz, Grandma Lynne, Grandpa Darryl or Rhys… THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Despite the complicated article I posted a few days ago, the Canucks are in the playoffs as a result of the L.A. Kings losing 4-2 to none other than the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. This Kings loss guaranteed a Vancouver Canucks playoff birth, but last night’s results also proved to be helpful as the playoff-bound Canucks winded down the season.

Last night, the Canucks were destined for a playoff spot – but whether that would be in the 1st Wild Card spot, 2nd Wild Card spot, 3rd in the Pacific, or 2nd in the Pacific was anybody’s guess. The results of multiple games just 15 hours ago decided most of their fate.

As the Canucks took the ice against the Arizona Coyotes last night, the L.A. Kings were an hour through their game against the Calgary Flames. The L.A. – Calgary game was an important determiner of who the Canucks would face in the first round. Before last night, the Canucks had a 75% chance of playing the Kings in the first round, and a 25% chance of playing the Flames in the first round. But that changed dramatically. As the Canucks were racking up a considerable lead against the Coyotes, The Kings @ Flames game ended. The score? 3-1 Flames. An hour later the buzzer sounded at the Canucks – Coyotes game. The Canucks had won 5-0. The Kings were knocked out of playoff contention and the Flames became the guaranteed contender of the Canucks in the first round of the 2015 NHL playoffs.

The Canucks – Flames series will be the first since 2004, when the Flames beat the Canucks in the first round in 7 games.

This series will be the Pacific Division Seed 2 vs. Pacific Division Seed 3, but who is seed one (with home-ice advantage) and who is seed 2 is not determined. Both the Canucks and the Flames have one game left in the regular season. The Canucks have 99 points and the Flames have 97 points, so for the Flames to get home ice advantage, a lot would have to go wrong.

The Vancouver Canucks can gain home-ice advantage in the first round vs. the Calgary Flames and seed 2 in the Pacific Division with at least a point vs. the Coyotes on Sunday. Even if the Canucks don’t get any points (lose in regulation), the Flames would also have to win in regulation or OT in their game vs. the Jets to take home-ice advantage away from the Canucks.

GO CANUCKS GO!!!

Thank you Canucks fans,

Joshie Bear