Day 1 - A long, long day of travel.

The day started early - wake up call was probably 4am for most, as everyone needed to be at SFO by 6am in order to check in luggage for the Air Canada flight. After the hockey bags were brought over to the oversized luggage area, several players decided to rest while waiting for all to show up.

The hockey sticks were saved until last - until Coach Savoie showed up with the large stick bag which held all the sticks and made it easier to transport them all.

Once the whole team was accounted for...and all the bags and sticks were checked in, it was time for one last team photo before the players went through security.

The march through security was uneventful (Yahoo). We boarded the plane around 7:30am. Everyone getting on and trying to seat themselves near their teammates. Not too difficult of a task, for reservations were made as a group and we were all pretty much seated in the same area.  The 4.5 hour flight (or 5 hours from gate to gate) was long, but most of the players found watching the movies available - like Puss in Boots - or tv shows kept them entertained...as well as all the games on iTouches, iPads and iPhones. A few kids were found doing homework, believe it or not. In fact, Daylon finished his persuasive essay and had several of his teammate perform peer critiques. An interesting exercise with this group of kids.

We landed in Toronto right on time and were greeted with bright sun and not a pile of snow to be found. We went through customs without any problems. And after going through Toronto security, everyone gravitated to some type of food source, the favorite being...

While our layover wasn't too long, it was long enough for the group to congregate on the floor of Gate D5 to enjoy their food as well as iGames with the teammates.

The last leg of our trip was on Air Canada Express an 80 passenger jet...small, yikes! Two seats on one side and two on the other...no middles, always a plus!

Quebec greeted us as we decended with a full moon, the color orange, reflecting on the St. Lawrence River. The cold air hit our faces was we departed the airplane and made our way to the baggage claim to gather our belongings. Good news...no luggage was lost!!!

Outside, Gaetan and his son, Dave, were waiting for us. They are the Captains of the San Jose Jr. Shark Billette Group. They instructed all the players to, first, put the hockey bags in the special cargo truck followed by all their luggage. Afterwhich they needed to board the tournament vans which would transport them to the Colisee and their awaiting billette parents.

Once at the Colisee, the players were matched up with their families. Some of the kids looked a little nervous, but by all accounts they seemed very excited and pleased as they started to leaves.

Once they were "adopted" by their Quebec family, they were gone to their new home, where they would reside for the next 11 days. The first day came to an end...it was a good day, just a long one.

Jusqu'à demain. Au revoir.

(Until tomorrow...good-bye)