Today was our field trip to go and see the hockey players and the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium or Aud! We picked our safety buddies, and went to go get on the bus. The preschoolers were very excited to go on and ride the school bus to go see the hockey players. When we got to the Aud we met with Abbey and Lindsay who were taking us on the tour. We started off by seeing the two smaller rinks in the building, and then we walked up the big staircase to the big arena when the rangers play. We walked around and saw lots of different pictures around the Aud like, who the captains were, pictures of the current roster, and lots of different murals. We then went to go and check out the rangers dressing room! We saw where they put on their hockey gear, where they go if they get hurt and some cool amenities they have for the players. They have an ice bath, a hot bath and some beds for them to stretch out on if they get hurt or are feeling sore. We then went to go and watch the Rangers practice, we saw how they shoot, how they skate and we even saw two goalies! Once the practice was over we got to go and shake their hands, get high fives, and ask the Rangers a few questions. The first Ranger we met was the goalie Tristan Malboeuf number 29. Then we met Matthew Sop number 91 and Lucas Ellinas number 19. We asked them all the questions we had, what equipment do you use? “We used hockey sticks, skates, padding to protect out bodies and helmets to protect our heads.” Explained Lucas Ellinas. “How they do school?” “We do school here at the arena and we do a good balance between school work and the practices” explained Matthew Sop. “How do you get to the games?” “We drive to the home games, or for away games we take a big bus” said Tristan Malboeuf. A lot of the players on the Rangers have been playing hockey for 15 years, it takes a lot of work and dedication to get to where they are! We were so excited to go and explore the arena, as well as to get to know the Rangers and how hockey works!
We wanted to give a big thank you to the Kitchener Rangers organization for helping us put this field trip together! It helped expand the children’s knowledge on hockey, as well helped the children understand and learn more about this topic! The children were very happy and had a lot of fun exploring the Aud, and meeting some hockey players! Thank you so much!
