PTJ there's a Palace fan called Simon who lives in Calgary(on here as Calgarycpfc) He's a top bloke,I'm sure he'll be more than happy to give you a few pointers! He actually comes over to Selhurst just for Palace games!!! Commitment. Drop him a PM Ollie's Dad,Ash.

Red and Blue Army!
LONDON BORN PALACE BRED LIVE AND DIE FOR BLUE AND RED
Football is not just a game, its a religion

Was it you with the Palace Nova Scotia banner at one of the games at Wembley in 2015-16?

Nice one, thank you

Hi!

Holy smokes, you're covering a lot of ground. October is prime early hockey season. Tickets here in Montreal are a lot harder to come by (and more expensive) than they would be in Ottawa or Vancouver (I'm biased, but the team in Ottawa is better too). Keep in mind that the rink in Ottawa is often difficult to get to for tourists (its in the suburbs so you have to time your public transit correctly) Not so in Vancouver, Montreal or Calgary. I think a football fan might be a little disappointed with the atmosphere at most hockey matches as well but I'd be interested in hearing your take.

I spent 16 years in Ottawa, am originally from BC (so I know Vancouver) and have lived in Montreal since 2005.

Ask away!

Hi guys, great responses that I've only just bumped into!

I have theoretically sourced my Ice Hockey tickets, the Habs (my chosen team over the last 20 years) are on the road the whole time we are there, but fortunately they are at the Sens roughly when we would be in the area so I have pre-purchased tickets for Montreal @ Ottawa from a re-selling website that had decent reviews. Actually, if I'm honest I hadn't realised that was what it was when I splashed out the money so fingers crossed they come through for me! I think of Ottawa as one of the teams I am less keen on, mainly because of some horror sticking in the playoff series a few years ago which I think psychologically damaged some of the Habs players and made them bow out of the Playoffs a bit too early (well, standard for them in recent years actually!)

I have researched the public transport and I can see it's going to be a bit of a bus ride from our hotel in central Ottawa (or a cab if we are pressed for time, we're taking a lot of spending money just in case) but it'll be worth it to catch a game. I have watched a lot of ice hockey over the years on internet streams and I did get the vibe that it lacked atmosphere in comparison, but I'll be over the moon to finally see a game regardless.

I have had agreement from the wife that I can visit the hockey stadiums in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver but we are only going to one game and a guided tour of the Bell Centre. It's our belated honeymoon so no more hockey than that!

We really are covering a lot of ground in a very short period and we know we'll be spending (wasting) a fair bit of time flying.

Our timeline is:
Toronto 28/10 - 30/10
Ottawa 30/10 - 01/11
Niagara Falls 01/11 - 02/11 (it's in an odd place in the sequence because of the Ice Hockey!)
Calgary 02/11 - 04/11
Banff 04/11 - 06/11
Vancouver 06/11 - 08/11

It's made slightly easier by a couple of flights the "right way" across the time zones!

In Calgary we intend to visit the Tower which is right outside our hotel and Calgary Fort. I think there was also a music museum I wanted to check out. There are some parks and bits that we will walk to (we hike a lot in the UK so we have no problem walking long distances to see stuff and enjoy the scenery on the way). The Mrs has specifically said she doesn't want to see the Zoo or the Stampede and I won't be allowed to see the Flames. But are there any hidden gems that the guidebooks don't mention? As I say, we quite like scenery and we're both runners so we can hack long walks. We like architecture to look at (we know sweet FA about it but it's interesting!), we like museums on most subjects in particular ones dedicated to the history of the area we are in. We quite like guided history tours as well but they tend to be easy to find.

Anyway thank you both for your input and any more tips you can give me. Also appreciate the kind offer to show us around. We are both very socially awkward people so if I don't take you up on that it's not because I'm not grateful of such a nice offer!