If you’ve been following the Nation for any length of time then you’ll already know how much we love to throw hockey-related parties, and this year’s season opener is no different. The only difference this time around is that the team is starting the season in Sweden and that means the puck drops on day one at 11 am instead of sometime in the evening. My friends, this year, we’re talking about a brunch party.

If you’re anything like me, there is nothing better than a good day-drinking session combined with a hearty breakfast so the idea of a brunch/hockey party could be the greatest idea we’ve ever had. I don’t know why, but having a few wobblies during the daylight hours makes the drinks go down 48% smoother and that’s a scientific fact… probably. When you add a brand spankin’ new hockey season in the mix then you’ve got the makings for a fantastic start to your long weekend. Intrigued? Of course you are.

By the grace of the good Gord and, of course, the schedule makers, we got the unique opportunity to throw a season opener party the likes of which we’ve never done before. I mean, we’ve thrown plenty of parties in my tenure at the Nation, all of which have been a great time too, but we’ve never had the chance to really put in a solid day session before. When we started talking about the idea of throwing another season launch party, we were going back and forth to decide whether or not we should delay a bit to do this on a game that fell in the evening but the idea of a brunch party was just too awesome to pass up.

After the struggle that was the 2017-18 season, I think we all needed a fresh start and that includes the way we launch the new year. This season, we’re not going to roll in with the trolly hashtags, we’re not going to pre-plan the parade, and we’re not going to take anything for granted even though we have 97 reasons to be excited. This year, we’re going to take each game one at a time without looking too far ahead, and we’re going to appreciate the journey that is the march to the dance. We want to make sure that we don’t get fooled by expectations, our own egos, or the day-to-day grind that is an 82-game season but rather to truly respect the process. We may have gotten ahead of ourselves last year, we will admit and own up to our part in last season’s trainwreck, but this year, we’re ready to get locked in and grind our way through every single game until the final buzzer goes and the job is done.

The first step in making that happen? We party.

If you’ve ever been to one of our season opener parties before, you already know that one of the best parts is getting 200 Nation citizens together to meet up and start off the new season on a high note. Not only are these parties a great way to get the band together, it’s especially fun to meet new people that you’ve been arguing with talking to online for Gord knows how long. Over the past 10+ years, we’ve built a pretty incredible community around this website and our love for the hockey team, making events like the Season Opener Party something that I always look forward to. And when you add in the brunch factor, we’ve got the makings of an event that none of us will soon forget… depending on how many breakfast Caesars you have, of course.

In addition to meeting wonderful Internet people like Chris the Intern, the actual point of these parties is to raise money for a local charity that we feel strongly about and this time around is no different. For this year’s season opener party, we’ve partnered up with our friends at KidSport to help them raise money and awareness for all of the wonderful things they do in our communities. If you don’t know about KidSport, their goal is to provide “financial assistance for registration fees and equipment to kids aged 18 and under.” Needless to say, getting more kids into sports that can sometimes be incredibly expensive is something I think we can all get behind and we would love your help in making that happen.

And since it wouldn’t be a Nation party without a swag bag, we wanted to start off the season with a bag of treats that you can feel good about along with plenty of giveaways to keep you engaged all afternoon.

The bag: Exclusive Season Opener Party tee, Pint GC, Oodle Noodle GC, stickers, and a ticket to enter all of the draws and raffles
The giveaways: Memorabilia giveaways, NationGear giveaways,
Anything else: We’ll also be having a NationGear pop-up shop that features some of the new shirts and hoodies that we’ve got for the upcoming season.

Where: The Pint Downtown
When: October 6th, with doors opening at 10 am and the hockey game starting at 11 am
Who: Every single one of you… that is of legal drinking age
Why: To celebrate the launch of a new season, get together, and to raise as much money as possible for our friends at KidSport
How much: Tickets are $25 each with net proceeds going directly to KidSport
How: Tickets are available here.

I recommend that you get your tickets as soon as you can because this thing is going to sell out. See you at The Pint!