Which Canadian city for a short family hockey trip?

[Umingmak]

Vancouver or Montreal are the only ones worth visiting at that time of year, honestly. I'd suggest Calgary a little later in the spring (early-April).

Toronto is honestly awful. I was born & grew up there, and avoid it like the plague.

 

[BillDineen]

Vancouver-Whistler or Calgary-Banff are the best options. Wait for Montreal-Ottawa when the Sens are in LeBreton flats in a few years. Skip Toronto

 

[nickdawg95]

i'd suggest Montreal / Vancouver

Vancouver or Montreal are the only ones worth visiting at that time of year, honestly. I'd suggest Calgary a little later in the spring (early-April).

Toronto is honestly awful. I was born & grew up there, and avoid it like the plague.

lol pretty much this

 

[ManofSteel55]

In February, the only real answer is Vancouver, IMO. That's the only location where you have a really strong chance of mild weather. The liklihood of the deep freeze is just too high everywhere else.

Calgary, if you like to ski, as the mountain resorts are close.

 

[UrbanImpact]

Can only speak for Vancouver,

Warm-ish around February. My rec flag football season starts up in February and the golf courses open around then as well just to put it in perspective.

There are 3 major local mountains within 20 minutes of Vancouver if you are into Skiing or Snowboarding.

Whistler is about 1.5 hrs away as well.

Seattle is about a 2 hour drive south, Portland a bit further is about 5 hours.

Youll have the Canucks here, Kraken in Seattle , local WHL teams for both as well. Canucks AHL team is also near by so there is definitely high level hockey to watch if thats your priority.

Heading over towards Seattle is also great that time of the year for College basketball. University of Washingtong, Gonzaga, etc....


Actually i can speak for Edmonton too cuz I went to Grant Macewen University there and lived a few winters.

Frozen tundra. River Valley walk is probably the only thing out-doorsy to do unless you head north and do some snowmobiling or ice fishing.

West ED is entertaining if youre into that environment. Its getting expensive now too tho, i think the Water Park at West ED is like $70 admission.

 

[shakes the clown]

Most are bilingual in Montreal, never once had an issue.

I had a crazy issue there when I was 12. Was on my way to summer hockey camp and we stopped in Montreal to pick up a kid who was at a different hockey camp. I was there with that kid's dad so I was pretty much alone.

Went into a store near the hotel to buy some Toblerone chocolate I had heard all about back in the States. Grabbed a big pyramid shaped Toblerone and went to the counter to buy it. This was 1982 but i still remember it...there were a couple of ladies behind the counter. I said hello and put the candy on the counter. They ignored me. I started talking and said hello again and they responded by continuing to ignore me and refusing to ring up my purchase. This went on for a couple minutes before I got the hint and left.

Can you even imagine that? couple of ladies refusing to sell candy to a 12 year old cause he didn't speak French?

Needless to say it left me with a lasting impression of the good people of Montreal.

 

[Soundwave]

El Nino makes a pretty big difference in weather in Alberta, so you might be able to get away with Edmonton/Calgary being OK if you go say after Feb. 20th.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

WTF is this bullshit 99.9% of the population never owned a 2000$ jacket

I want to see some of these $2000 jackets actually. I love window shopping and going "if I win Lotto Max tonight...would I buy that?"

I'm gonna look 'em up.

Gotta be something K9 rated I think?

Found it! Men’s Himalayan Suit | The North Face Canada

You absolutely need one of those to survive Canadian winter.................

 

[Brodeur]

This is great, thanks! Love the idea of two games in the same day in Edmonton.

Edmonton Oil Kings

chl.ca

I misread the start time with the previous game. Looks like the WHL game will be at 11am local time.

It doesn't look like anything lines up that week, but I've had fun field trips to see WHL games in Seattle.

 

[Bradely]

Come down in Quebec City, have a party at our Carnaval de Québec, see our gorgeous winter city, drive or take the train to Montreal for a Habs game, eat in some of the best NA restaurant, then go to Ottawa for a Sens game. Winter is absolutely beautiful!

 

[AussieBomberJet]

Cause it's Winnipeg Manitoba?

And you are Edmonton Alberta

This is great, thanks! I think this is the first real post on Winnipeg.

Don't listen to all the clueless losers on here who seem to cream themselves by putting down the city. I'm currently on the road and if I get a chance, I'll add my list on things to do in Winnipeg, because there are lots.

 

[snag]

+8 with a chance of rain and overcast, otherwise good weather

Or a guarantee of -30 to -50 with only a few hours of light a day

Hmm....all my years that i lived in Calgary never seen an ambient -50 let alone been guaranteed anything remotely close. Though thindersnow was pretty f***ing cool.

And few hours of light a day....do we understand the lines of latitude? Not much difference between Vancouver and Calgary there...

 

[Three On Zero]

Hmm....all my years that i lived in Calgary never seen an ambient -50 let alone been guaranteed anything remotely close. Though thindersnow was pretty f***ing cool.

And few hours of light a day....do we understand the lines of latitude? Not much difference between Vancouver and Calgary there...

We’ve had -50 weather every year here

 

[snag]

We’ve had -50 weather every year here

Ambient?

 

[Three On Zero]

Ambient?

With wind chill, which still is a huge factor

 

[snag]

With wind chill, which still is a huge factor

Exception...not the norm. Funny how you say chancenof rain but GUARANTEE minus 30-50 lol

I have a relative who movedbback to Alberta to retire after 40byears because of how depressing winter was in Victoria with the incessant mist/drizzle.

To each their own....right?

 

[Three On Zero]

Exception...not the norm. Funny how you say chancenof rain but GUARANTEE minus 30-50 lol

I have a relative who movedbback to Alberta to retire after 40byears because of how depressing winter was in Victoria with the incessant mist/drizzle.

To each their own....right?

Definitely the norm and not an exception,

Weather on the island can also be a lot different than the mainland. We always seemed to get more rain on the island

 

[snag]

Definitely the norm and not an exception,

Weather on the island can also be a lot different than the mainland. We always seemed to get more rain on the island

I bet we get fewer days of those temps than Vancouver or Victoria get rain in the winter. The norm...rofl.

I get it though....you like to slag on Alberta.

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

I had a crazy issue there when I was 12. Was on my way to summer hockey camp and we stopped in Montreal to pick up a kid who was at a different hockey camp. I was there with that kid's dad so I was pretty much alone.

Went into a store near the hotel to buy some Toblerone chocolate I had heard all about back in the States. Grabbed a big pyramid shaped Toblerone and went to the counter to buy it. This was 1982 but i still remember it...there were a couple of ladies behind the counter. I said hello and put the candy on the counter. They ignored me. I started talking and said hello again and they responded by continuing to ignore me and refusing to ring up my purchase. This went on for a couple minutes before I got the hint and left.

Can you even imagine that? couple of ladies refusing to sell candy to a 12 year old cause he didn't speak French?

Needless to say it left me with a lasting impression of the good people of Montreal.

Today's Montreal is much less hostile to English-speaking Americans than in the time of Rene Levesque during the early 80's.

 

[Three On Zero]

I bet we get fewer days of those temps than Vancouver or Victoria get rain in the winter. The norm...rofl.

I get it though....you like to slag on Alberta.

We definitely don’t, and I’ve lived in both places for 20+ years

 

[snag]

We definitely don’t, and I’ve lived in both places for 20+ years

Number of Days of Rain - Annual data for Vancouver

I would say you get a fair bit....

 

[Dulind]

Toronto is one hell of a place to visit... probably cleanest of all the big US East coast cities I've been to.

You can hit up a Laffs game one night, a Sabres game the next. Poutine, wings, and hockey.

Don't forget about Niagara Falls - it's a site to see in the winter.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Toronto is one hell of a place to visit... probably cleanest of all the big US East coast cities I've been to.

You can hit up a Laffs game one night, a Sabres game the next. Poutine, wings, and hockey.

Don't forget about Niagara Falls - it's a site to see in the winter.

Toronto is a great city for a hockey trip... off the top of my head you have the Leafs, the Marlies, the Steelheads (OHL) all in close proximity. Plus the U of T and TMU are interesting to check out at least in part because of their interesting and very historic venues. Of course the HHOF is a phenomenal experience in its own right.

The only issue is that it's pretty expensive for what it is... everyone knows about Leafs tickets, but for some reason even hotels in Toronto are very pricy now. I was just there and even Holiday Inn type places are like $300+ a night which is super expensive relative to other cities. May not be a deal breaker for OP but I hate to overpay for hotels.

But realistically any Canadian NHL city will meet the OP's needs. You guys are hilarious telling him to go to Vancouver or bust because of the weather... have any of you been to Colorado in the winter? Anyone who lives there can handle a bit cold weather.

 

[Ninety7]

Definitely the norm and not an exception,

Weather on the island can also be a lot different than the mainland. We always seemed to get more rain on the island

You’re on some shit if you think -50 is the normal temperature in Calgary or Edmonton at any given point of the year.

 

[J bo Jeans]

Whistler is a great destination for a ski trip, but it's not a ``definitely Vancouver`` just because of a mountain on a hockey trip. Mont Saint-Bruno is 20 mins from downtown Montreal.

Come on man Whistler is the frequently ranked as the BEST ski area in the entire world. No comparison.