Which Canadian city for a short family hockey trip?

[Frank Drebin]

Id do Calgary or Vancouver. Calgary's rink is hilariously bad, go see it while you can

 

[ALine]

On the surface, I wouldn’t seem like the cheapest option, but go to Toronto.

Leafs are at home to the ducks on the 17th, they are away for the rest of your trip timeline, for what it’s worth. But don’t go to Toronto for a leafs game.

Go to Buffalo. ducks are in Buffalo on the Monday, 19th. Rent a car and drive down. It’s a matinee game, 12:30 pm start. So you won’t be driving back in the middle of the night.
Marlies are at home on the 17th and 19th.
And the Mississauga Steelheads are at home the 17th, 19th and 23rd to Kingston, Owen Sound (wupwup) and Niagara.

Toronto is your best bet for the most hockey action in one place at one time.
Then you’ve got the hockey hall of fame, which is an amazing experience.
There is tons of other sports and non sports things to do and see.
And you don’t have to stay at the Royal York and have 5 star dinning. With a little homework and early bookings you can find hotels that are fairly reasonable and there is tons of great dining options that won’t break the bank.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

I would look into which city has the best Canadian Burger King.

 

[Nostradumbass]

Vancouver for sure if you insist on visiting in February. Mildest weather in the winter and lots of beautiful places to visit.

Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg are frozen, depression inducing wastelands at that time of year. Montreal and Toronto have their pros and cons.

The average daily high in February is one degree warmer in Toronto than Calgary...

To OP: Go to Montreal. That city is a ton of fun.

 

[34]

Toronto is the biggest Canadian city and has a US feel to it. Very expensive and Leafs tickets are at a premium. You can also catch a NBA Toronto Raptors game here. It is off season for the Toronto Blue Jays, if not those games are fun at the dome. Only Toronto has the big sports teams, no other Canadian city. The CN tower is worth visiting and Canada’s Ripleys Aquarium is there as well. Lots to see and do. World class restaurants. Only thing, It will be cold in February.

The other Canadian cities to check out would be Montreal and Vancouver.

Also, Buffalo NY is only a 1.5 hour drive from Toronto. You can easily go to a Sabers game as well.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

Cities like Edmonton, Ottawa and Calgary are fun if you're just spending a couple of days. Lots to see and do, but you can do it all in a weekend then you're probably going to get bored. If you're planning on staying longer, Vancouver or Montreal have more to see and do. TOronto too, but Toronto to me feels like you're generic american urban jungle. Montreal and Vancouver have more unique flavour

 

[Nostradumbass]

Cities like Edmonton, Ottawa and Calgary are fun if you're just spending a couple of days. Lots to see and do, but you can do it all in a weekend then you're probably going to get bored. If you're planning on staying longer, Vancouver or Montreal have more to see and do. TOronto too, but Toronto to me feels like you're generic american urban jungle. Montreal and Vancouver have more unique flavour

I've found Toronto to be a shitty version of New York, I can't think of a single thing that Toronto does better than NYC.

Agreed on Montreal though, that's a fantastic city.

 

[McFlash97]

Vancouver for sure if you insist on visiting in February. Mildest weather in the winter and lots of beautiful places to visit.

Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg are frozen, depression inducing wastelands at that time of year. Montreal and Toronto have their pros and cons.

Vancouver in February ? Lol I can confirm with you, you don't want to visit the city with the lowest amount.of sunlight in the winter frozen temperatures, constant rain, dark. You might be frozen in the Alberta cities, but you you will at least freeze in the sunlight....

 

[Golden_Jet]

In Ottawa in February, there is winterlude going on for 2 weeks, 3 weekends, could also skate the 4-5 mile canal, where winterlude is held. Albeit last winter was first year canal didn’t open, needs 12” of ice for a week, got to the 12”, just didn’t get the full week.
Skiing available 30-40 minutes away if like that.
OHL games in Ottawa and QMJHL games, 5-10 minutes away in Gatineau.

Toronto has HHOF but tickets to game aren’t cheap.

 

[EdJovanovski]

If it’s to take in a different culture, architecture, dining, overall trip I’d say Montreal. If it’s centered around hockey, Edmonton to see McDavid I’d say. Nicest arena too. And go to West Edmonton Mall lol

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

I've found Toronto to be a shitty version of New York, I can't think of a single thing that Toronto does better than NYC.

Agreed on Montreal though, that's a fantastic city.

Yeah Montreal is a fantastic city. People are generally super friendly too, even if you don't speak french.

Habs fans are the worst, but Montreal is one of my favorite cities on the planet.

 

[Rec T]

If you're a short family, everyone under 5'4" or so, you'll probably want to go to the city that is least expensive to sit right on the glass. If you're further up in the stands you might be sitting right behind some tall people...

 

[McShogun99]

My 13 year old son has gotten into hockey and I was very happy to hear him suggest that we go on a trip during a school break to somewhere in Canada to watch a game or two. Neither of us have been before, so seeking some suggestions. We'd likely go for 4-5 days sometime during February 17-25, 2024. It looks like every Canadian team is playing at home at least once during this time.

Here are the things we'd like, in order of importance:
1. NHL hockey (obviously). Stadium & game day experience, reasonable ticket availability and cost, ability to tour stadium, things to do around stadium, lower level hockey in the same city, other non-game hockey related things to do in the area.
2. Non-hockey sightseeing, things to do in the city.
3. Good food.
4. Not an outrageously expensive city would be a plus. Not looking to break the bank here.
5. Proximity to another NHL city, though we'd be okay with just staying in a single city, too.

Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg? Happy to hear any not-just-ripping-on-another-teams-city suggestions, thanks!

Let your 13 year old decide what game/city he wants to watch and go from there. Judging by your criteria then Edmonton/Calgary or Ottawa/Montreal would be the best bet. They meet everything on your list. Vancouver and Toronto are great cities with world class food and activities but can get very expensive.

 

[Bocephus86]

Montreal is always the answer to visiting Canada, and I say this as a Bruins fan. Quebec City too, but you want hockey so Montreal.

 

[3rd Sedin]

Grew up in Vancouver, have lived in Calgary, currently live in Regina.

I think you gotta do Montreal. The weather is cold but Habs games are just an incredible experience. Best culture in Canada, the food is amazing, and there’s a lot of history which means a lot of sights to see. You’re also within a couple hours of Ottawa as well if you want to see a Sens game.

Canucks games don’t have the greatest atmosphere and Vancouver is a little more isolated from the next Canadian cities (though Seattle is a few hours south if you’re okay going back to States), and while I think the Canadian prairies are much better than people would leave you to believe, I’d stay the hell away from here in February lol

I haven’t been to a Leafs game before but I hear tickets are expensive. Toronto is a nice city, it has the HHOF which is always fun, but I don’t think Toronto compares to Montreal still. Similar to Van you could get to a US city in Buffalo within a few hours drive from there.

EDIT: kind of did Ottawa dirty here. They’d be my second choice but they get docked big time for their arena being in the middle of nowhere. If you’re okay with the commute, it’s a lovely walkable city with great food, culture, and the Rideau Canal is a blast to skate.

 

[HuGo Sham]

I wanted to add that it's become idiotic in many of these threads discussing Canadian winters that there's nothing going on in places like Ottawa, Toronto and certainly Montréal.

What to do in winter | Tourisme Montréal

Winter in Montréal defies all cold weather expectations as the city celebrates wintertime with an abundance of outdoor parties, high-tech light shows, Christmas markets and creative gourmet food. Warm up at Montréal’s best restaurants, dance and play at jubilant winter festivals, sip a signature...

www.mtl.org

As if Canada's major cities haven't figured out a way to shorten winter with fun, crazy activities? Montreal certainly has.
Anyway, you could probably do Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal and see games in all three cities as they're about 5 hours or so apart. Any combo of those would be fun

 

[FDBluth]

Montreal is awesome all times of year, but it can be cold in February. Just make sure to get out of downtown and walk around the Plateau (where the real culture/city is), take a stroll up Mt Royal, grab some bagels from Fairmount etc.

 

[Lshap]

To the OP, if you or your son are interested in hockey history, then add bonus points for Montreal and Toronto. As mentioned, the Hockey Hall of Fame is in downtown Toronto. Montreal's history is more organic - the Bell Centre houses the Habs' Cup banners, retired numbers, and vintage photos. The site where all the history happened is minutes away by car or Metro - the classic Montreal Forum, which is still standing, even if the interior was converted to a megaplex cinema.

The old Forum and Bell Centre are the hockey equivalent of a pilgrimage to Yankee Stadium.

 

[Brodeur]

If you don't end up going to one of the Canadian NHL cities, I had a tremendous time doing a hockey field trip to Detroit/Windsor. Over three days, I caught the Red Wings, US U18 (Matthews/Tkachuk) play against Youngstown (Kyle Connor), and crossed the border for the Windsor Spitfires who were hosting a draft eligible Connor McDavid.

Not sure if that would interest your son, but my friend has taken his teenagers to USHL/NCAA games and they seem to enjoy since they have some aspirations to get to that level.

Yost Arena was one of my favorite hockey experiences. And they do an open skate during the day time.

Red Wings: 2/22 (Colorado), 2/24 (St. Louis)
Wolverines:

Wolverines: 2/23-24 (Notre Dame)

USNTDP: 2/18 (Muskegon/U17), 2/23 (Lincoln/U18), 2/24 (Lincoln/U17)

Windsor: 2/18 (Sault Ste. Marie)

Although I can't speak to the non-hockey tourism since I was there entirely for the games.

Toronto and the HHOF is probably a safe choice. But as others mentioned, traveling in February can be a roll of the dice. One year I wanted to do a field trip which included the Beanpot (early Feb). I ended up not doing it, but out of curiosity I checked the flight that I would have chosen and it was cancelled due to bad weather in the East Coast.

The Devils are having an outdoor game at the beginning of your window. I went to the Yankee Stadium outdoor game and that was equally memorable and uncomfortable. I'll probably watch from my couch this time, but I'll likely toy with the idea of going since there's always something to do in NYC.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Unless you speak French don't go to Montreal. Toronto is the number 1 city in Canada and the hockey world

 

[Ugene Magic]

For hockey fans I'll say Toronto just because you can visit the Hockey Hall of Fame

I would say yes to this and then visit Niagara if the Queens highway wasn't so bad. We got stuck on that forsaken highway for 3+ freaking hours in dead stop traffic. Toronto is a nightmare if you want to just pop in and go/leave.

So, for better results you better be in Toronto for days to make up for all the hang-ups.

 

[Ezekial]

You guys are nuts. I love Edmonton winter.
Could catch the Oilers, walk the river valley, go to the science center, drive to elk island park, best of all you can go to the outdoor rink.
I’m not much of a foodie but I would recommend Canadian Burger King just once. I hear that the BK in the US should be called trash king

It shouldn't be called anything it should be closed

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

Id do Calgary or Vancouver. Calgary's rink is hilariously bad, go see it while you can

I'll be sad to see it go lol... it's a dump but unique and beer is still reasonable. I can only imagine what the beer will cost in a $1 billion arena ;(

I'd do Toronto though and see the HHOF if it's a big hockey trip.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Unless you speak French don't go to Montreal. Toronto is the number 1 city in Canada and the hockey world

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

 

[EMcx2]

May I suggest... Vegas. The Hurricanes, Preds and the Leafs are in town that week. Vegas offers a great arena/game day experience, a minor league team, sights and things to do, great food, close to LA and Phoenix... and very comfortable weather in February.

Okay, Okay if you don't want to do Vegas then I would vote for Edmonton/Calgary with a side trip to Banff.

My 13 year old son has gotten into hockey and I was very happy to hear him suggest that we go on a trip during a school break to somewhere in Canada to watch a game or two. Neither of us have been before, so seeking some suggestions. We'd likely go for 4-5 days sometime during February 17-25, 2024. It looks like every Canadian team is playing at home at least once during this time.

Here are the things we'd like, in order of importance:
1. NHL hockey (obviously). Stadium & game day experience, reasonable ticket availability and cost, ability to tour stadium, things to do around stadium, lower level hockey in the same city, other non-game hockey related things to do in the area.
2. Non-hockey sightseeing, things to do in the city.
3. Good food.
4. Not an outrageously expensive city would be a plus. Not looking to break the bank here.
5. Proximity to another NHL city, though we'd be okay with just staying in a single city, too.

Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg? Happy to hear any not-just-ripping-on-another-teams-city suggestions, thanks!