On every trip with my dad, something kind of crazy, something memorable, always seems to happen. As we were doing a road trip through the mountains, while we were having an amazing time, we hadn’t yet had that “you’ve gotta be kidding” kind of moment.

Until Edmonton.

Dad and I met a family friend for lunch at the West Edmonton Mall and at one point the conversation drifted to my dad’s time as a goaltender in northern New Brunswick in his younger years. A few minutes later we had a proposition for our afternoon. Did we want to drop in on his friend outside the city? His friend? Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender, one of the greatest to ever play the position in the history of the game, Glenn Hall.

We left the mall, drove west of the city, picked up a six pack and casually dropped in on a hockey legend. As you can tell by the photo, he’s a pretty gracious hall offamer.

We spent a good part of the afternoon sitting in Glenn’s living room room, enjoying a couple of beers, and talking hockey. The most fascinating part of the conversation was listening to my dad and Glenn talk about goaltending techniques. When my dad said he didn’t like to poke check, referencing a time someone scored on him, Glenn agreed saying he remembered Gordie Howe scoring on him during a poke check. I loved that Glenn equated those experiences, even though his involved one of the greatest hockey players that ever lived and my dad’s likely involved some guy named George from Miramichi.

Glenn took us into his basement to look through some of the memorabilia he had collected through the years. Here, he’s showing dad and me a nasty letter he received from the Blackhawks denying him a salary raise. We all had a great laugh at this. I loved that he kept this throughout his career as motivation.

When he learned I was an accountant, he dug into a few boxes and showed us old pay stubs and contracts during his time in the NHL. It’s a bit mind blowing to see the kind of salary he played for compared to what the top goaltenders get these days.

It was a truly amazing and surreal afternoon. I had to keep pinching myself as I listened to Glenn and dad trade old hockey playing stories. We listened to some great tales about Jacques Plante, Ted Lindsay, and many more of Glenn’s contemporaries. We laughed a lot, like when Glenn used a line that he’s probably used a thousand times about the famous goal Bobby Orr scored on him to win the Stanley Cup… “I was showered and on the bus before Bobby hit the ice.”

Dad and I had an absolute blast meeting and spending the afternoon with Glenn and I now have a great story about the time I drank beers with one of the greatest goalies of all-time.