Three weeks in the life of Liam Maguire. Gigs, activities, social events. Emcee, auctioneer, entertain, busy life for the world's #1 NHL historian. :)

Catching up on gigs, life and activities!

Hey folks, as we wait a couple of days for the next edition of Offside with Hawes and Maguire to drop on Wednesday, here's a few recaps on the last few weeks.

Regarding my mother, Sarah Maguire ( Sah) she has been in a hospital in Quebec City for the last little while. It's not life threatening but it could have been. Thanks to her guardian angels, her niece's, my cousins, Lise and Barb, they brought her in to have some swelling issues looked at in her legs and feet. This led to a battery of tests and a few other things were discovered that needed some attention so she's been in there for a week but it looks like - hopefully- she'll be released tomorrow. I will be there a week from today for three days. I can't wait to see her. Thanks for all of your support and comments when I'm out and about and thanks again to Lise and Barb for their diligence and suggesting she should be looked at.

This is the week- book it- that an Unreserved Realty sign will be put on my front lawn! We will see if there's any interest in the property at 3367 Scanlon Drive in Osgoode, Ontario. I thank Rachel ( and Ryan) for their extreme patience with me as I try and navigate my crazy life.

Three and a half weeks ago I had the good fortune to speak at the Prescott Golf Club for the South Grenville Minor Hockey Association. It was a ton of fun. My buddy Johnny Mott who was in attendance snapped the pic of me doing what I love more than anything, talking on a microphone lol. In our group photo Johnny and I were joined by Phil Patterson, a former Memorial Cup winner with the Ottawa 67s in 1984 and Mr. Gill, father to Todd. What a treat and an honour it was to meet him and talk hockey. Super night!

I fired in another pic from our going away party for Neil Minshall. Neil, myself, Mark Cullen, Rick Jessome and Wayne Westwell had a few whiskey's for our buddy who, as I understand, is doing really well in his new work project in Georgia. See ya at Christmas pal!

A couple of weeks ago I was in Winchester speaking at an event for the Winchester Memorial Hospital. Justine Plummer ( pictured on the ice with me) deserves a ton of credit. Her organizational skills were exceptional.

What a fantastic night. Among the luminaries were Doug Gilmour and Guy Carbonneau ( pictured with myself and my long time friend Andy Oliver) . A full crowd were on hand for the charity hockey game and a great crowd upstairs for the Hot Stove featuring Carbonneau, Mike Krushelnyski and Ottawa's own Chris Neil who had a couple of beauty Matt Carkner stories. Also in attendance that night was former OHL official, Steve Corlyon and longtime NHL player agent Larry Kelly. Corlyon worked the lines in the 'O' for 32 years! Unreal! And in his usual giving back manner he agreed to do one more charity game and on went the stripes one more time. Thank you Steve, great to see you pal. Larry Kelly has been a friend for close to 40 years. His sister Brenda was in my class at St. Pius.

Larry at one point pre internet days certified me as an NHL expert and I was going to be flown to Calgary to help with the Mike Vernon arbitration case. I had to swear on a bible that I was thee expert on the NHL. Guess that made it official lol. (Un)fortunately the case settled and I never got to go before a judge as a certified hockey expert. A shame.

These charity events don't happen without sponsorship and some of their best support came from the Winchester Foodland owned and operated by my long time friend Dan ( Dano) Pettigrew. Dan is pictured with me as is his much, much better half Ashley, showing me some love. What a beauty she is. This couple, when I think of them, I think of kindness, generosity, compassion and a willingness to help long before anything work related. They are unreal and they were huge supporters of this event along with multiple other local businesses. Shop local folks!!

I've got a pic from the Eastview Legion - more commonly known as the Vanier Legion Branch 462. Another long time dear friend Mike Ross, recently lost his fantastic mother and the reception was so close to the Legion I suggested we slide over and have a whiskey in her honour. Rossy did her eulogy and it was spectacular. I was so happy I was there to pay my respects in her memory and for my buddy and his family. May she rest in peace.....

FIGHT FOR THE CURE

This past Saturday this annual white collar boxing extravaganza took place at the Westin and what a night it was! I was there to support my good friend and fellow Rideau View member Duane Francis who not only has been an absolute warrior out of the ring in terms of his fundraising efforts for the past multiple years but this year he took the plunge and jumped in the ring to give'r a go! Unfortunately......that part of the evening did not go as planned or hoped.

Duane is the most fit man in his 50s that I know. Seriously, the guy is an inspiration he truly is. Add on 8 months of training for three rounds of boxing and you have a dangerous dude on your hands.

Duane was fighting in the co-main event. He came charging out of the corner, he and his opponent exchanged a few blows in the center of the ring then Duane backed him into one of the corners and unloaded at least one if not two pretty good shots to the body. So much so that the referee who could see something was wrong stopped the fight for an eight count and then stopped it altogether when the other fella was not able to continue. Folks, that's boxing. It was the only stoppage on the six bout card but really and to a man they all said it in pre fight interviews on tape and post fight interviews live in the ring, the fights are secondary the fundraising is what's important. Although who's kidding who, why would you go in there if you didn't want to win. Duane won. And I just felt so bad for both of them because they both trained for eight months and nobody wants to see anybody get hurt.

Duane'r, congrats buddy and thank you for what you did for me so I could purchase a ticket. It was an unreal night. If there is a bigger fundraiser in our region I'm not aware of it but this event pulled in 1M plus. It is just unreal.

BTW it should be noted that Henric Alfredsson, brother of Daniel also took part and won a split decision in a really good fight in the heavyweight division. Both guys threw and landed a number of really decent punches.

1000 people were in attendance. Special guest for the evening was GSP, George St. Pierre- pic enclosed- How can you beat that? Phenomenal. My long time buddy, our Mayor, Mark Sutcliffe was also in attendance and you know what? He stayed for the whole event. Not something that historically our Mayor's do.

Mark and I first met at CKCU, Carleton University Radio in 1985. Hard to believe man....I remember it so clearly, 38 years ago and now he's Mayor of our fine city and trying to figure out the ABC's of the LRT where most mornings he hopes the motto of the trains is, LFG. Great to see you, Mr. Mayor.

The Fight for the Cure night is one hell of a gala. The food is exceptional. The bars were hopping, the music was loud and rockin'! People dress to the nines and oh ya baby....the ladies are gorgeous! Every single one of them looked like a million bucks. As luck would have it I was seated beside my good friend Amber and she introduced me to a couple of her girlfriends - hence the profile pic I posted the other day and now enclosed are a couple of others that show how we arrived at that moment of that ultimate picture.

Fellas, as I used to say at the end of every Wheelin' Wednesday - beautiful women make the world go round. What a country...what a city. Thank you Amber, always great to see you. XO

I finished with a couple of pics, with Liz's dog Bentley - who loves me almost as much as Liz does............lol.....maybe a bit more. I hardly ever get to see him so while she jet-sets across Europe I popped into Rory's in Stittsville and we had a great visit.

And last but not least, my friend, the Header, Head 2 Kevin Jardine and his beautiful sister Debbie aka Debba, my little stubba as we chased down a few colds ones in the 'Tick at the Mill Restaurant.

Offside with Hawes and Maguire drops Wednesday and if you do nothing else-fast forward to the last couple of minutes. Classic lol....And yes, we are the webcast with the Hosie and Brown Automotive sponsored hockey pool where the winner is going to Ireland next fall with Chris and I for free baby! Stay safe everybody. Gidday!