Well That Was Fun!

Let me just start this post by saying in as nicely and sportsmanlike as possible, SUCK IT BC! For those of you not in tune with the college hockey world let me give you a quick recap of what transpired with the men this weekend and then I will move on to a retelling of a crazy and fun adventure.
If you couldn't tell the men played Boston College this past weekend and the results were to most very unexpected. To set the stage you first must know that Maine has not won a game at Conte Forum since October of 2005, and have not swept BC on the road since 1993. Well the thing with streaks is that they will eventually end. This was a good weekend for us on the road. We pull in Thursday night, which is custom and drop off our gear in the locker room. After a good night's rest and a quick bite to eat I find myself in game mode setting things up for pre-game skate and later game one. My afternoon was broken up a bit by the appearance of a good friend of mine in town for the Islanders/Bruins game at the TD Garden. It was good to see Phil and hear stories of how he adjusting to life as an Athletic Trainer in the NHL. Once the puck dropped let's just say it was an old fashioned mauling by the Black Bears. The team simply outplayed BC, battled for every puck and played great team hockey. Our goalie had a tremendous game and finished Friday beating the Eagles 4-1 and snapping a 9 game win less streak at BC. What a great feeling it was to pull out an unexpected win, the guys played their hearts out and saw the reward for the hard work.
Saturday was the start of the true adventure of the weekend, and it all started with a text. The women's team had a game at UConn Saturday at noon and was in the pre-game set up and realized that their game jerseys and socks were never put on the bus when they left Orono. Well let's just say that text put the day to a screeching halt as I switched from prep mode to crisis management. Eventually a solution was found to get the team through their game against UConn which they ended up tying the Huskies 1-1 wearing a set of old jerseys from the UConn Men's program. This still let the problem of what to do for their game the next day against Providence.
The Men ended up winning another game against BC Saturday night in great fashion ending the weekend with a combined score of 7-2. The bus was a fun place to be with the guys singing and watching movies... It was great, except for the part where I was trying to get some sleep for what was about to come. I ended up getting about an hour of sleep on the bus and by the time I knew it we were back in Orono and loading my car with the women's uniforms. I managed to get home for a bit and get some time to relax (no sleep though which was no fun) and at 7am set out for Tim Hortons and Providence.
Lucky for me I only had to make it down to Methuen MA and the home of one of my friends who for this weekend is my hero. I arrived at Jerry's around 10:30 and his son and I piled in his truck as he drove the last bit down to Providence. We triumphantly arrived just after the women's bus pulled in and made out delivery. After a quick visit it was back in the car for us and off to lunch.
I can't even describe how good the food was and I only wish I had been more awake to enjoy it fully. After lunch we headed over to the Omni hotel and the Dunkin Donuts Center and met up with Gustav Nyquist who just happened to be in town for the AHL All-Star weekend of which the skills competition was that night. It was great to see Gus as I haven't had the chance to chat with him since his freshman year at Maine. Glad to see him doing well in his career as a pro hockey player. To cap off a great day Marty, Jerry and I went to the AHL Skills comp that night where we got to see Gus fall on his ass twice in his events. Jerry also made a connection with the mascot from the Rockford Ice Hogs, I think those two will be very happy together.
My whirlwind weekend ended with a few hours sleep at Jerry's house followed by a drive back north to Orono Monday morning and after a nice nap I was back at work in time for practice. Hope everyone has a great week, we have a split weekend with a game at home Friday against PC Friars and Sunday against UMass-Lowell with a women's game 7pm Saturday. If you find yourself in town Saturday swing by the Alfond and support the girls in their Skating Strides Cancer game.

Sorry about the length and lack of pictures, next post I promise will have very few words and lost of fun things to look at.

Oh Hey! A Day At Home!

     Happy 2013 to all, hope the holidays were good and that Santa brought everyone all the coal they deserved. Sorry that I have been slacking for the last month but I figured since there wasn't much going on through the holidays you wouldn't want to read about all the food I ate and work I didn't do.
     The second half of the season started for the Black Bears on Christmas night when we had a team practice here at the Alfond. It was good to get things rolling again as my 4 days off were starting to get boring.The morning of Boxing Day (12/26 for those not in with Canadian holidays) saw us board the bus and then an airplane as we made our annual trip to Fort Myers to co-host the Florida College Classic tournament. We enjoyed the sun and warm weather in which I wore shorts and sandals to the rink every day...wait I do that even in the snow here. The team ended up playing to great games and won the tournament beating Minnesota Duluth and Cornell University. On a side note there is something wicked awesome about Fort Myers that not many know. They have amazing taste in beer at their gas stations. I couldn't go more than 3 feet without seeing ads for beers only found in New England. Shipyard, and Sea Dog were all over the place. And even more surprising was the abundance of Yuengling. To me that was the best part of the trip.
     After Florida we had our always fun trip to Portland to play a home game away from home. This season we played Mercyhurst and after a Thursday filled with clinics and autograph sessions the team pulled out a win on Friday. "We won a game yesterday. If we win one today, that’s two in a row. We win one tomorrow, that’s called a winning streak. It has happened before." That quote from the Movie Major League sums up the feeling after Friday's win which was out third in a row. After that win it was time to pack and head back to Orono and set things up for a Saturday night game against the 'hurst. We ended up dropping that game which was not fun.
     This past weekend we had another roadie which made me realize I have yet to really unpack from Florida. All that I have done was move the clothes from the bag to the washer, to the dryer and back in my duffel for the next trip. We started the trip at Northeastern where we skated to a 1-1 tie. Not the outcome we were hoping for but a point is a point. Saturday night was a totally different story as we were shutout by Merrimack. Not a great start to 2013 but we are making progress.
    On a completely unrelated note I would like to add that I have again made it a full calendar year without ending up dead in some freak accident of my own causing or getting arrested. So 2012 was a win for me!