5 replies to this topic

[hockey2k]

The Thunderbird play by play guy has been writing a blog during the team's long Alberta/Saskatoon road trip. I thought it was interesting to see what the kids have to go through without charter flights and luxury hotel rooms they can expect if they ever make the NHL! Thought maybe some of you would find it interesting as well. (the entries are posted with the newest at the top, so you might want to scroll down to day one and start there.) Here's an excerpt:

A fairly uneventful Monday for the team. Part of the reason for that was an early wake up call. In order to make their 1:00 pm ice time in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, the team had to leave Calgary by 7:30 am (remember; another one hour time difference from Alberta to Saskatchewan). That meant a 6:30 am wake-up call. Normally when on the road the team is up at 8:30 am. To their credit everybody was up in time for the 7:00 am breakfast and believe it or not the bus was packed and out of the hotel parking lot by 7:20. Most everyone used the four hour bus ride to get in some more sleep, including yours truly. Besides, there’s not much to see out here on the rolling prairies. I’m going to have to side with those who say British Columbia is the more scenic Western Canadian province. This is no slight to the prairie provinces; after all this is the bread basket of Canada, but it is pretty flat and devoid of trees. Of course fog for most of the ride shut down any scenery there might have been.

TBirds Road Trip Blog

[hockey2k]

We have a new player, Jon Parker, from Cali (Solana Beach, near San Diego) on the team this year, and this was his first trip to the Canadian prairies in the winter. He wrote a little bit about the cold:

So far on the road swing there’s been many ups and downs. When the team was in Prince Albert it was quite cold. It was probably the coldest place I’ve ever been. I asked Jeff Caso (T-birds Hockey Operations Assistant) if it was going to get any colder on this trip. He said, while laughing of course, why yes it will. That’s when it dawned on me I should have brought a jacket.

Throughout the trip we have passed a lot of half frozen ponds and lakes and the occasional patches of snow. Being from California I get “chirped” at quite a bit from the guys. Things like “Hey Parks, you know what that white stuff is?” or “Parks, can you surf in snow?”

Today the blog detailed the exhausting job of equipment manager.

[DropThePuck]

That’s when it dawned on me I should have brought a jacket.

Was he expecting not to have to go outside during the trip?? Or did he miss his high school geography lesson that coastal regions generally have milder climates?

Thanks for pointing out this blog h2k! Glad to see you back visiting around here! Is it common in the WHL to have high school age players on the team?

[hockey2k]

It's his first time away from home and maybe he's used to his mom telling him to bring a jacket?

WHL players are 16-21 so yeah, a lot of our players are balancing high school and hockey.

[hockey2k]

Seems the kids really aren't prepared for the weather... (more from the blog this past weekend)

Still, any time saved was lost as the players spent 20 minutes scraping ice and snow from their vehicles. Once again I’m surprised that so many guys from the Canadian prairies don’t have an ice scraper or snow brush in their cars. I’m from Tacoma and I carry both.

[hockey2k]

The Seattle Times did an interview with the team bus driver after our big "blizzard" last week.

As the bus driver for the Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team, Elijah Johnson thinks nothing of driving nine hours straight through Canadian ice and snow in places like Moose Jaw, Chilliwack and Saskatoon. Before that, he drove tanks in the Army, cutting his teeth on winters in Baumholder, Germany.

Winter Driving