Here are some thoughts from 17 year old forward Brendan Ranford on the last few days of the recent US Division road trip:

I am going to start off where Colin Smith left off. After spending most of Sunday at the mall we had a team meal at the hotel. Following the meal, we all went to the movies and saw Sherlock Holmes. I think it needed more action, but it was a pretty good movie I’d say.

Monday was back to reality, and thinking about hockey again. It was nice having a day to re-focus and get our minds off the game. As much as I love hockey, I think it’s important to have a short break just to hang out with buddies for a day.

We practiced on Monday morning at the Toyota Center. I like the rink, the building is a bit old school as you can tell it has been around for a few years because of the interior of the building. The press box is older and the seats are a fainted red colour. They have updated the dressing rooms though and it is always a loud rink for games.

Most of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the hotel rooms. We went to Red Lobster for dinner and Jordan DePape was shoe checked that night (ketchup on his shoe). It was a good laugh; we all know it was JC Lipon who did it, so I know that DePape got him back later on back at the hotel.

Tuesday was game day, which is usually uneventful. We all walked to the rink then back to the hotel to get some sleep in the afternoon. Our problem was that we started slow, and were down 4-1 before we knew it. I think we played well over the last two periods, but against a team like Tri-City it is difficult to make up ground. The team took off right after the game to Portland, and arrived there at about 2am.

In Portland we had to forget about last night and get focused for tonight. Our coaches did some video from the night before so we met for about 30 minutes going over scoring chances in the game last night. Following video in the morning we walked to the rink to get loosened up and play some games with the soccer ball. We played pretty well until the third period. It was disappointing because we all knew how big of a night it was for Kurtis Mucha. He played very well for us, but we just couldn’t seem to beat their goalie.

I really like the way our team is playing even though we didn’t get the outcomes we wanted the last two games. We have been playing much more entertaining and fun hockey. We are all battling for each other and coming together as a team.  

Here are some thoughts from 16 year old forward Colin Smith on the first few days of the recent US Division road trip:

Life on the road is definitely more fun when we’re winning. Our team has a pretty solid streak going lately and we’re enjoying every moment of it.

We arrived in Seattle at around 5am, so we slept for most of the day to get ready for Saturday night’s game. The confidence in the room has started to grow with the trade deadline passing, as we know that these are the guys for the rest of the year. We gave away some talented players including our captain, however, we got some quality younger players in return who have stepped up big for us. Our team is defititely a lot younger but ourt leadership makes up for it with guys like Funk, Stretch, and Mucha. We played a solid hard fought road game in Seattle. We fought through adversity as they were awarded 6 straight powerplays, and battled to find a way to win the game.

The bus ride Saturday night from Seattle to Tri-City was a great time. The coaching staff and a few of the players watched “For Love of the Game”. The rest of the guys went to the back of the bus and had quite the game of charades involving about 16 guys. I chose to watch the movie, but constantly heard outbreaks of laughter from the back of the bus.

We had a practice scheduled for Sunday, but we were rewarded with a full day off instead. This is my first time in Tri-City and it seems pretty nice like all the American cities. Are hotel is in a good location because the rink is within walking distance and there is a mall right beside it. We ate breakfast at 10am and most of the guys all went back to bed, and slept until about noon. I spent most of the day trying to find some clothes. In the evening we all went to the movies and watched Sherlock Holmes. It needed a bit more action but it was a good movie.

Well that was the first couple of days of our trip. Brendan Ranford will have some thoughts about the last part of the trip.