Hey everyone, what a week it has been.
I wanted to update this sooner but we have had one heck of a week with travel, and I left my laptop in Rockford. I am currently sitting in the business center of the Courtyard Marriott in freezing downtown Grand Rapids Michigan.
It has been one heck of a week both on and off the ice for our team. Since I last updated my blog, we have played 4 games in 5 nights in 2 different cities. In the American league it is pretty normal for a team to play 3 games in 3 nights and sometimes even 7 games in 10 nights. This week was by far the craziest scheduling I have experienced in four years of pro hockey. We played Friday and Saturday night in Rockford and then had a Sunday afternoon game in San Antonio, TX. The travel would not have been bad if we were an NHL team because we could have flew to Texas Saturday night right after the game. Since we don't charter in the AHL, the earliest flight we could take was on Sunday morning at 10:00am.
We got to the rink in Rockford, packed our equipment onto the bus, and drove to Chicago O'Hare airport at 7:00am. We checked in and went through the security screening process in about an hour, leaving us about a half hour to grab a quick breakfast. We then landed in San Antonio around 1:30 and drove right to the rink to get ready to play.
Sunday afternoon games are always pretty difficult for us to get our legs, especially when you play on Friday and Saturday. Then factor in the crazy travel on Sunday, we knew that we were going to be extremely focused to come away with a victory. We played a pretty good game, but we knew we were a much better team than we showed. Despite that, we still managed to gain a point in the standings and remain in first place with a shootout loss. Our team was disappointed we didn't get the win, but we rebounded nicely on Tuesday with a 4-1 win.
Because of the schedule, we ended up having quite a bit of down time in San Antonio. What a beautiful city! The river walk is very scenic and there are tons of great restaurants to eat at. I was disappointed I didn't take a trip over to see the Alamo, but I guess that can wait until next time.
One of my favorite things about being a professional athlete is being able to travel and experience cities I probably wouldn't ever see if I was in a different profession. Because of that, I always try and get out of the hotel and see as much of the city as I can. I don't understand how some players hole up in the hotel and order room service in every city we go to. I feel the travel is one of the biggest perk to being an athlete, and I try to take advantage of that as much as possible.
On the ice, our team has been on absolute fire. We are unbeaten in regulation in our last 11 games, and hope to make that 13 before we get our much welcomed Christmas break. It is exciting being on such a young team that is enjoying so much success so far this season. If you live in the Chicago area, I strongly suggest you make it out to Rockford to watch the Icehogs play. Our fans are always enthusiastic and the Barn Yard is a great place to watch a game.
This will be my last blog until after the Christmas break, so I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and I hope everyone is able to spend it among friends and family. For me, this will be my first Christmas at home with my family since I was a freshman in college so I am really excited.
Merry Christmas everyone and as always, keep the questions coming,
-Richie
I wanted to update this sooner but we have had one heck of a week with travel, and I left my laptop in Rockford. I am currently sitting in the business center of the Courtyard Marriott in freezing downtown Grand Rapids Michigan.
It has been one heck of a week both on and off the ice for our team. Since I last updated my blog, we have played 4 games in 5 nights in 2 different cities. In the American league it is pretty normal for a team to play 3 games in 3 nights and sometimes even 7 games in 10 nights. This week was by far the craziest scheduling I have experienced in four years of pro hockey. We played Friday and Saturday night in Rockford and then had a Sunday afternoon game in San Antonio, TX. The travel would not have been bad if we were an NHL team because we could have flew to Texas Saturday night right after the game. Since we don't charter in the AHL, the earliest flight we could take was on Sunday morning at 10:00am.
We got to the rink in Rockford, packed our equipment onto the bus, and drove to Chicago O'Hare airport at 7:00am. We checked in and went through the security screening process in about an hour, leaving us about a half hour to grab a quick breakfast. We then landed in San Antonio around 1:30 and drove right to the rink to get ready to play.
Sunday afternoon games are always pretty difficult for us to get our legs, especially when you play on Friday and Saturday. Then factor in the crazy travel on Sunday, we knew that we were going to be extremely focused to come away with a victory. We played a pretty good game, but we knew we were a much better team than we showed. Despite that, we still managed to gain a point in the standings and remain in first place with a shootout loss. Our team was disappointed we didn't get the win, but we rebounded nicely on Tuesday with a 4-1 win.
Because of the schedule, we ended up having quite a bit of down time in San Antonio. What a beautiful city! The river walk is very scenic and there are tons of great restaurants to eat at. I was disappointed I didn't take a trip over to see the Alamo, but I guess that can wait until next time.
One of my favorite things about being a professional athlete is being able to travel and experience cities I probably wouldn't ever see if I was in a different profession. Because of that, I always try and get out of the hotel and see as much of the city as I can. I don't understand how some players hole up in the hotel and order room service in every city we go to. I feel the travel is one of the biggest perk to being an athlete, and I try to take advantage of that as much as possible.
On the ice, our team has been on absolute fire. We are unbeaten in regulation in our last 11 games, and hope to make that 13 before we get our much welcomed Christmas break. It is exciting being on such a young team that is enjoying so much success so far this season. If you live in the Chicago area, I strongly suggest you make it out to Rockford to watch the Icehogs play. Our fans are always enthusiastic and the Barn Yard is a great place to watch a game.
This will be my last blog until after the Christmas break, so I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and I hope everyone is able to spend it among friends and family. For me, this will be my first Christmas at home with my family since I was a freshman in college so I am really excited.
Merry Christmas everyone and as always, keep the questions coming,
-Richie
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