CCHL News

CJHL Prospects Daily Journal - Day 1

Date: Dec 08, 2009

Day 1 Travel to CJHL Prospects

Day one started early (for a hockey player) at 9:00 AM where I woke up and got ready to head to the airport and meet up with the other guys at 11:00 AM.  Then it was all the airport things which I've never had to endure (check-in, security and so on) and off to our gate. 

If any of you know Lessio [Lucas Lessio/St. Mike's] you will know he loves telling stories and today was no different.  In the airport, rocking away, rolling out stories with the airport crowds looking at our group as if we had significant issues.

1:45 PM We finally get on the plane (my first plane trip) and head out to take off.  Made a quick stop for deicing where I found out I am supposed to turn my phone off on the plane as I was carried away texting.  Did I mention this was my first plane trip?

4:00 PM (Winnipeg Time) Discovered that there are "time zones".  Coming down was painful as many of our ears popped and we couldn't hear anything (imagine Less' voice being well above the ‘quiet voice' now since he can't hear how loud he is talking).  Melch [Julian Melchiori/Newmarket] helped us figure out how to clear our ears and we started hearing again.  Having our ears pop like that was by far the worst part of the day so far.  Back to text messaging.  We then picked up our bags and headed to the bus for a quick ride to Winkler from Winnipeg. 

5:30 PM Welcome to Winkler.  We head straight to the rink to unpack our bags but not before a little team bonding over who would take out the empty pizza boxes from the bus.  Stepping off the bus we discovered something incredible.  It is REALLY cold here.  I think it is like -20 or something outside.  Having left from Toronto on now what feels like a warm day this is incredibly painful.  Guys were wondering if maybe, the hockey gods could have put this tournament somewhere warmer.  The cold really got under our skin (literally) but we will adapt soon enough (hopefully).

6:10 PM Arrive at our motel.  Did I mention its REALLY cold?  Get all checked in, relax a little bit and try to find the Internet here.  Luckily had wireless Internet here otherwise filing my reports for you all would be a bit tricky.  It is all working good though so you won't miss a report from us here.  Tried to relax for an hour or so before we head back over to the arena for a skate.

9:00 PM  Back from our skate to loosen up our "plane legs" and get on the ice with the guys who all wheeled around the ice and showing off their skills.  Everyone is getting excited for the first game tomorrow night.

The funniest moment for me today happened just before I filed this report.  You know they say the bathroom is the most dangerous room in your house and leave it to Less to prove that.  He tried to hop in to the shower, slipped, fell on his face, pulled down the curtains in the shower and yelled out a series of expletives which cannot be repeated for this audience.  He's ok and so is the shower.

Nothing like a good night's sleep though and that made for a good laugh to the end of a long day.  Will share tomorrow's stories with you well tomorrow.

From Team East in Winkler, Manitoba.  Goodnight - 10:37 PM

Beams

[Jesse Beamish, 1992 born forward for the St. Michael's Buzzers and a 2010 commit to Dartmouth will be filing daily reports from the CJHL Prospects games to give a behind the scenes look at what's happening]

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