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SFU HOCKEY
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SFU Hockey: EWU Selkirk Feb Travel Blog
SFU HOCKEY TRAVEL BLOG FEBRUARY 21 - 23
Friday - 6am - Heading Out
The bus left from Bill Copeland at 6am sharp. Sorry to start this thing out on a boring note, but again, it’s 6am and everyone’s sleeping. 9am - Taking Over the US of A. Sorry about that hockey game, eh? We made it into America! We realized our WiFi is less stellar than we thought, and the mountains even block the radio. Tough go for a bus full of hockey players not being able to watch Canada take on the USA this morning. Coach Coletta managed to get us all updates from home, and there’s a big round of cheers when the time finally counts down and Canada takes the win. 1pm - Let's Go to the Mall, Today We’ve arrived in Spokane with time to spare before lunch. Solution? Shopping stop.
2pm - Lenny's Pasta LUNCH. As is now apparently a tradition on EWU roadtrips, the boys loaded up on chicken and pasta at this tiny Italian place named Lenny’s, sporting light-up grapes on the ceiling. Since our last trip out, Lenny had put up a gift from SFU assistant coach, Jim Camazzola, a signed photo of the 1994 Italian Olympic team.
We’re in the hotel and the bus leaves at 5pm sharp. More updates from the rink! 6:00 - Prepping at the Rink We've settled into the rink now. The staff found a table at the Roost, an on-campus grill complete with a rink-side view while the boys warm up. 6:30 - Hitting the Ice The boys are hitting the ice and the EWU fans are getting LOUD. Let's get this game started. 11pm – A Quiet Bus Ride The EWU rink was pretty nice, with a real college campus vibe. They get big groups of students out to their games, which is awesome (That’s right SFU students, I’m talking to you. Our games are fun, I promise.)
Despite coming back from behind twice and taking it to a four-round shoot out, the boys couldn’t get the extra point and the Eagles took a 4-3 victory.
Saturday – 10am – Breakfast is Served The team trickled down for breakfast and a viewing of the USA – Finland game. Tough to believe the Americans lost 5-0 in a medal game. As the only other girl on the trip, I’m rooming with the team’s trainer, Carlene for the weekend, which means our room doubles as triage for injured players That’s right, it’s terribly glamorous on the road. The whole group has a free morning to relax or explore the nearby area. More to come from the bus to Castlegar! 5:30 – Did You Miss Us Canada?
If you ever have a chance to do some grocery shopping in the States, do it up. They have weird chip and Gatorade flavours, plus cheaper chocolate. The whole group raided the store for post-game bus snacks tonight. We crossed the border at the smallest little crossing you’ll ever see. For starters, you take a tiny two-lane road, and look for the Onion Creek sign boasting a “shortcut to Canada where you turn onto an even smaller road.
7:30 - The Best Things Come to Those Who Wait We had a bit of a delay at the crossing as well, which put us in a bit of a mad scramble to get to the rink. I’m pretty sure most of the fans beat us there, but Selkirk kindly delayed the start by 20 minutes for us. It’s a pretty full house in here, so the four of us will need to cheer on the team extra loud to be heard in here.  11pm – A Dark Ride Home Selkirk may have beaten us, taken away our chance to clinch first, and they may generally be our largest rivals in the league, but damn do their fans have spirit. The Castlegar rink has a genuine community feeling. The stands only cover one side of the ice, but the noise fills the entire barn, trust me on this, I sat in the stands when they erupted all three times; tough to be the only scowling person in the place.  All this passion in Castlegar is getting put to productive use, in a bid for Hockeyville 2014. I can see where they need it. It was so cold in there I could see my breath for the whole first period. They might just have the community spirit to pull it off too. It seems like the whole town turns up for hockey game. Their 50/50 jackpot was an impressive $550. The row across from me was constantly growing as new friends, uncles, or grandmothers changed seats to talk to someone new for a period. It looked like half the local high school showed up too, I guess hockey is what you do Saturday night in Castlegar. As for the game itself, it was one of the most fast paced ones I’ve seen from SFU, especially in the second. Fans in attendance were in for a treat. It was a rough, hard-hitting game dripping with passion. Our guys played their hearts out, but unfortunately they just couldn't pull off the win tonight. SFU remains in first place for the time being, but only by one point, and Selkirk has a game on hand. Two wins for Selkirk means they take our first place standing, regardless of our result in Victoria. Needless to say, the bus ride home was a quiet one. It’s almost midnight and everyone’s pretty disappointed in tonight’s result. Hopefully the Canadian Gold medal game in four hours can raise some spirits. Sunday - 8am - Home Again  We returned to Bill Copeland around 8am Sunday morning. Snow followed us the whole way home, which combined with some seriously icy roads made the long drive even longer. Thank goodness for our experienced bus drivers, I wouldn't have wanted to attempt these roads last night.Service was spotty throughout the night, but everyone who wanted to managed to catch atleast peices of the Gold medal victory. Our cars, waiting for us at Copeland, were covered in snow, but still a welcome sight after nine hours on the bus. Signing out of today's blog, be sure to join us on Fasthockey on Friday for our final game in Victoria. Check out our Twitter feed for live updates and tons of photos!
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