Moving on..

It's day 2 and and finally we got to sleep in a little.  I was told that I was yelling in my sleep, I don't know what that's about but it happened.  We knew we had a big game today against the Woodstars so we were a little more serious then normal.  We arrived at the rink and it was PACKED!  It was really hard to move around in the warming tent.  

We made our way out to the rinks and were happy to see that the ice was much better then the day before.  It still wasn't great but anything was better then yesterday.  We were talking to the Woodstars a little before our game and found out that most of them were former D1 players, one being from Harvard.  We started the game real well by getting the first goal, but that was about the only productive thing we did in that game.  We lost 6-1, I don't really know what to say other then they were really good and you could tell they group up playing on the pond.  The way I look at it is that we lost the first period 4-1 and second period 2-0.  Every other team that lost to them had 12+ goals scored on them, and every team that asked how we did gave us a "hey that's pretty good." We were upset that we lost but knew we played pretty well.  Our second game we won 8-6.  We told ourselves before hand we wouldn't give up more then 5 goals, which we thought was a high number.  We gave them 6 which wasn't good but at least we picked up the win.  Calisotas we're a good group of guys, it was fun playing against them.  During the first 5 minutes of the game a huge gust of wind came in and knocked down half of the boards of our rink.  We continued to play anyways.

To everyone's surprise, Bendog bought us all Minnesota Wild tickets.  We were a little jealous of everyone back home who were able to watch the Flyers and go to the game.  Doggy decided that we needed to celebrate the NHL being back so we all went to the game.  We obviously called our main man Jamayyaaa to take us to the game.  He continued to have great commentary in the car ride which we video taped.  We wanted to get some grub so we looked for a sport bars or restaurant near the stadium.  Each place we walked into was packed, no where to sit or stand.  Everyone had hockey jerseys on in anticipation of the Wild's opener.  There was also the Minnesota college hockey game on which made it even more busier.  Crazy to think that bars and restaurants get crowed for college hockey, it was awesome.  


The game was fun to watch, nothing like going to a Flyers game but it was good in its own way.  We text Jamayya to come get us and it was outside waiting for us when we got out of the game.  The temperature has significantly dropped and should be in the negatives for our first game tomorrow.  That reminds me to tell you, yes we are in the playoffs!  Our first game is at 8:30 against Concord USA.  It's pretty cool too because they made a documentary of this tournament a few years ago and the main guy who was in the movie is on Concord.  They are a very good team but we can't worry about that, we just have to win.  I'm extremely tired and everyone is asleep, sorry if there are a ton of mistakes in this or I'm leaving out anything.  I got to get to bed, wish us luck.

-bSmith

Jamayyyaaa

6:50 came and the alarms went off, and before you know it was time for some hockey.  All the support and planning all came down to this day and it was finally here.  Your probably thinking wow these guys woke up at 6:50 ready to go and get to the tournament early.  Well you would be wrong, we missed the shuttle to the tournament by 5 minutes, but don't you worry because we met the coolest taxi driver ever, Jamaya.  I'm completely spelling his name wrong but he was just chilling in his taxi in front of the hotel so we hopped in and he was happy to take us.  The conversation was great, he immediately blamed Chaz for his car smelling.  He also told us he didn't understand why his son played hockey because, "his classmates are all white and he is a black, he should have played basketball but none of the whites play."  We walked into the warming tent and the atmosphere was just amazing.  To see so many hockey players together and seeing where they are all from was something I won't forget.  They opened the ceremonies right with the National Anthem and didn't waste any time getting right to the games.  It's nice to see a tournament ran with organization, no game started late.  Our game wasn't till 11:30, so Tyler, Chaz, and I watched some games and did a little bit of scouting.  Bryan had to fix his skates so him and Doggy went to HockeyGiant to get some gear.  All the teams have talent unlike NJ where you have talent in just some areas.  Everyone could skate, stickhandle, and just had plain knowledge of the game. 

With all the anticipation over with, we got dressed and headed to our rink to find out that our opponent had dropped out.  Who does that?  Carleton College 1 and 2 had dropped out and we had to play Carleton College 1's opponent.  The ref informed us that both teams would be awarded a forfeit win 1-0, which is good because tie breaks come down to points against.  So the team that took our opponents place scrimmaged us and let me tell you, it was good that they did because we were worse then rusty.  The team we played was good.  I love Alec Nicolai and he's got the best hands around but the backhand toe drag that was done to me was better then any backhand toe drag Nicolai has done, and that's saying something.  At the end of the first period we were down 10-5, but hey like Bryan likes to say, "we weren't in tinkle toe mode."  We got our game together and started figuring out how to actually play this game they call hockey and tied the game 10-10.  

Our next game was at 2:30 so we got our lunch and just hung out in the tent a bit.  Carleton College 1 and 2 finally showed up and they were what you call benders.  If you don't know what that means, it just means they were bad.  After watching them play we didn't feel that bad about taking a forfeit win.  As the day went on, the more warmer it got.  it was 40 degrees today and the ice was turning into soup.  Our second game was against Revenge of the Rooster.  They were a nice group of guys who were just looking to have some fun.  Bendog has us going up to each team before hand to introduce ourselves which I think is a nice habit of doing here.  The puck was very hard to control all game,and it wasn't easy to skate either.  I found myself taking off for a play and calling for the puck, but then just falling flat on the ice.  When it's that warm the ice is just so soft and nothing works.  With that said, again we came from behind and won 9-3.  We came into today wanting to leave 2-0 and that's what we did.  

The rest of our night consisted of going to Mall of America.  I wasn't all that pumped to go there but wow that place is awesome. I underestimated their theme park in there.  We got some food and drinks at Buffalo Wild Wings while watching college hockey.  Minnesota  was playing North Dakota and it was just amazing to be in a place that was actually showing hockey.  People in the restaurant were reacting to every goal or close call.  At Pj's in Moorestown we got the Sixers on our Tv and no one is paying attention.  It's just cool to be in a complete hockey atmosphere.  We are all scared that we are going to go broke with all the cool hockey apparel being sold around here.  We have never been in a place where they just sell your hockey team's apparel in every store.  We got back to the hotel after meeting some funny people in our shuttle.  We asked a guy in the shuttle by the name of sideburns to come hang out with us in the pool but I'm pretty sure he was about to pass out so he didn't come.  We had a short but fun time in the pool and then called it a night.  

I made a video of our first day and I'll keep trying to make a video for each day.  We get so much footage though that it will probably be uploaded the next day.  So the 17th is being uploaded tonight and I'll try and get the 18th footage with the hockey upload later today.(I know that doesn't make much sense but thats because all my times and days are mixed up so just expect a day's footage to be uploaded the next day)  I also am not being able to get my phone pictures up right now so I will try and post them up later.

We got a big game tomorrow against the Woodstars.  We have to win, and if we can't do that we got to keep the score down at least.  Wish us luck, we're going to need it against them because they are real good.

P.s. The video is only going to work on computers, not phones or ipads, sorry.  Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaBxO7J2TbE

-bSmith

The Arrival

We have arrived in Minnesota!  Thanks to Mrs. Rudolph we got to our flight in time and had safe travels.  Tyler and I were really hungry the whole flight, you can ask Bendog and Bryan why that would be, but it's safe to say that they were quite full.  Everything bad that could happen didn't happen and it was really easy travels today.  We arrived in Minnesota around 10:30 am and got a quick taxi ride to our hotel.  It seems like everything is fairly close to each other.  Our hotel is only 10 minutes away from both the airport and the lake.  Bryan, Bendog, Ty, and I all got lunch and waited for Chazz to land.  We had lunch at the hotel's restaurant and had some nice conversations with the waitress about hockey and about the pond hockey event.  Bendog has already informed all of staff that we are the best team.  It's pretty cool, all of the hotel staff are wearing hockey jerseys as uniforms.  We got acquainted with the hotel's pool, they might regret that we did by the end of the weekend.  Chazz landed safely and after that we finally made our way to the lake, and it didn't disappoint.  

We originally wanted to see if we could get some skating in but once we walked into their huge warming tent we just stood back in awe.  Right as we walked in we noticed the trophy, and she was pretty. 

 Hockey was everywhere, but before we walked out to the lake we all bought a lot of apparel.  Looking out to the lake was amazing.  If you love hockey and your from the east you would be really jealous.  People here don't know how lucky they are to have this accessibility.

It was youth hockey night and we watched some kids play, but they weren't lying when they said it would be cold here.  Without skating around, it made it a lot colder.  We were hungry anyway so we got some dinner and returned to the pool.  The pool conversation consisted of strategy, high school hockey memories, and I mean we had just eaten at Outback so farts were definitely discussed.(what do you expect? It had to get brought up at some point.)  We all went up to our room and I think everyone is sleeping now.  It has been a really fun day, but time to do what we came here for tomorrow.  We got Opening Ceremonies and National Anthem at 8 am tomorrow.  We'll meet Carleton College at 11:30.

If you are friends with me on Facebook I'll probably be adding a lot more photos there.  We have been filming since we have left and I'm going to try and get some footage up tomorrow but we shall see.  So far the only videos we have of us is us acting like idiots at the pool.  Don't be fooled, its still very entertaining.  

-bSmith

"Please Don't Fall Through The Lake.."

Don't fall through the lake was my girlfriend's last words to me, luckily the ice is half a foot thick.  Well folks the bags are packed, tickets are printed, and we are ready to go.  Currently we are watching the movie Miracle.  It's 2 am and we need to leave for our flight at 6, good thing we don't play Thursday.  

We have 2 games Friday and 2 games Saturday.  To be honest we are a pretty cocky group of hockey players.  Your not going to beat us on the roller rinks and we don't see why it should be any different on the ice.  We do little tournaments and leagues all the time and all of us either win the whole thing or come close in playoffs.  Our first game is against a team called Carleton College 2.  You all might want to set your Facebook pages to private because Bryan informed me he was looking up players and telling me their ages.  He did find out that Carleton College has a hockey team and we're assuming Carleton 2 are on it.  Obviously we think they already garbage but we'll take a second to let our heads shrink back to normal size to say we are actually kind of nervous.  It's a good nervous, maybe just anxious to play but we are ready.

There isn't much to say tonight.  We are all overwhelmed by the support we have been shown. We really hope we can bring back the Golden Shovel to show our appreciation.  You can follow our team page at http://www.uspondhockey.com/page/show/720736-the-goof-troop

You can leave comments for the team and keep up with results.  I don't have any pictures tonight but you can expect a lot of pictures and videos as the festivities begin.

P.s. Corey is still apart of the team by sharing these clutch videos (not too sure how I feel about this one but it gave me a good laugh)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsgdAG-yg0I&list=LLUteIuz12bXQUD0BbfgzlkQ

-bSmith

Puck Drops In 5 Days..

We're less then a week away from our tournament and if there wasn't enough things standing in the way of our trip, this past week and next are the start to most of our semesters.  We've had a nice break though, enjoying christmas and New years.  My Christmas morning was occupied by receiving picture text messages from the team of the certain things they received to brave the cold weather of Minnesota.  Corey sent me a picture of the worlds largest box of hand warmers which is probably the smartest gift to get for this trip.  Bryan and Woyshner both sent me a text saying they got gloves that are made out of elk?  Sounds warm, and I'm a little jealous but not as jealous as when Bendog sent me a picture of his new Minnesota North Stars hat.

Here is Bryan doing that thing he does, I'm not entirely sure what that is, but he's wearing his elk gloves.

I on the other hand did not ask for too much for Minnesota, actually I didn't ask for anything other then my camera.  I'm a little concerned with what my mom thought I needed though.  Not many kids get to say that their parents attended every single game of theirs in their career but my mom has to be close to doing so.  With that said, I think I was at least decent at the sport, and I thought she would have agreed but looking at my stocking suffers this year maybe I was wrong.  Maybe my mom doesn't have confidence that I can play anymore??  That, or she has always thought I sucked.  It's safe to say if I can't skate and I get some cuts or bruises I will be ok thanks to mommy.

Back to why I really have this blog, the tournament.  All our flights and hotels are booked, and things are coming together nicely.  I think I speak for our team when I say we are really upset to say that Corey Pedersen will not be making the trip.  He was probably more excited then any of us and he found out he won't be able to skip one of his classes due to a project.  I hope we can do this tournament again some day because he'll be the first name on the roster.  On a more positive note Woyshner gave the team a definite yes to go.  So then their were 5, Ben, Bendog, Bryan, Chazz, and Woyshner.  

It's still hard to determine what the right apparel will be for such harsh weather.  My grandma informed me last night that Minnesota has the highest cases of this flu epidemic, so we want to keep that in the back of our minds for how we dress.  We'll definitely be taking our Vitamin C.  If playing in a pond hockey tournament wasn't exciting enough, the NHL will be back that weekend.  Though some may be jealous of us for playing in the tournament, we are equally jealous that we won't be at the Flyers opener.  We've been talking and we think if it's possible we may try and see the Minnesota Wild play, maybe we'll wear our flyers stuff for moral support.  

So we all leave the 17th, Woyshner and Chazz will be arriving a little later then Bendog, Bryan, and I.  The puck drops Friday morning around 8ish and our chance to win the Golden Shovel begins.  Excited doesn't quite explain how we feel about this, we just can't wait to get there and play.  Thanks again for all the support and here are some photos and links of the preparation the tournament has shared.

http://minneapolis.happeningmag.com/pond-hockey-championships/

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/01/10/news/pond-hockey-championships-prep

http://kstp.com/news/stories/S2889967.shtml?cat=1

bSmith