NLL Insider

What do you do when you live on an island and all but one other team makes their home on the mainland? Well you fly, of course. Sure you could take the majestic and peaceful 90 minute ride the BC Ferries has to offer, but with the last boat returning at 10 pm, it’s a pretty tight schedule to adhere to and more often than not, you’re not making the last boat back and will be stuck over night. So thanks to NOLINOR, a Quebec based fishing charter company, we are able to fly back and forth to our away games without having to worry about rushing back and traffic.

It’s a quick and easy 15-20 minute flight, depending on what airport we are flying to. But man do we live the superstar lifestyle! The bus rolls right onto the tarmac, they load our gear for us (with the help from our fine rookies) and we are whisked away to the arena with out having to lift our bags yet! So this is how NHLers feel eh? OK OK so it’s not the same deal, but it’s a pretty cool feeling to have people grab your stinky gear off a plane and put it onto a bus and vice versa.

Depending on traffic and again what airport we have arrived at, it’s usually no more than a 45 minute drive to the arena and as long as we have departed on time that gives us a solid hour to get rid of the bus legs and get warmed up for the game. I feel bad for the boys in Ontario that get stuck on the bus for 5-6 hours driving through rush hour traffic in the middle of July when its 30 degrees outside. Compared to them our road games are like a mini vacation.

But as we know oh so well, you can’t just show up and win a game. For some reason, the flight and bus ride takes something out of us mentally and we tend to start the game with a little bit of heavy legs and lack luster performance. But the sign of a good team is being able to handle the highs and lows and be able to over come those little hiccups. The bonus for us is, we do it all year long, whereas the mainland teams only do it once or twice a season. So we are all used to the delays, the traffic, the hot ass bus with no A/C and the tired legs come game time. When the play-offs roll around it’s just another day on the road for us.

Now after the game it’s a mad dash to get out of the arena as quickly as possible. Mostly because the locker-rooms stink and we just don’t want to be on the mainland anymore. Oh ya and the beer store closes at 11 so sometimes we are battling time. With the aid of the rookie collection agency, and $6 a guy, we stop and pick up a few road pops for the boys to ease the pain of the slashes and high sticks. Nine times out of ten the spirits are high and guys are laughing and telling stories. The odd time we have to listen George Westwood talk about his latest fight or Art Webster talking about the glory days when he had hair. But for the most part it’s just more good times with the boys.

Back onto the plane where by that point the beer has washed away any signs of pain in the legs, the voices are getting a little louder and the stewardesses just want to get the flight going so they can get rid of the 20+ male egos pressing the call buttons and end their night. Once we are all back in Victoria, we all head our separate ways, racing to beat the alarm clock and get as much sleep as we can before our fantasy world ends and reality begins. It’s usually midnight by the time we get back and there is no way any of us can get home soon enough and into bed. But hey, we chose to live in God’s Country and if that means a few times a month boarding a plane with my brothers and getting off the island for bit, I’m OK with that!

Rate This Story:

(15 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)

 Loading ...