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Hockey team travels near and far for the love of the game

D7516 Hockey vs Colorado
D7516 Hockey vs Colorado

By Emily Simanskis, For The Miami Student

When the 3,200 seats at Coach Steve Cady Arena sit empty and the locker room echoes with silence, the 24 men's ice hockey players will likely be on a bus or plane en route to their weekend competition.

Depending on how far away their destination is, the Brotherhood leaves Oxford on Wednesday or Thursday after taking care of their schoolwork with their professors earlier in the week. Their gear is packed in bags beforehand, consisting of travel shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants and shoes. It all sat at the rink with their equipment, ready to be loaded onto the bus. The players' personal bags carry homework, toiletries, a "goodie bag" of snacks and a pair of lucky underwear.

Usually, the team is lucky enough to travel on a bus with satellite television. The TV screens will be playing NHL Network or a Will Ferrell movie. There's an unwritten rule that seniors sit in their own seats toward

the back and freshmen pair up, something Kevin Morris, a senior forward, says is routine for most hockey teams and other sports.

"I'd say everything is team bonding," Morris says. "Being on the road keeps you guys together and that's a team bonding moment in itself."

If their destination is farther away, which has been the case since the team began playing in the NCHC conference, they take over an airport and, on rare occasions, a chartered plane. But whether in an airport or on a bus, the guys enjoy being together without the weekly pressures of attending classes, going to practice and getting enough sleep - they eat most meals together and the upperclassmen are just as close to the freshmen as they are with each other.

"Not all the time are we able to all get together, especially with our school and class schedule and stuff. But on the road, we have to be together," said Zach LaValle, a freshman forward. "We're a close team, but this gets everyone together at the same spot."

After the ride, the bus or plane will be unpacked and cleaned by the players and they'll let their gear air out if it hasn't had a chance since their previous practice. Depending on the time, they'll head to the hotel, eat and relax until practice. Sometimes, there will be a workout at the hotel pool with the trainer to get their legs moving.

There is always a pregame skate on Friday morning, whereas, on Saturday, it depends on how hard the team played the night before, and the players will either participate in a dynamic stretch or team meeting. Some players manage homework during their down time, others are visited by parents, while most choose to relax and focus on the games.

"My first couple weeks were tough, you're just getting in the swing of things," LaValle said. "A lot of us played junior hockey for a couple years so we weren't at school, so it was a lot to manage. Once you get into a routine, you kind of figure it out."

After all, these players are student athletes, and when Morris spoke of both commitments, it was clear the team values hard work off and dedication on the ice.

"We've got business to do," Morris said. "This is our job. We have a 24/7 job."

Something the fans certainly don't see are the bus rides back to Oxford after a taxing weekend - rows of seats filled with exhausted and, sometimes, defeated players. The competitiveness of the team makes the air thicker and the atmosphere heavier, and a loss is harder to swallow when the team arrives back on campus at 3 a.m. Sunday to schoolwork and a full week of classes.

But the players make it work - they understand that it's what they have to do and, for the most part, they have fun doing it.

"It's a lot of fun little, subtle things," Morris said. "Someone always does something that's funny and they get made fun of for it, but it's all in good fun. Obviously we have an extremely close team, I think everyone understands that it's your turn to get made fun of, it's all part of it."

When LaValle and Morris are asked what the hardest part about traveling is, it takes them moments to answer. LaValle says bus sleep - a small price to pay when they get to spend a season traveling with the team they love.