Imagine a cross-country trip with your family as a kid. About 1000 miles into it, all that can be heard from the back seat is, “he’s touching me!”

That was the travel party by the time we got to Niagara.

At the end of a 10-day trip, the players didn’t want anything to do with the staff…and the staff didn’t want much to do with the players anymore!

On the ice, it was all business…but off the ice, we had all spent too much time with each other.

I spent most of the week with Billy Crews (Trainer) and Justin Enfield (Equipment Manager). There’s a saying that what happens on the road stays on the road…but we did have one funny night.

The three of us went out one night while the team went to the Sabres game. Billy wanted pizza, so we went out in search of a good pie. As we’re walking around the Village of Lewiston (where we stayed), we run into a guy that said he was the Village Supervisor. We were guessing that was the equivalent of a mayor. He tells us that we should visit this little bar about five blocks up the street…saying, “They have GREAT pizza!”

So, that’s where we go. The bar has just one table other than the barstools. We happen to sit down (at the only table) right before the rush of Sabres fans gets there. We look at the menu…and they don’t even have pizza! Wouldn’t the mayor know this? So we ask if they recently quit serving pizza…nope…they’ve NEVER served pizza!

Billy gives in on his pizza request and we each order a burger or sandwich. I had a “beef on a weck”. I HIGHLY suggest them.

We also ordered fried pickles! YUM! Billy had never had them before…and these were REALLY good.

So, we’re eating…and having a few cold ones…when all of a sudden, a band starts playing in the back room. Turns out there was a surprise birthday party there that night. The band was really good, too.

So, we’ve had our fill…the game is over…and the band is still playing. We ask for our bill…and it’s only $63…for the three of us!

Something tells me that they forgot to add in all the cold ones onto the bill! No pizza, but a good night anyway.