I’ll probably jinx us by writing up this blog before we leave Columbus, Ohio, but here goes…
The first road trip of the Bemidji State women’s hockey season is almost in the books. Here’s the good news first. All our bags arrived to Columbus on the way out and we had a smooth flight into CMH. The not so good news, the Beavers only took a point from OSU…despite coming from behind in both games and working hard. That’s okay…we’ll get them when they come to our rink!
Traveling is always a challenge when you’re the broadcaster. It never fails that it takes me a lot longer to get through security with all these soundcards, cords, a limiter and mixer. The trip from the cities was a hassle, but in Columbus I got lucky…the TSA security guy was a former broadcaster. He took one look inside my pelican case and said, “have a good trip home.” God bless America!
Seven newcomers traveled with this weekend’s squad: Kristi King, Rachael Kelly, Kayleigh Chapman, Natasha Kostenko, Whitney Wivoda, and Kristin Huber along with new assistant coach Amber Fryklund (she’s a legend in BSU women’s hockey and still holds records for scoring). The only crazy freshman story I have from the trip is that one of these young ladies (won’t mention any names here) grabbed two right shoes, one from a teammate’s locker and one of her own. Needless to say, she got a lot of razzing this weekend for her “freshman” mistake. At least she doesn’t play like she has two right feet 😉
After a busy weekend of hockey, we finally got a chance to relax last night with a wonderful dinner at Olive Garden. We all got the bottomless pasta bowls, salad and breadsticks. I love their salads! Had three servings before I got my pasta. Kudos to the great staff at the Olive Garden in Columbus for great service and awesome food. After dinner we had a couple hours to unwind before our 11pm “lights out.” Being the huge Harry Potter fan I am, I found the first part of the Deathly Hallows on the TV and watched it while I editing out all eight of the goals from Saturday night’s game.
This morning came quickly. Wake up call was at 6am. I was up at 3am and again at 6am. I’m not sure how the girls slept, but I don’t sleep well on the road…too many strange noises. We left at 6:45am from the University Plaza Hotel and headed to the airport.
As we speak, they’re loading up our plane back to MSP. Looking forward to getting back to Bemidji.
It was a fun weekend road tripping with the Beavers!