The past few years we have had the opportunity to spend a few days in Nashville skating as a team, working out and doing a little bit of team bonding under the bright lights of the main strip downtown. This trip was no different.
Friday morning around 8am we went through our usual grind of a workout ran by the coaching staff. After the work out most of the guys on the team had class to attend before we got outta dodge. As for myself and 3 other teammates we went for our traditional Friday rip to chipotle grill! Not a bad start to the weekend. 3pm rolled around and the boys were on the road. The first night in Nashville is usually a tame night with one skate followed by a team dinner and a few sodas. The skates are ran by a fellow who trains NHL players that being said, the tempo is very high during the ice times. After the skate and dinner there was a buzz in the air.. The boys were getting the itch to grease up their hips and head down to the famous Cadillac Ranch! But, we still had two more skates and a mall visit before any dancing took place.
Any day on the road is a great day for me because, I know I get to wake up, mosey on down to the hotel breakfast bar and see papa seeds and grampa Griggs partaking in their old man morning routines. Legs crossed, coffee, fresh newspaper and for seeds a clean plate of food...grampa... Not so clean. After breakfast most guys headed for the rink for our first skate at 9am. We had a short but intense practice. Once the fellas were done showering up and slicking the hair back we went for a team lunch at a Mongolian grill... For the record spicy foods and 23 guys doesn't mix well. In between lunch and our second skate of the day we decided we would go do a few loser laps at the mall to kill some time. On our team we tend to have a bunch of guys that are huge followers and strive want to be beauties like a handful of us... These usual suspects gathered like a herd of sheep and went shopping at lulu lemon.. Keep trying guys. Our second skate was a scrimmage which we saw some of the worst college hockey played.. This might have had to do with the 5 pounds of Mongolian grill we hammered or the excitement for the evening events, leave that one up to interpretation.
Our kind hosts from Nashville treated the boys to the famous jets pizza after our scrimmage (may be the only appropriate time to eat greasy za!) the night on the town was a mere 2 hours away! Making a quick pit stop at the hotel to throw on some denim and gel up the hair we were ready to introduce our freshman to one of the best cities going. The night was to consist of 3 bars, guys dancing that shouldn't be dancing and many failed attempts at talking to girls. The night ended with scattered groups of guys filtering through the hotel doors and straight upstairs for our standard 3am heart to heart talks.
Sunday morning is a rough morning.. Body sore from 3 intense ice times and head a little sore from the night prior...at any rate the weekend was over, the cars were packed up and headed back south. Sunday around the dorms is usually referred to as the dead zone as most of the guys are in severe depression and guilt mode. I took another approach to cure my depression. My roommate and I chose to goto earth fare, the local organic grocery store. To me there is no better hangover cure! A quick trip to the bulk food area for a few handfuls of treats while wandering the aisles trying to get back to reality usually does the trick for me.
The team is scheduled for study hall Sunday night where the boys usually catch up on home work, play hangman or just plain old surf the web.. This is the sign the weekend is over and back to the office monday morning for another tough work out in 100% alabama humidity :( ....
This is the first chapter in a long and crazy year with the UAH hockey team, stay tuned for more great stories!
I have many friends who are still studying in the Alabama states in on-campus and online colleges.
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