Daily grind

Ahhhh the daily grind of a college hockey player...

If your reading this and you are playing or have played college hockey you will know what this is all about. If you have not played, please don't take this as a huge vent session or a vote for sympathy. Truth is college hockey players have it better than most and It is a privilege to still be playing.

It all starts sunday night. Sunday night is very bitter-sweet around my dorm room. Sweet because my roommates and I get to dial into keeping up with the kardashians, which is very hard at times, the guys living off campus finish doodlig in their coloring books and bitter because we all know we have to wake up way to early for 2.5 hours of suspect workouts and skill sessions.

How it works is basically most guys are up around 7am, the non fat club members are probably eating oats w/ fresh fruit, healthy fats and protein... The fatty's can be seen eating pop tarts and lucky charms (grow up guys) 8am you will see a herd of chargers walking from the dorms to the gym looking like idiots holding gloves, sticks and 40 different kinds of pre work out stimulants.

As the boys congregate inside the gym we usually have wait for the circus (track team) to finish pretending to workout before we can start. Not trying to be arrogant but they shouldn't be allowed in the gym... It looks like "so you think you can dance" and "American idol" tryouts rather then working out!! Too much too soon.

8:15am half of the squad is ordered upstairs to do "skill work" .... that's tough to watch... sounds like 15 guys chopping onions. The other half of the team is struggling trough "speed work" 100% humidity makes this one of the worst 15 minutes of day. After switching stations the boys are most likely murdering under their breath how sick of it they are... "why are we sprinting again?" "I can't feel my ass" "get me outta here" things of that nature. By the time the pouting is over we are headed into the second portion of the workout which consists of weights, sprinting and core... Once again, 100% humidity and no rest.. F OFF! We get it.
Just recently our team has been told that we are no longer allowed to work out shirtless... Tennis team must have gotten jealous..

When the workout subsides most of the team is on a mission! recovery shake (4:1 carb:protein best ratio for protein synthesis. Coconut water, protein, banana, berries, spinach, agave nectar), 3 s's shit shower shave and finally off to the first class of the day!

Depending on the guy and day, guys will have 2 to 3 classes. The geeks on the team manage to pay attention in class all day and take great notes for the rest of us who walk around campus like zombies, thanks guys! Having spent 3 years in this routine and knowing how much energy goes into each day I have secured a nutrition routine that helps me get through. 1) every 2 hours I am eating a meal with tons of green veggies, good fat (nuts, seeds, oils) and lean protein 2) I have 2 green drinks throughout the day (chlorophyll in greens=energy!) 3) green tea and water.. Hydration relates to every bodily function!

Everyday in August and September is pretty close to this routine which makes it such a grind. Going through it is very tough but so rewarding doing it with a great bunch of guys. These are the times when teams become families and build life long relationships.. Can't beat it!!

Inside the dorm room

I often get asked a lot of questions regarding what goes on in a college hockey dorm room. Typically, my answer is, you don't wanna know. Not because of the crazy parties and drinking people may assume takes place but because of how weird/border line 3 guys can get in the same room. On a typical day from 11 am to 1 pm (the time after a workout or skate) if someone were to walk into my dorm room they would encounter at least one guy naked walking around, one guy from Finland making weird noises and another guy making fun of the finish guy or asking questions about the other guys naked body... Don't ask. This tends to happen in most of the hockey dorm rooms, no wonder we don't have friends.

My room in particular has been called the "weirdy room" this nickname came to be by the nightly meditation sensations, burning of in-scents and very odd yoga music that is played. Although not many guys on the team can handle the weirdness, we do have a few followers that I hope can carry on the chi. My old roommate who created this room with me was once quoted by saying "open your mind and let it go" I'll let you decide what that means. Other then our spiritual evenings, you can find most guys hammering awful American tv shows, doing homework, skyping, playing NHL on x box, flexing in the mirror (guilty), cooking gourmet meals and many other activities normal people do.

I guess another question is, what's in your fridge??
Our dorm room and a few others eat pretty clean as we like to say... A couple rooms on the team should be on the show the biggest loser, we're slowly working with them! Most guys shop at the organic grocery store. As you can see in our fridge there is lots of veggies, fruit, greens.. All clean.
I would imagine most college students don't have this luxury we do where we can store and refrigerate lots of fresh foods, which makes us very lucky. With the volume of training and working out we do it's so important to eat well and take care of the body. The last place you want to be on this team is the fat club.. You get teased constantly.

The hockey dorm is a 3 story apartment style building. There are 3 guys to a room, each with their own bedroom. If you live on the 3rd floor your either a freshman and no one cares about you (literally no one) or your a an older guy and no one cares about you.. These guys are usually referred to as the geek squad. As the weekend gets closer and classes for the week die down it always seems the rooms start to play their music a little louder, guys start to mingle a little more and the odd soda gets cracked at dinner. This is type of behavior is a warning that Sammy T's music hall is a few sleeps away!

College hockey seems to do this to people... Monday-Friday of tough skates, workouts and school... Leads to what is known as Weekend warriors.

A small first glimpse into the dorm life.

Nashville Trip

This past weekend my teammates and I drove two hours north to the music city, Nashville!

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!

Welcome to an inside look into what it is like eating, training, traveling like a Division 1 hockey player/team in the deep south.. Alabama.

If you become a follower to this blog you will be treated to many different aspects of a college hockey players life.

My purpose of this blog is to 1) answer the many questions myself and teammates get from friends and family of what is it really like as a college hockey player??  How many girls follow you guys around?? what is your typical day on the road? etc.. 2) try to educated and provide examples of how to eat properly in a demanding training schedule and lastly, highlight some of the biggest beauties I have come across in my life...pictures never lie!

I plan on updating this blog weekly as the UAH hockey team tends to play games every weekend which comes with many stories and experiences.

Welcome to the blog! I hope to entertain, educate and inform you through out this upcoming hockey/school year!!