The friendly skies

The Moose open their first multi-city road trip of the season with a game in Milwaukee against the Admirals Thursday night; it’s a contest that kicks off three games in four days for a young team learning on the job.

With that in mind, time management is critical.

Moose Director of Hockey Operations Brad Andrews, takes care of the travel planning, and arranged for a charter flight to minimize travel time and keep the players as fresh as possible.

Team equipment managers Graham Watt and Robert Cook (as always) looked after all of the equipment; loading the plane front and back ahead of departure.

Now I know what you’re thinking – “charter flight must be nice”. I assure you we’re talking practical, not luxurious. A Calm Air 42-passenger ACT prop plane took the players, coaching, equipment, and athletic therapy staff (and yes, the broadcaster too) to Duluth, MN and then on to Milwaukee, WI.

The mid-day stop in Duluth was needed for customs, refuelling, and sandwiches; then it was quickly back in the air for the final 90 minutes to Milwaukee.

The landing in Milwaukee was smooth and in short-order a waiting bus was loaded with equipment for the brief drive to a suburban practice rink.

Thanks to the handiwork of the rookies, and lots of hustle from the equipment guys, the Moose soon had a dressing room set up; next thing you know they were on the ice for practice.

Coach Keith McCambridge was in teaching mode reinforcing keys to executing the system and the team also got in some conditioning work before wrapping-up.

From there it was off to a downtown hotel, about a block from the BMO Harris Bradley Center, and then dinner and recovery time.

A full, but very productive day, setting the stage for action in Milwaukee Thursday and Chicago Friday and Sunday before heading back to Winnipeg; ideally a little better for the experience and with a nice points haul to show for their efforts.

Thursday and Sunday’s game can be heard on MooseHockey.com starting with the pre-game show at 6:45pm.

Friday night’s game in Chicago airs on both TSN 1290 and MooseHockey.com, also staring with pre-game coverage at 6:45pm.

Mitch Peacock - MooseHockey.com