There was no better feeling as a kid then piling into the old Ford Windstar, watching Mom and Dad argue over the placement of the road trip snack bag, and settling back for the 3-hour long ride to Marlborough, MA for a hockey-packed weekend.
At the height of my illustrious youth hockey “career”, we must have had two tournaments every single month. Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut…every possible Northeastern state we could go to was hit at least once a season for a full weekend of hockey.
It was always a family affair too. Dad and his MapQuest printouts manning the wheel (yes we are pre Garmin here); Mom, trying to make the mandatory trip exciting for my little sister (a full time job in itself); our family dog, Alpine, preparing to be snuck into the hotel; and me, butterflies in my stomach, usually reading, oblivious to the stress and commitment the constant trips would put on the rest of the Christopher’s.
Man, if I could relive one of those weekends again I sure would. The hockey was fun, but looking back you remember the experience: the journey, the car ride, the Cracker Barrel stops after games, knee hockey in the hallways, sneaking into the hotel with a 165lb Bernese Mountain Dog…those are the moments that leave an impression on me. For a kid, it felt like you were seeing the world, and getting to play hockey while you did it.
The games did not always go our way (although many did if I do say so myself) and even leaving after those disappointing losses, you still felt like your weekend was a success. If anything, you became closer to your teammates, competed against teams from across the country, and usually missed a full day or two of school! As a kid, nothing could beat those hockey-packed weekends.
It never changed either. I loved having the opportunity to play college puck and those road trips with the boys are some of the best memories of my years at Franklin Pierce University. Knee hockey had graduated to working out in the hotel gym, and the pool was 100% off-limits, but there is just something about being on the road, for the sole purpose of playing hockey, that’s invigorating.
