What are the Bruins packing for what could be 10 weeks in isolation? - The Boston Globe
The Bruins’ playoff contingent, a party of 50-plus, will jet off to Toronto on Sunday for the start of what could be 71 days on the road chasing the Stanley Cup.
The charter flight’s underbelly will be full of bags carrying at least a couple of guitars (lead stummers: Brad Marchand and Jeremy Lauzon), bunches of books, untold decks of cards, PlayStations and laptops, and a Halloween’s motherlode of treats to satisfy the sweet-toothed cravings of a roster of more than 30 NHLers, ages 21-43.
“Yeah, Snickers,” said rookie forward Jack Studnicka, revealing the No. 1 item on his playoff camp survival kit. “I do love Snickers bars. It’s kind of my go-to snack.”
You could have a foot and a half of snow there by then,” noted Marchand, proud son of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a man well-versed in Canadian meteorology. “So, it’s kind of tough to plan what clothes to bring.”
The L’il Ball o’ Hate’s answer: the “everyman” suitcase full of extra sweat shirts and sweat pants.
“Stuff that will be good in the snow,” he mused. “We’re not allowed to go outside anyway, so you don’t really need a jacket.”
My son won’t allow me to bring his PlayStation,” kidded team president Cam Neely. “So I stocked up on some books.”
By the eye of team captain Zdeno Chara, it’s not really about what goes into the bag in these kinds of circumstances. Succeeding in big journeys is more about a mind-set than a checklist of goods or the comforting salve of a deep Netflix binge.
Chara figures he “will keep it simple” when packing this time for the playoffs. His list includes casual clothes, reading material, and the crucial supply of vitamins and diet supplements he takes for his strict, plant-based diet.
“We’ll all be at the hotel,” said the well-traveled big man, “and we pretty much won’t be allowed to go outside the environment that we’ll be presented. So, I will keep it simple. I don’t think it’s rocket science.”
No, but it could be 10 weeks in space they’ve never traveled. Simple, and maybe a bit of Snickers, could carry them a long way.
The stay in the bubble will have its challenges, no matter what gets stuffed in those bags loaded onto the Bruins’ charter. Games and practices will fill their work hours, and the odd Snickers bar or protein shake can satisfy the occasional craving. But the idle hours of a long postseason run into September has the potential to trigger cabin fever for some.
“I think that is definitely a concern maybe some guys have,” said goalie Tuukka Rask, whose workload, in terms of playing minutes, portends to be the heaviest. “It is one thing if you can go to a place, leave, and go do things. But we are not really going to have that opportunity here. You can’t just go outside for a walk, or go get a coffee … we are going to be really tight and confined to the hotel.”
Lauzon and Marchand, the guitar-playing Black and Gold brothers, will have charge of the instrumentals. Ah, if only Rask had dared to drum.
“Exactly,” said Marchand, noting the possibility to “put a show on every night.”
“There’s definitely going to be some days when they get long, and nights when they get long, where you go a little bit crazy,” added Rask. “But at end of the day really only four teams will go through that. And two teams at the end of the day will go the distance. For those two teams, it’s going to be worth it.”
In interviews with a dozen team members in recent days, the most common survival tools included tablets and gaming devices, as well as board games, cards, and books, though most said their tomes would be in digital form.
“We’re going to have a lot of extra time, and to be honest, I gamed a lot,” said left winger Jake DeBrusk, referring to the long league-wide lockdown that began March 12. “So fresh out of quarantine, I want to say I am kind of bored of it. I am definitely looking for different things to do.”
The Bruins’ playoff contingent, a party of 50-plus, will jet off to Toronto on Sunday for the start of what could be 71 days on the road chasing the Stanley Cup.
The charter flight’s underbelly will be full of bags carrying at least a couple of guitars (lead stummers: Brad Marchand and Jeremy Lauzon), bunches of books, untold decks of cards, PlayStations and laptops, and a Halloween’s motherlode of treats to satisfy the sweet-toothed cravings of a roster of more than 30 NHLers, ages 21-43.
“Yeah, Snickers,” said rookie forward Jack Studnicka, revealing the No. 1 item on his playoff camp survival kit. “I do love Snickers bars. It’s kind of my go-to snack.”
You could have a foot and a half of snow there by then,” noted Marchand, proud son of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a man well-versed in Canadian meteorology. “So, it’s kind of tough to plan what clothes to bring.”
The L’il Ball o’ Hate’s answer: the “everyman” suitcase full of extra sweat shirts and sweat pants.
“Stuff that will be good in the snow,” he mused. “We’re not allowed to go outside anyway, so you don’t really need a jacket.”
My son won’t allow me to bring his PlayStation,” kidded team president Cam Neely. “So I stocked up on some books.”
By the eye of team captain Zdeno Chara, it’s not really about what goes into the bag in these kinds of circumstances. Succeeding in big journeys is more about a mind-set than a checklist of goods or the comforting salve of a deep Netflix binge.
Chara figures he “will keep it simple” when packing this time for the playoffs. His list includes casual clothes, reading material, and the crucial supply of vitamins and diet supplements he takes for his strict, plant-based diet.
“We’ll all be at the hotel,” said the well-traveled big man, “and we pretty much won’t be allowed to go outside the environment that we’ll be presented. So, I will keep it simple. I don’t think it’s rocket science.”
No, but it could be 10 weeks in space they’ve never traveled. Simple, and maybe a bit of Snickers, could carry them a long way.
The stay in the bubble will have its challenges, no matter what gets stuffed in those bags loaded onto the Bruins’ charter. Games and practices will fill their work hours, and the odd Snickers bar or protein shake can satisfy the occasional craving. But the idle hours of a long postseason run into September has the potential to trigger cabin fever for some.
“I think that is definitely a concern maybe some guys have,” said goalie Tuukka Rask, whose workload, in terms of playing minutes, portends to be the heaviest. “It is one thing if you can go to a place, leave, and go do things. But we are not really going to have that opportunity here. You can’t just go outside for a walk, or go get a coffee … we are going to be really tight and confined to the hotel.”
Lauzon and Marchand, the guitar-playing Black and Gold brothers, will have charge of the instrumentals. Ah, if only Rask had dared to drum.
“Exactly,” said Marchand, noting the possibility to “put a show on every night.”
“There’s definitely going to be some days when they get long, and nights when they get long, where you go a little bit crazy,” added Rask. “But at end of the day really only four teams will go through that. And two teams at the end of the day will go the distance. For those two teams, it’s going to be worth it.”
In interviews with a dozen team members in recent days, the most common survival tools included tablets and gaming devices, as well as board games, cards, and books, though most said their tomes would be in digital form.
“We’re going to have a lot of extra time, and to be honest, I gamed a lot,” said left winger Jake DeBrusk, referring to the long league-wide lockdown that began March 12. “So fresh out of quarantine, I want to say I am kind of bored of it. I am definitely looking for different things to do.”
