Hockey players are known for being reserved like the University of Michigan football team is known for its defense. So when I took an eight-hour bus ride – each way – to do play-by-play broadcasting of the Grand Valley State University men’s hockey team’s games against Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., let’s just say it was a learning experience.

Now, I was never awesome at sports. That is, the teams that I made were usually the ones without cuts. Thus, I had never really been on a real sports road trip before, the type where you stay overnight in the cheapest hotel available that still has a continental breakfast. As for the sleeping arrangements, well, budgets are tough to meet. And the easiest way to meet them is to stick two dudes in one bed. Welcome to the world of club sports.

My sleeping mate (for lack of a better word) was my broadcast partner. Let’s call him Slavko. We’ll call him that because that’s his real name. He’s a 6-foot-6 Serbian guy who knows more about hockey than the rest of the country of Serbia combined. Though sleeping with a guy who could roll over and end me might not be my idea of fun, I understand the risks involved in road trips.

That was just risk No. 1. Risk No. 2? The food. We made three stops. Taco Bell, Wendy’s and Arby’s. Something of a heart-attack trifecta, I know. Our trip to Wendy’s came after the dine-in area closed, and since no one had a car we thought we were out of luck. Until defenseman Jake Ochsner sweet-talked the manager into letting us walk through the drive-thru, something that had to have been so against company policy we risked the jobs of everyone inside. But hey, we were hungry.

At least I didn’t have to play hockey after delivering three grenades to my gastrointestinal tract – how the team managed to even stand up on ice skates tells me they’ve done this before. See, I played hockey throughout my childhood, so entering the weekend I believed I knew how hockey players ticked. But these guys took it to another level. They were never serious except for when they were on the ice. They have a constant tendency to “chirp” – that’s taunt in hockey speak – each other. I would never believe that 25 people could rip on one another for such an extended period of time and yet get along so well.

For example, on Oct. 11, an article of mine in the Lanthorn featured Grant Lyon, GVSU’s goalie. The headline was “Social Monster, Ice Beast.” As soon as he saw that in print, he knew he was in trouble. It was a rare occurrence for any of Grant’s teammates to call him by name the entire weekend. It was exclusively “social monster,” so much so that it has now been shortened simply to “SM.” After he asked me if I knew the amount of chirping he’d received since the article ran, I made sure to tell him I write the stories, not the headlines.

Once the first game rolled around, I forgot I was actually there to work. The Lakers grabbed a quick 2-0 lead, but for the rest of the game the ice was drastically tilted in Lindenwood’s favor. GVSU was outshot 26-5 in the final two periods, but Lyon somehow kept Lindenwood off the board. In a performance that possibly was the best of his five-year career as a Laker, Lyon stopped all 38 shots against a team that had totaled 34 goals in just four games. After the buzzer sounded in the third, Lyon was mobbed by his teammates, each of whom knew had he not been in net the result likely would have been much different.

However, it was forward Derek Williams’ quip after the game that summed up exactly what the team is about.

“Yeah, I guess Grant played okay, but if we hadn’t scored it would’ve been a tie,” he said.

Although Lyon and the Lakers did not fair as well in the second match of the weekend, dropping the game 3-1, the team was happy with a weekend split on the road against a top-ranked team. For me, I was just happy to be along for the ride. The metaphorical ride that is, because the literal eight-hour ride each way definitely wasn’t my favorite part.

I said it was a learning experience, and it was. I learned hockey players are quite comfortable with each other – they have to sleep in the same bed after all. I learned Jake Ochsner has a way with words, so much so he can talk you into risking your job. I learned Grant Lyon, if not a social monster, is an ice beast. And finally, I learned that sacrificing a weekend at GVSU for a chance trip to Missouri was certainly worth it.

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