After the great success of the road game in Greenville, Brian was asked by the Surge travel team coaches if he’d be interested in joining the program. Between the fun in the game, the travel, and hanging out with the boys, he immediately wanted to do it. I was apprehensive about it as we really didn’t want to add another obligation to the family. However, his performance and desire was contagious and Brian the select ice hockey goalie was born. an additional point of apprehension here was due to the fact that the first tournament, in Laurel, MD, started on New Years Day, generally requiring us to leave Raleigh on New Years Eve. I wasn’t really looking forward to that. As we didn’t know anything about travel, the hotel situation, what siblings and family could do, we went the safe, yet difficult route, of deciding that Alison and Kendall would stay at home while Brian and I went on the road. So here we are!
Travel began with a meet-up for caravan/carpool/convoy to Maryland at 10:00 am in a CVS Pharmacy parking lot. We were customarily late. The reason for the extra-early start was because one of the families are huge Clemson fans, and there was a football game that they needed to see, so had to be there by 4:00 pm. But, that was all fine! We motored all the way to the North Carolina/Virginia state line, where a few team members needed to use the facilities at the Virginia Welcome Center! We got to stretch our legs, and I took the opportunity to get the first photos of Brian’s Surge team jacket with his name and number embroidered on it. Oh, it’s all real now! Except, we still don’t have jerseys or socks for the kids! More in a moment on that.
Our destination was the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Laurel. It has undergone ownership and name changes, but also has been recently renovated. All of our rooms opened up onto a large public area where the kids had a blast playing all sorts of things (fake snowball fights, hockey, etc.). It also allows for parents to lounge, but still keep an eye on the kids. As we are only a week since Christmas, the decorations were still abundant.
I set up Brian’s brand new drying rack that I built. Some additional information for non-hockey players/parents out there. Hockey equipment typically is considered extra funky due to the moisture from sweating and ice that melts and gets into the gear. Add to that, that many hockey folks don’t care to do much with their gear other than toss it in their bag, then toss it in their car, the prejudice is quite justified. I don’t deal well with funk, or keeping any type of equipment (computer, electrical, A/V, tools, etc.) in an untidy manner, so I’ve had a bit of OCD about Brian’s hockey equipment from day one. I know where all the equipment is. The helmet and skates always get dried off with a towel. All the padding gets laid-out or hung up to dry. All the clothing (jerseys, socks, undergarments) get washed and tried…. EVERY TIME. This makes me a bit of an anomaly (and a true amateur equipment manager), but it’s the only way I can deal. At the house, I have an alcove in the garage where everything has a place and his gear is always dry and ready to roll for the next game. However, with FIVE hockey events over THREE days, I had no choice but to come up with some sort of solution to keep my sanity and keep his gear dry. I did some research online for various products that could be bought and plans that could be built to solve this problem. In the end, I took some of the best ideas and built my own! It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself, especially for someone who has never actually worked with cutting, cleaning, and gluing PVC before! You can’t necessarily see all the details from these photos, and most folks probably wouldn’t care, but it was a bit of a pride point for myself, especially knocking it out in so few days!
Once we were fully unpacked and had a bit of fun in the common area (and the Clemson game was over), we decided to head over to the restaurant attached to the hotel. So, all four kids (and their respective parents) that made it up early were there: Brian, Ashley, Caleb, and William.
When Ezra’s family made it, we were surprised by the fact that his mom made door signs for all the players! This is actually a fairly common thing that I was not aware of. Brian’s was specifically in the shape of a goaltender, while the other eight kids had skaters. Love that attention to detail!
After a long drive, Brian and I were toast and didn’t really feel like staying up to welcome in the new year, so we just put on our brand new Star Wars pajamas from Christmas and went off to sleep! Plus, we have a big three days ahead of us that we need to be rested-up for. GO SURGE!
A place for everything, and everything in its place. I like the drying system.