The equipment managers and athletic trainers, in the enduring lyrics of Jackson Browne's The Loadout, are "the first to come and the last to leave." They go from the airport to the rink immediately after touching down in the next town to hang equipment and get ready for the next day. While the rest of the travel party goes to the hotel to sleep, their day marches on into the wee hours.
It's a practice day, a few hours after the last game and a few more before the next. In the 50 or so team hotel rooms the morning breaks in many different ways. Room service, a visit from a therapist to deliver ice for sore muscles, cracked laptops tuning in to Livebarn and a kid's hockey game in another country, coaches meeting to discuss the day, management poring over scouting reports and transaction wires, broadcasters starting charts for the next game.
The works is fun and gratifying and never stops. When it does halt it means the season is over and only one organization is left smiling. For the rest, the hunger pangs hit immediately following that last loss. No one in the NHL ever wants the work to go away as that signifies the end. Of a season, an era with a team or maybe even a career. Life in pro sport is never a given. The door constantly swings, and no one wants to be caught on the wrong side.
The season is an endless tsunami. Stop kicking for a second and the results are disastrous.
Saturday the Golden Knights were able to tread water, picking up a point in an overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers. While watching the Oilers pour off the bench to celebrate was a punch to the gut, the realization that a win in Vancouver on Monday could give Vegas three of a possible four points on the trip eases the sting.
Saturday's standings point is one the VGK couldn't come up with last season. It's the difference between having a chance to win the Stanley Cup and people getting traded or fired in a non-playoff offseason.
Vegas trailed the Oilers 3-2 in the third period on Saturday night in northern Alberta, but Mark Stone's second goal of the game tied it at three goals apiece and sent the game to overtime. Vegas has now collected points in 15 of its 19 games played. That's a formula for a 100-point plus season and a divisional banner.
No team is perfect, and the Golden Knights are a work in progress, but the positives far outweigh the negatives. GM Kelly McCrimmon has assembled a team easy to cheer for and the players take genuine joy in playing for one another.
The result is first place in the Western Conference and Pacific Division. Life on the road, let me tell you, is much better when the team is winning.
Enjoy your Sunday, whether you're working or relaxing. It's sure better than any alternative.
