The Islanders Pregame Coffee Routine

If you and a group of co-workers pop out for an afternoon coffee to break up the workday, then you have something in common with Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri and Zach Parise.
The Islanders teammates - who are also currently linemates - have made a habit of grabbing pre-game coffees together on the road.

"We like to grab a coffee and either get on the bus or Uber over the game," Palmieri said. "It's nice to get out and get a little walk and some fresh air before heading to a rink for five or six hours."
The trio were spotted together at the security entrances in Boston and Winnipeg with coffees in hand, but it's not an exclusive group.
"Usually Pager is in there too," Parise said of Jean-Gabriel Pageau. "There's a handful of guys that are always looking for an americano before heading to the rink."
As
detailed in Questions and Isles
, Parise's go-to coffee is an Americano. The mid-to-late afternoon coffee is a pre-cursor to what's essentially a night shift.
"A little pick me up around 4," Parise said. "I don't know if it does anything, but I like something hot."

The order of operations is to assemble, get coffees and then figure out if the team bus or an Uber is the best way to get to the rink. It's not a superstitious thing, but just more of a routine, especially in that 4-4:30 p.m. window ahead of 7 or 7:30 p.m. games.
"It's kind of turned into [a routine]," said Nelson, who is stringent about an iced americano. "We're all looking to go to the rink around the same time and everyone is looking for a coffee, so we kind of just congregate together and find a way to make it work."
As for preferred coffee purveyor, that changes too. Dunkin is ubiquitous with Boston, so it's a convenient grab. Same goes for Tim Horton's in Canada. Starbucks is everywhere, but if they know a good local shop - For Five on Long Island is a popular choice - that changes it up too.
"I'm open to anything," Parise said. "Brock's a little pickier."
Nelson tries to find a local cafe or homegrown coffee shop before visiting the more common coffee places.
For Nelson, the pre-game coffee run dates back to his high school days and it's just carried through. As he's found with Parise and Palmieri - and Matt Martin at home - he's got teammates who think the same way.
"I feel like I've been having coffee my whole life," Nelson said. Even in high school I remember going and grabbing a coffee for the game and hanging out and it's just something carried through forever. I think most guys are kind of on that same thing. Just kind of little boosts part of the routine maybe just to get going."