As the last note from the National Anthem hangs in the air, I open the Lightning locker room door, not exactly sure what I'll encounter. Tampa Bay's game against Buffalo is now seconds away from puck drop. The players and coaches are out on the bench. Razor stands on a milk crate at the entrance to the bench. Berger is behind him manning the sticks, which are lined up on the opposite side of the tunnel. Bubba is in the locker room for this game. Usually he's behind the players on the bench, but there's not enough room on the Sabres' visitors bench for everybody. All of the equipment guys have an earpiece in so they can talk to each other. Mully and Mikey have one too. Makes it easier for guys to communicate when they're in different areas and things are needed in a hurry.
I set up behind Berger in a spot where I can watch what the equipment guys do during the game and catch the game on the jumbotron. The ice is only a few feet in front of me but there are too many things - players, coaches, fans - in the way to completely follow the action.
The team behind the team: Life behind the bench for the equipment staff
In part two of this series, Bryan Burns experienced the organized chaos the staff deals with servicing players during games
© Mark LoMoglio
Ray and Berger communicate during the game like a good D pair. Ray calls out a number, and Berger finds the appropriate twig from the wall and hands it over. Victor Hedman snaps his stick on a one-timer from the blue line on a power play.
"77," Ray calls out.
Berger grabs Hedman's backup stick. Ray reaches the stick out over the boards for Hedman to take when the play allows him to.
At the first TV timeout, Braydon Coburn takes his gloves off and gets another pair from Berger. The sweaty pair are placed on a boot and glove dryer a few feet away down the tunnel to be used later in the game when they're dry. Some players change gloves throughout the game. Some don't. By the third period, Berger will have six pairs of gloves at a time laid out on a step by his feet, ready to change out with players at the next whistle.
After the first period, the Lightning are down 2-1, and I'm a little nervous. I feel like an intruder perched in my hallway spot, not because of anything anyone's said to me. But inside my head, I'm running through all those stories about rituals and routine players go through. Me standing behind them in the tunnel is not part of that routine. If the Bolts lose, I'd rather it not be known I was standing only a couple feet from the bench. Maybe I'm bad luck.
I'd rather not find out.
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The second period begins. Anthony Cirelli needs a skate blade changed. Berger grabs the new blade from a box. Ray has a tool kit attached to his belt on his right hip. He pulls out a Swiss army knife-looking instrument to pop Cirelli's unsatisfactory blade from the skate then quickly snaps a new one in place. The whole process takes maybe 30 seconds. In this way, Ray and Berger are like a NASCAR pit crew for the players, getting them in and off of pit row so they can go back out on the ice. Suddenly, the bench rises.
2-2: Palat (6) - Sergachev, Hedman at 7:50/2nd
Mikhail Sergachev sets up the tying goal, faking a shot and skating to below the right dot before backhanding a pass into the slot for Ondrej Palat to one-time into the net.
As the bench celebrates, Mikey runs down the tunnel to get something from the room, throwing his fist up for me to bump as he glides by.
I'm feeling better about being behind the bench.
Surprisingly, there's not a lot of chatter where I'm standing. Ray and Berger seem to be totally focused on their job, talking only when something is needed. The players don't say much either. They look exhausted when they reach the bench door. Berger runs back and forth between the bench and the room about once a minute. Mikey needs an ice pack for a player. Berger runs to grab it. Gourde needs a blade changed. Berger runs to grab it. He always has a few sets of gloves going on the dryer. During the second period, Berger has Coburn's jersey stretched out over the dryer.
Meanwhile, Razor is orchestrating the whole production. He's plenty experienced in this role. In February of 2015, he worked his 1,500th career game, a milestone commemorated on the video board at Arizona's Gila River Arena, a classy acknowledgement for an opponent's staffer. He estimates he's a couple years from reaching 2,000. Behind the bench, Razor is kind of like the expeditor in a restaurant, serving as the liaison between the players and the staff while overseeing quality control. He makes sure the back of the house (i.e. the equipment staff) do the appropriate job so the customers (i.e. the players) are happy.
The second period ends.
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I'm barely back to my spot for the third period before Buffalo goes back into the lead.
2-3: Scandella (3) - Pominville, Sheary at 5:54/3rd
The Buffalo crowd is really into the game now, sensing an opportunity to beat the top team in the league for a second time this season at home. A kid five rows behind the Lightning bench, no more than five years old, is screaming like a demon child, "You suck, Tampa Bay." Over and over again. "You suck." He growls it as he says it. Sometimes he changes it up to, "You're so crappy, nothing but crap." His father in the next seat is laughing and encouraging him. The fans around him are half-amused, half-wondering what kind of parent would let their child behave in such a way. Imagine being this terror's teacher.
3-3: Kucherov (22) - Stamkos at 6:17/3rd
That shut the little tyke up.
During a whistle, Lightning starting goalie Louis Domingue heads over to the bench, complaining to Razor about one of the straps on his chest protector bothering him. Razor reaches up inside the jersey to find the culprit but with limited time can't get to the root of the problem. At the next TV timeout, Domingue takes off his jersey and Razor starts pulling straps until Domingue seems satisfied and is ready to get back in the net. I ask Razor what the issue was later that night.
"Louis said one of the straps was bothering him, but I couldn't really find anything."
Players are so finely tuned that even if the slightest thing is off, it can affect their play. Sometimes, Razor adds, a player complains about an equipment issue just to get a breather, although I don't think he's talking about Domingue in this situation.
4-3 Lightning: Stamkos (24) - Kucherov, Hedman at 14:44/3rd
Starting to feel pretty good about being behind the bench now.
During a late power play, Berger takes over Ray's job getting sticks to guys if theirs break during the game.
"Berger's doing the sticks because last game he did the sticks and we scored two power-play goals," Razor tells me.
5-3 Lightning: Callahan (5) - Cirelli, Killorn at 18:41/3rd
Berger is good luck on this power play too.
Ryan Callahan gets loose around the hash marks and Anthony Cirelli, standing on the goal line to the right of the net, sends a pass in front for Callahan to one-time off the near post and in, the insurance marker putting the game out of reach. The Lightning win 5-3, improve to 35-8-2 on the season. They are in first place in the NHL standings by 10 points, ahead in their division by 14 points.
The five year old and his father are long gone.
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After the game, the locker room is buzzing with activity. Players put all their equipment in bags sitting on the floor in front of their stall. The equipment guys haul them out to carts lined up in the hallway outside the locker room. Players bring bags to the cart too. All hands on deck. Everybody's trying to get out of the room swiftly and onto the bus. The quicker onto the bus, the faster the team can get to the airport and their waiting charter plane. And, ultimately, the sooner the team can get in the air and into their next city, in this case, Brooklyn, and their hotel rooms and a bed and sleep.
Five minutes from the final horn, all the equipment is back in its crate and bags on carts, stalls are completely empty, except for maybe a water bottle or shake players are given following games. Bubba opens all the benches to make sure nothing gets left behind. While Victor Hedman talks to media in front of his stall about the Lightning's resiliency and their ability to find ways to win games, which they did this night in rallying from deficits of 2-1 and 3-2, the last of the bags and carts are being wheeled away to Buffalo's equipment truck and will drive separately to the Buffalo airport from the buses carrying team and staff members.
The work day for the equipment staff is about half over.