Flames enjoy bonding experience visiting Great Wall of China

BEIJING -- Johnny Gaudreau stared into the distance, which looked endless on this crystal clear, sunny day. The Calgary Flames left wing had his arms resting on 500-year-old brick, his mind wandering back to school in Carneys Point, New Jersey, some 7,000 miles away.

Here was Gaudreau standing on the Great Wall of China with his teammates. Here he was in a place he previously knew about only from books and pictures.
"To be honest, I never thought I'd ever be in China, let alone be on the Great Wall of China," Gaudreau said while standing on the Mutianyu section of the Wall. "Growing up, always in history class you learn about these kind of things, but you never thought you'd be here. You have to take it all in because this is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
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That opportunity came Sunday for Gaudreau and Calgary's entire traveling crew because of the 2018 O.R.G. NHL China Games.
The Flames are here to promote the NHL in China, to train for the regular season and to play two preseason games against the Boston Bruins, including at Cadillac Arena in Beijing on Wednesday (7:30 a.m. ET; NBCSN, SN). But they're also here to experience the culture, the way of life and the history that exists in this ancient country.
A trip to the Great Wall was No. 1 on their list of things to do. It was the "pinch me, is this real" moment they were hoping for.

"You can't even put it into words," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. "It's a surreal experience to be up here. Just to think about what it took to build this, the history we're standing on right now, it's pretty cool. I think it's a great thing we came here as a team and experienced it together."
The Flames left their hotel in downtown Beijing at 1 p.m. local time Sunday. The ride up took 2 1/2 hours, about an hour longer than normal, because of traffic and a road blockage. The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, was also touring the Great Wall on Sunday and his security team forced the closure of the main road that leads to the Mutianyu section. Soldiers lined many of the streets in the countryside villages that lead to the Wall.

"It was long and slow," Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin said after the bus ride, before the climb to the Wall began.
But the extra time gave the players a chance to allow their excitement to build.
They spoke about the history of the Great Wall, about why it was built. Hanifin said he had a chance to read up on a bit and remembered hearing about a close friend's experience during his visit. Others said they googled the Great Wall too.
"This was definitely the one thing we were all excited about," forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "Looking at the trip beforehand, this was the one moment we were all waiting for."
Added forward Derek Ryan: "It's a bucket list item we get to do together."

Once off the bus, the players all received three tickets, one for the shuttle bus that takes them to the gondola or chair lift, one for the gondola or chair lift so they could get up to the Wall, and one for the toboggan ride down from the Wall.
Then they went and did some shopping along the walking route to the shuttle buses.
Gaudreau bought a hat that made it look like he had panda ears. Curtis Lazar and Garnet Hathaway, both forwards, and defensemen
Dalton Prout
and
Rasmus Andersson
immediately went to buy Chinese bamboo straw cone hats, though the authenticity of the bamboo is debatable.

They set a precedent, though, because several more players and staff members did the same.
"The sun is a little aggressive out here," Lazar said, laughing.
Hathaway, Lazar, and forwards
Morgan Klimchuk
and Austin Czarnik all wore their hats on the shuttle bus, laughing with each other at how silly they looked.

"I think it's great," Ryan said. "They just jump right into the culture. They dive right in and that makes it a lot more fun for the rest of the guys."
Most of the players and staff took the chair lift up to the Great Wall, but Gaudreau was among the few who got into a gondola because of his fear of heights.
Tkachuk, who took a chair lift, said he was a little shaky on it.

"There wasn't a ton of security on it," he said. "I'm wearing loose shorts right now so I easily could have dropped the passport, wallet or phone. I held on tight, took a couple pictures and put it right back in because you weren't getting it if you were dropping anything."
Jaws dropped like ancient bricks once everyone got up onto the Great Wall.
The scenic views stretched for miles on a perfect day. It was much different for assistant Martin Gelinas, who said when he was here with director of team operations Sean O'Brien a month ago, they could barely see 50 feet in front of them because of fog.

"It's unbelievable," Hathaway said while standing on the Wall and looking out. "It's just breathtaking. With this view right now and how much land you can see and how impressive the Wall is, I'm so lucky to be here. I'll remember this forever."
Gaudreau said standing on the Great Wall gave him a greater appreciation for the fact that it was built by people.
"And that it's still here today," he said. "We're fortunate that our careers brought us here."
Giordano wanted to know how the builders got the bricks up the mountain. There were no chair lifts and gondolas back then.
"The man hours, it's crazy," he said.
The Flames took selfies and group shots and team pictures. They laughed and stared and bonded. Some of them drank a beer, and many of them took part in devouring the four pizzas goalie Mike Smith bought at the bottom and third-string goalie Nick Schneider carried up to the top.

"We were just dying laughing with each other, but to see something like this, it's spectacular," forward James Neal said. "To get here is tough. With the travel, I don't think anyone understands what goes into that from planes to busses and what you've got to do, but once you're here and you're with the guys, it's all worth it."
Finally, one by one they took part in one of the great traditions of visiting the Mutianyu part of the Great Wall: the toboggan slide down from the top.

It was a wild ride.
"Me and [Smith] were coming down the hill, legs locked and running into everything in sight," Neal said from the bottom. "I couldn't believe how fast we got going. I mean, you're up a ways, so you can gain some serious speed. It was funny. Running into families, reporters, coaches, everything. Nothing was out of play for us. Great Wall of China, everything is fair game.
"It was a blast."