Rust finding normalcy in routine

One key to handling the current situation of self-quarantining is having a routine. And that's something that has occurred in the Rust household.

Bryan Rust and company - that includes his wife Kelsey, brother-in-law Jarrett Burton and teammate Zach Aston-Reese - start every morning with a cup of coffee along with a game of Settlers of Catan at 10 a.m.
"My brother-in-law has been a huge advocate ever since I've known him, basically, of this game. I was always skeptical," Rust, 27, admitted. "We were looking for something to do one night. We tried it. 'Reeser' got hooked first. Then my wife and I joined in. We've been playing multiple games every day."
At some point after that, Rust (and company) will try to get in a workout. In this regard, Rust is lucky compared to some of the antiquated methods other players around the league are being forced to utilize.
"We have a pretty decent setup here," Rust said. "We have some dumbbells. We have some stability balls. Some bands. A couple cardio machines. We're able to do some pretty good stuff.
"We're trying to make the most of it. But not being able to get on the ice or do much skating or even some sort of skill work will make you a little bit rusty. Some guys in the summer don't even go a month or more without skating. That poses a bit of a challenge."
If the weather is nice, they'll spend some time outdoors, perhaps taking part in some street hockey with equipment they ordered online from DICK'S Sporting Goods.
"We've tried to get into that lately, getting back to us being kids," Rust said via video conference on Tuesday afternoon.
As the day winds down, the group will enjoy dinner and spend the rest of the evening playing "a whole ton of board games and card games."
"We have four people in the house, so it's easy for us to stay occupied and do some new things, get some new conversations and things like that," Rust said. "It's just trying to stay busy, whether it's a hobby or something that can keep your mind going instead of worrying about the what ifs and things like that."
Not to correct Rust, but there are actually seven in the household. That would include Rust's two mini Golden Retrievers Cooper and Oliver, as well as Aston-Reese's Italian Greyhound puppy Carl.
"Carl, Coop and Oliver have become buddies," Rust said. "I'd say Carl and Oliver have become closer. Even though Coop is only 3, he's the grumpy old man of the group. The other two are really young and full of energy. They're always playing and running around. It's been really fun."
The three dogs were actually friends before quarantine. Whenever the Penguins had been on the road, Kelsey offered to watch Carl for Aston-Reese, who lives alone downtown. So when the quarantine went into effect, it only seemed natural that the family adopt Zach as well.
"In order to make things easier and make the transition smoother we offered to have him stay with us," Rust said. "He and I are pretty close. He gets along with me and my wife pretty well. He's obviously a great guy, so it was kind of a no-brainer to have him stay with us. I think it helps with his grocery shopping and his choice of meals to have him staying with us.
"I've seen him quite a bit. We've definitely spent a lot of quality time together."
But everyone in the group knows who the real MVP is.
"My wife has been really good with it all. She's got a house full of boys, but she's been awesome," Rust laughed.
During downtime, Rust has been in constant communication with his teammates via group chat while also "helping" Kelsey with planning renovations to their summer home.
"We're able to put a lot of time and effort into picking out finishes and things like that," Rust said. "I think my wife is really happy to have more of my input and having me more involved in that now."
Rust has been humbled by the entire experience of the current circumstance, and is grateful and appreciative for those people on the front lines in this situation.
"I just hope everyone is safe and staying healthy, and everyone is spending time with their family," Rust said. "I want to throw a thank you out there to all the people on the front lines, health workers in any fashion or people in the food industry. Those are really big ones. They're out there every day and they're working hard for us."
Rust, like most of us, is doing his best to pass the time while also staying as ready as possible for a resumption of play.
"It's been a season of adversity, whether it was all the injuries, injuries to key players and things like that, I think we just have to overcome adversity," he said. "Depending on how this goes, if we get back into the season it's just another hurdle we're happy to try to overcome."