Daily Travel Recap from St. John's

April 6, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


April 6, 2012 - Happy Good Friday everyone as Damon Markiewicz checks in from St. John's Newfoundland tonight where we are 90 minutes ahead of the Eastern Time Zone. It was a long travel day, but a good one that had no delays thankfully. Myself, equipment manager Ralph Calvanese and head athletic trainer Tom Bourdon took a flight with all of the equipment from Logan Airport in Boston, had a layover in Toronto before arriving in St. John's. The day started at 1 am at the MassMutual Center where we packed all of the equipment on a truck and headed for Boston. Myself and Bourdon sat in the back with the equipment, it was cold and bumpy. We arrived at Logan Airport around 3:30 am, checked in with Air Canada and finally departed for Toronto at 6:30 am.

The players and coaches took a separate flight leaving Logan Airport at 8:15 am, connecting through Halifax before arriving in St. John's. The bus picked up the players at 5 am in Springfield and Louie our award winning bus driver from Peter Pan delivered the team to Boston for the flight.

We arrived in Toronto around 8:15 am, had a quick breakfast at the airport and boarded a plan for St. John's around 11:45 am. Once we arrived in St. John's around 4:30 pm local time (3 pm EST), we gathered all 37 hockey bags we are traveling with and boarded an equipment truck to the arena in St. John's, Mile One Centre. When we fly as a team, we fly commercial so we are traveling with the general public, no private plane. This also means, when we gather the hockey equipment, we are right there with the general public waiting for our bags to appear. As one youngster reminded me in Toronto, this young fan was displaying his St. John's IceCaps jersey and stated he will be at both games this weekend. This reminded me that we were truly on a road trip, no familiar faces on this trip.

During our connection flight from Toronto to St. John's, myself, Calvanese and Bourdon had to gather all of the bags and lead them through customs. It's always adventurous trying to gather hockey bags down at the baggage claim, but we started the day with 37 bags and ended the day with 37 bags. Finally by 6 pm St. John's time, everyone had arrived in Newfoundland, players, coaches, trainers and staff. After a quick dinner in downtown St. John's, everyone used some time to rest up for two important games. If you ever get a chance to visit St. John's, do it, these are some of the nicest people in the world who love their hockey.

HOCKEY UPDATE

On the hockey side of things, there was some news today for the Falcons. Maksim Mayorov was recalled by the Columbus Blue Jackets. His hockey bag was at Logan Airport when assistant coach Brad Larsen tracked down Calvanese to make sure the equipment truck dropping off the gear had Mayorov's bag on it head back to Springfield.

With Mayorovon recall, the Falcons have 21 players on the trip in St. John's. The following is a breakdown of who is on the trip in St. John's:

Forwards - Tim Spencer, Nathan Longpre, Sean Collins, Wade MacLeod, Dane Byers, Nick Drazenovic, Boone Jenner, Alexandre Giroux, Andrew Joudrey, Ryan Garlock, Martin St. Pierre, Aaron Bogosian

Defensemen - Greg Amadio, Anton Blomqvist, Theo Ruth, Brent Regner, Patrick Cullity, David Savard, Cody Goloubef

Goalies - Manny Legace, Paul Dainton

BLUE JACKETS SIGN WEBER

The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed defenseman Will Weber to a standard two-year entry level contract, club Executive Vice President and General Manager Scott Howson announced today.

Weber, 23, just completed his senior season at Miami University (CCHA), where he registered four assists and 69 penalty minutes in 40 games. In 154 career games with the RedHawks, he tallied 4-26-30, 263 penalty minutes and a cumulative plus/minus rating of +26 from 2008-12.

A native of Gaylord, Michigan, Weber was the Blue Jackets' third pick, 53rd overall, in the 2007 Entry Draft. He took home CCHA All-Tournament team honors in 2010-11 after recording 1-10-11, 57 penalty minutes and was +7 in 33 games. He was named CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman in 2009-10 after collecting 1-9-10, 62 penalty minutes and was +12 in 43 games, setting career highs in the latter two categories. Prior to his career at Miami, he notched 8-10-18, 137 penalty minutes and was +12 in 46 games with Chicago of the United States Hockey League.



American Hockey League Stories from April 6, 2012


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