Back from Villard with a Win

Saturday night in Villard de Lans was a "total team effort" it was "textbook style defense" and "our best players were our best players." Ok enough with the cliches, it was a huge win for us on the road. A very similar game to what we played last year in Villard, where we played very defensive and limited their scoring chances. Last year we won 1-0, this year we came away with a 4-1 victory! Our Captain Jan Plch (yes I agree, there should be a vowel in his last name), had 3 goals, his last into the empty net and Fab Leroy had the other. I was held off the score sheet but did progress in the plus/minus chart where I was +3. I am trying to take myself out of the race for the "Green Jacket" as I was sitting at -6 prior to the game (11-3 loss and 6-5 loss really hurt). A huge win and a fun trip all around!

Listening to the iPod and warming up before the game


After the game we made our way down to this small restaurant that looked like a cave, where we at a Tartiflette, one of my favorite French dishes and very popular in the French Alps where we were. This dish has potatoes, Reblochon cheese, and bacon. It is extremely popular at mountain restaurants during the ski season since it is savoury, high in calories and relatively easy to cook and keep warm for an hour or more without deterioration in quality. I love it!!!

This is the Tartiflette! It was very important to get all those Calories back after the game.


On the walk back to the bus we passed by a night club, as we continued past it and towards the bus we couldn't help but think how nice it would be to have a few beers and relax before heading onto the cramped bus. As a few of us got on the bus, we saw that nobody was there. Hmmmm.....? We headed back to the club and in the front window there were 5 of our teammates sitting at a table. They were thinking the same thing, so we walked in, and ordered a round. Pretty soon our whole team was in there having some laughs and putting hockey and family aside for a bit to enjoy each others company. The beers were "Mountain Prices" so that means cheap 2.50 euro.

At the Night Club (or in French "Boite de Nuit") after the game.
From Left to Right: Jan Plch, Peter Slovak, Jan Simko (All slovaks)

We made our way back onto the bus around 2am, and set off for Epinal. Since we don't have a sleeper bus, we have to find a way to get comfortable in our 2 seats. On this trip I brought a piece of workout equipment (the TRX) so I could rest my legs in the straps. It was very effective on the way up there to stretch my legs and for a quick nap, but on the way home I just could not stay comfortable.
Visualizing good D-Zone positioning on the way up to the game, with the help of the TRX



Option #2 for me was to move to the floor, where I slept from about 4:30am-6:30am in one of the most ruthless and tortures conditions a hockey player has ever faced. I will not go too much into detail, but let me just say this, when I awoke I found myself directly below the back end of Borislav Ilic, the man known as "Bora Caca." These conditioning will never be faced again "sans Gas Mask"
If I only would have stayed where I was in the TRX. Just below my legs is where I slept. To the right is me are the legs of Bora Caca.


It is Monday afternoon, and I will be leaving for practice here in about an hour. We had an optional workout this morning where only 6 of us were there. We played Jorky Ball for about 30mins, I jumped in for a game a Squash, then worked some on some Balance with Erwan. We have a few guys banged up right now and get back to game action in Coupe de la Ligue against Neuilly tomorrow at home.