Wait – it's not what it sounds like.

Unless you're some well-established Bill-Guerin-level veteran, nobody gets their own hotel room during camp. What that means is, you've got a new friend, like it or not. Welcome to the world of hotel-based forced friendships.

You better be able to socialize if you want to play in the minors.

And when it comes to that week-long training camp, think about it – unless you're a complete a-hole (which I've been known to be on occasion) you're not just going to ditch your roommate and go to team events without him. So inevitably, you'll wait to walk down to dinner with the guy, head to the bus at the same time, and be part of the same plans in the evening. It's downright awful.

It's bad enough that you have a friend picked for you, but guys start to see the two of you as a package deal if they're headed out to go somewhere fun in the evening – because you are a package – so if your roomie is unpopular, it doesn't exactly help your chances of getting an invite.

Social hindrance aside, imagine the different preferences that could mess up your ability to sleep – and thus, your ability to perform on the ice the next day. It's like a marriage to someone you didn't pick, only you're not in India.

Some guys like the air conditioning set to icicle, some prefer Hawaii. Some guys like the window open, some like the room blacked out. Some get to bed early, some are night owls. Some are up at the crack of dawn with a coffee, and some guys need to be dragged out of bed at the last minute. Some guys like to sleep with the TV on. I like complete silence.

But then there's the big one: most guys comprehend compromise, while others are European goal-scorers.  .... eh, that's an unfair generalization. Others are like only-child European goal-scorers. (Much better. That narrowed it down.)

If you happen to be stuck with someone unwilling to compromise, you can get stuck (as I have) trying to sleep while he's watching a movie with the AC churning, it's loud and near freezing, the blinds are open, and you're dreading having to set two alarms to wake the kid up in the morning.

There are, as you might guess, a few hotel-room arranged marriages that fail – two guys who start off on the wrong foot and never find a way to like each other over the course of a season. At the same time, there's always the odd occasion where you get to know someone you otherwise might not have, and you hit it off.

At the very least, everyone has one thing in common: hockey. So if you haven't got enough of it by training for it, practicing it, thinking about it and playing it, at least you can finally meet your quota in the hotel room.

All you want to do is get a little of your own time and get in a good night's sleep so you can feel better the next day. In reality, you're looking at night four of dozing off to the soothing tones of Zoolander and fantasizing about ways you could murder your roommate without being discovered.

Sigh. How I miss it.

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email this

Comments (2)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/hide comments

:P

hey justin,

damn you!
sincerely hoping not all europeans are that bad. hockey's what we've got in common, so your country of origin shouldn't really matter, should it?

sry, but mr. cherry has been gettin on my nerves lately

great column!

rouven from germany , September 15, 2010

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...

Sounds just like the first month of college, freshman year to me! Oh, the obnoxious assholes I hung out with during that time.

A , September 16, 2010

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Write comment

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment