Bowling Green State University Athletics
The Trip That Was...
March 02, 2007 | Ice Hockey
March 2, 2007
Bowling Green, Coralville, Des Moines, Omaha... - To see what Jonathan Matsumoto thought about the trip: Matsumoto's Blog
The Bowling Green State University hockey team has participated in 20 road contests this season. They have made the 20 hour trip to Alaska (by plane), an 11 hour bus ride to Potsdam, New York and even packed the bus for a nine hour trip to Marquette, Michigan for a pair of games with the Wildcats, but nothing could prepare the Orange and Brown for their bus ride to Omaha, Nebraska, for the opening round of the CCHA Playoffs.
Here is a rough idea of what occurred
BGSU left the ice arena Wednesday around 6:00 p.m. after the team sat down and enjoyed some Qdoba following a light practice. All-in-all, 37 Falcons (players and staff) hopped on the Lakefront bus for the trip out west.
The team stopped in Coralville, Iowa around midnight to get a good night's sleep, but that is where things got a bit interesting.
The Falcons had a quick breakfast and were back on the road at 10 a.m. the next morning, but by noon the team was forced to stop in Des Moines, Iowa, because every road in the state was closed down because of the 12-14 inches of snow the entire state got overnight.
Around 2:00 p.m. on Thursday the team was still awaiting word on if the highways would open up, and in the meantime the team saw a movie. Most saw "Breach" while a few others saw "Ghost Rider".
The movie was a nice distraction, but by the time the movies were over the roads had still not cleared up, and in many parts the road conditions were getting worse. In fact, even the mall where the Falcons watched the movie, was closing down as the Falcons exited their seats.
The Falcons, who were scheduled to arrive in Omaha around 4:00 p.m., were now stranded in Des Moines with no end in sight.
The following morning the team had breakfast at 9:00 a.m. and were informed that the highways in Iowa were still closed and were not sure when, or if they were going to get to the Qwest Center on Friday night for their 7:05 start.
Word was spreading around Des Moines that the Falcon hockey team was stranded, so much so, that a local TV station came out to interview the team. (We were told video could be seen here: www.whotv.com). The television crew interviewed equipment manager Scott "Scooter" Jess, while he sharpened the team's skates...yes, he was doing skates in the hotel, near the lobby. They talked to student assistant equipment manager Ryan Ward, senior defenseman Jeremy Bronson and BGSU head coach Scott Paluch.
During the interview process assistant coach Danton Cole received a call that the highways were beginning to open up, so off the team went. "Scooter" packed up his equipment, the players, who had just started to de-ice their equipment (their equipment bags spent the night under the bus), had to throw their equipment back in their bags and get right back on the bus.
By 11:15 a.m. Friday morning the team was back on the road.
The only problem was that I-80, the direct route from Des Moines to Omaha remained closed, so the Falcons had to detour roughly 35 miles south, then head 120 west and north another 35 miles, adding an extra few hours to the trip.
BGSU looked to grab a quick lunch at a Pizza Hut in Red Oak, Iowa, before their showdown with the Mavericks, but once again things did not go as planned, as the bus got stuck in the snow just a few feet from the pizza buffet. The team's bus driver, Tom, rocked the 56-seater back and fourth and finally pushed through the snow, causing a "Tom, Tom, Tom" chant throughout the bus.
Seconds later the bus hit another large pile of the white stuff, and this time things looked a bit worse.
Tom opened the door and let everyone out so they could eat while he attempted to uncork the transportation, but when the Falcons exited Pizza Hut the back end of the bus was a few inches off the ground and the front wheels just spun when Tom hit the gas.
The team grabbed a few shovels and attempted to dig out the bus, with no luck, but hope was not lost. In the distance a large John Deere tractor was being used to plow some of the local businesses' parking lots. When he got to Pizza Hut, Tony (the driver of the John Deere), asked if he could help.
Tony was in his fifties, wearing a John Deere hat, sunglasses, and bright yellow rubber boots that came up to his knees. He, along with Tom and Ryan Hohl grabbed a chain from the tractor and hooked in, several feet under the bus. Tony climbed into the cab of his John Deere and began to tow the bus from out of the snow drift. While most of the team was back inside Pizza Hut, getting out of the 30+ wind gust, several Falcons remained out in the cold and cheered for the tractor.
At first the bus went nowhere, but that was when Tony put the John Deere into another gear. The force of the pull had the two-ton John Deere doing a pop-a-wheely, with his front two tires a good 10 feet in the air.
Inch-by-inch the bus began to creep up the slight incline. With every pull the team screamed louder and louder, cheering Tony on. Within a few minutes the bus was completely free of the snow drift and the Falcons would be back on their way. Tony, along with the entire team climbed atop the John Deere for a few group pictures in celebration.
The final 90 minutes of the trip were uneventful as the team began to focus on tonight's match-up with the Mavs.
All-in-all, the Falcons, who were schedule to be in Omaha around 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, arrived at the Qwest Center roughly 24 hours late, for a combined 48 hours or travel time.
