Ahhhhh.... vacation!

It's not even 8 a.m., and I'm flopped on the couch with my netbook, enjoying the peace and quiet of the morning. As a matter of fact, the only thing this relaxing scene is missing, is a nice cup of coffee. Pardon me, I'll be right back...

Ahhh, much better! So, here we are, in Florida for Nationals. Flipper (@lct29) and her husband and GoalieHusband and I are staying in a lovely 2 BR condo overlooking a golf course. It's the perfect arrangement, because although KK has a condo and generously invited as many people who wanted to, to stay there, it's pretty much organized chaos over there all the time. Which, in moderate doses, is fun. But the four of us like our quiet time. Flipper's husband is a morning person too, and yesterday when Flipper came out and saw us both sitting quietly on the couch reading, she said "Oh my God, I've walked into a library".

But this is pretty much the only place where we're quiet. I really have to apologize to the people on United flight 1223. We were pretty rowdy on the way down. Hey, the flight attendant announced us over the P.A. at the beginning of the flight. With an introduction like that, you're off to a great start. We also all wore our bright red jerseys, and turned lots of heads walking through the airport en masse. A few random Canadians even came up to talk to us.

Since our first day was a travel day only, no games, we made the trek from the airport to the condos and descended upon KK's living room for the Bruins game. I was itching to watch it, because there'd been a buzz on twitter that Rask might be starting. (Which I thought was insane, starting a goalie just back from injury in a Game 7, but hey, I didn't want to miss it.) There was pizza and beer and merriment, but it was all quite tame. Flipper's husband was surprised, and I think just a little disappointed, after having been warned for months that things can get a little crazy down here. But travel day is like that. We called it a night a few hours after the game ended, and most of us were laying on the couch like slugs, in various stages of drowsiness.

The next day we got a nice early start, since our game was in a rink over 60 miles away. (The great thing about the condos is comfy and inexpensive accommodations, but the drawback is a long drive to the rinks). Fortunately that was our only game in that rink. We got there ridiculously early, signed in, browsed the USA Hockey t-shirt table, and eventually made our way to the locker rooms to get changed. Everyone was greeted with a custom skate mat, with our logo and "National Cats 2012" on it. The player we call "Bentley", for the gorgeous powder blue luxury car she has down here, had had the mats made for us as a surprise. But it was like Christmas in that locker room, because not only were the mats handed out, but Flipper and her cohort had had t-shirts made, since they were such a big hit at last year's tournament. These shirts are just as awesome. Anything that says "GET IN THE CAR, BITCHES!" on the sleeve gets my vote.

It felt like an eternity, but we finally got onto the ice for our first game. We played against the Lady Everblades, a Florida team we hadn't faced last year. We played very well, and for most of the first period I didn't have much to do. We scored first, a gorgeous shot from the point that made the back of the net balloon out. Although I had long stretches of inactivity, there were several scrums and a few breakouts that kept me busy. Unfortunately on one of those scrums, they scored. There were just way too many of them in front of the net and although I made an initial save (or two?), they were successful on the ensuing scramble. I was pretty frustrated, because with so few shots, I felt I shouldn't be letting anything in. Fortunately, we scored again to gain the lead, and it ended at 2-1. There was a big cooler full of LaBatt's waiting for us in the locker room, and we hung out in there for quite a while afterwards. (Can I just say one thing about that locker room? Best. Rink shower. Ever.)

We headed back to the condos, with the plan of meeting up at a bar on the beach, but 30 miles into the trip, GoalieHusband realized he'd left his keys at the rink, and still had the locker room key in his pocket. Since we aren't playing any more games at that rink, we had to head back to get them. Note to self: If you're not the driver, don't hand your keys over for the locker room key. Way too easy to forget. We got back with just enough time to hit the supermarket for a few necessities (read: beer) and head over to KK's for the Rangers and Devils Game 7 double-header. As Flipper put it, we had the trifecta of hockey awesomeness, with a win for the Cats, Rangers and Devils all in the same day.

Now I'm just waiting for the others to wake up, and we'll head over to Waffle House for some breakfast with the rest of the group. Game time today is 4:45. Tomorrow we play at 10 a.m. Sunday, if we make the championship game, is at 8 a.m. Good thing the goalie's a morning person, eh?