Typical Day
Pucks McPenaltybox is the center for the Rochester Frost Bites. He's also a barista at Joe's Java Joint and a stock boy at Shop 'n' Save. The Frost Bites are a minor league farm team for the NHL's Minnesota Wild. Pucks has been their center for two years. He's a native of Minnesota and the chance to play for the home team has kept him on the ice since he was 4 years old.
It's Thursday morning and he has a game tomorrow against the Wisconsin Wunderkinds. His alarm goes off at 6am and with all the speed and precision of a well-oiled machine that's been run over several times by a Sherman tank, he creaks and groans his way out of bed by around 6:20am. See, Pucks has been playing hockey at one level or another pretty much his whole life, and it has been a big check for his body to cash. Plus during last night's game he got plowed into the boards by the other team's enforcer about a half dozen times.
He makes it to the kitchen and cooks up some ibuprofen with a side of Tylenol. Once that has kicked in, he rounds breakfast off with coffee, two bowls of oatmeal, six eggs, two apples, and two glasses of orange juice. After that it's off to the coffee shop for his late morning to early afternoon shift. At 2pm, he heads to the arena for practice.
First the team spends an hour in the video room looking over clips from the last three Wunderkind games, then they hit the ice. After stretching and warm up laps, the coach puts the whole team through a series of checking drills, 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 drills. After a short break, it's back on the ice for neutral zone regroup and face off practice. Finally the coach puts them through a series of power play drills. After a quick team meeting, they're released for the day and told to show up at the arena tomorrow no later than 3pm for the 7:30 game.
Pucks showers and heads to Shop 'n' Save for his 10pm–2am grocery stocking shift. He drags himself home afterward, downs his nightly vitamins, more Tylenol and more ibuprofen, and collapses on the bed. He needs some good rest tonight. Rumor is the Wild might be looking to bring a couple of the young guys up for a while. Maybe tomorrow night is the shot he's been waiting for.