On the Road Again…

Hey everyone,

Well, we’re heading out on the road for a while. A lot of guys are really looking forward to it. It gives some guys the chance to revisit cities that they have played in in the past and I know a lot of guys have a bunch of family and friends coming to the games in Toronto and Manitoba. It will definitely be a busy couple weeks and very important with how close the standing continue to be that we have our best efforts because there are some very good teams we play during the trip.

Going on the road gives the guys a chance to hang out a lot and get to know eachother even better than before. It’s fun to just hang out and relax during the little down time we have. After a couple of weeks away from home we will definitely be looking forward to our next home game so, until then…

All the best and talk to ya soon!

Break’s Over, Time for the Stretch-Run

Hey everyone,

Well, we are down to last 29 games of the season and the standings couldn’t be any closer. The standings can change from one game to the next and not many points separate first place from not making the playoffs. We know this stretch of games here at home are really important and have had some pretty tough opponents. There has been such great support, even more than usual at the games lately and it’s been great to see and gives us that much more energy and excitement during the games. 

Since the last time I wrote we had our All-Star break, which gave a lot of the guys the chance to either get home to see family and friends for a few days or just get away from the rink and relax for a bit. Everyone has come back rejuvanated and ready for a strong end to the season and a long playoff run. 

Congrats to Johnny Boychuk, Marty Karsums and Marty St. Pierre for being selected as All-Stars and again to Karsums for helping Latvia gain a berth in the 2010 Olympics. Congrats also to Brad Marchand for winning the AHL’s Rookie of the Month honours for January and, finally, congrats to Byron Bitz who scored his first NHL goal last week.

Take care and talk to ya soon!

Our Own Winter Classic

Hello again,

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and are optimistic about the New Year!

Back on Saturday, we were lucky to have a rare weekend day without a game so we had a change of pace with an outdoor practice in downtown Providence. It was pretty fun to get out on an outdoor rink and fool around for a bit like many of us did so much as kids. It turned out to be a perfect day for it, too. I can’t remember the last time I got the chance to skate outside. I can only imagine how cool it would be to play in one of those NHL winter classic games. Thanks to everyone who came out to watch and especially to everyone who brought their skates and came out with us after. Hope everyone had fun!

Talk to ya soon.

Happy Holidays

Hey everyone,

Well we just found out that the game tomorrow is changed to 1 o’clock. I can’t remember the last time I had a game that early so it will be a little different routine but I’m looking forward to it just the same.

Also, I’ve never played on the day after Christmas but I can always remember growing up how exciting it was to watch the World Juniors around Christmas time. No matter where we were I always would find a TV to watch the games.

Hope everyone is close to getting everything done for Christmas. Only one week left to get all your shopping done but I’m sure I dont have to remind you of that. Hope everyone has a great holiday with family and friends and since I wont be posting again before Christmas…

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

A Typical Week

Hello again,
I thought this time around I would mix things up a bit and give you guys a bit of an idea of a typical week schedule for us. Mondays are usually a day off from practice with guys getting the chance to rest up and heal up from the usual three games in three nights. Some guys will come to the rink for treatments, to work out or just get in a stretch. Tuesday practices usually have a lot of skating with a lot of flow drills, one-on-ones, with a team workout afterwards. Wednesdays are much like Tuesdays, only there might be more work on breakouts, three-on-two, and two-on-one rushes. Thursday, there is a little more work on systems and things we need to focus on for the weekend games. When practice is over guys will usually work on individual skills, sometimes the defense will go to one end and the forwards to the other to work on specific skills. Fridays are game days and we have a pre-game skate in the morning. Usually it’s a pretty short skate, just to get the legs going and refresh on a few things for the game. Most guys will go out together for a pre-game meal (usually pasta and chicken) and then take a nap to get ready for the game. Saturdays are pretty, well, the exact same as Fridays, except we usually just have a meeting and stretch in the morning instead of a skate. Sundays are usually afternoon games so guys just have to show up for the game no later than two hours before game time. Obviously this isn’t always our exact schedule and things can vary week to week but, for the most part, it is a pretty close idea of a typical week for the team. Take care and talk to ya soon!

Cowboy Hats and Big Belt Buckles

Hey everyone, sorry it’s been so long.  There has been quite a bit going on since I last posted.  Our trip to Chicago, Houston and San Antonio didn’t go as well as we had hoped but we were able to salvage the trip with a big win in San Antonio and a bunch of the guys decided to pick up cowboy hats and big belt buckles and wore them through the airports on the way home, getting a few snickers here and there along the way. 

Since then, there have been some highs and lows but we were able to get back on track with 2 out of 3 wins last weekend and we get another shot at Portland at home on Friday so there will be extra motivation to get a win. 

We also had our skate with the fans recently, which is always cool to get a chance to talk to the fans who cheer us on and kind of get a chance to say thanks for their support.  There was a great turnout for all three skates and the enthusiasm was great to see. 

Also, I just want to take the chance to wish a happy birthday to Wacey Rabbit who recently turned 22.  Hope to write sooner next time.  Until then, take care and hope to see you at the next game!

Road Bound

Hello again. It was a great opening five games to the season. If we were told beforehand that we would have achieved 9 out of 10 points we would have been pretty happy with that. We also had some pretty impressive personal performances over the first five games like Johnny Boychuk winning the AHL Player of the Week and Jeff Penner, Matt Marquardt, Mikko Lehtonen and Brad Marchand all scoring their first career goals, so congrats to all those guys. We head out on the road next week which is always challenging but pretty cool to get to see different cities and have more time to just hang out with the guys. Hopefully our success can continue on the road.  Take care and talk to ya soon!

Great Opening Night

Hey everyone, sorry I haven’t been able to write lately. It’s been busy with getting ready for the home opener and trying to move into my new place at the same time. Well it was a good start to the season with the shootout win over Lowell. Thanks to everyone who came out to cheer us on. It was awesome to see such a good crowd out especially for a Wednesday night. It was certainly a boost to our team to have the quality of players sent down from Boston and everyone was just excited to get things going. I know a lot of guys were working out the nerves the first few shifts but I think all the new guys had a great first experience of the atmosphere at The Dunk. Hope to see everyone out again on Sunday. Talk to ya soon!

Welcome to My Blog!

Hey P-Buins fans, 

Hope everyone had a great summer and you’re looking forward to the new season. I skated quite a bit here at home in P.E.I, Canada with some other guys from the area that are going to pro camps to get ready for the start of training camp. Training camp began on the 19th of September in Boston with physicals and fitness testing and went on the ice for the first time as a group on the 20th.  I went down a few days early to see all the guys again, meet the new guys and to get comfortable in Boston before all the hustle and bustle of training camp. It was different going to camp this year having a year of pro hockey in Providence under my belt. I really enjoyed the season last year, obviously with having so much success as a team on the ice but mostly having such a great group of guys to play and hang out with. We had awesome support from the fans and the city which definitly gave us an added boost all season long. It was certainly a learning experience adapting to playing against older, stronger and faster players from a night to night basis as well as the longer season. I was pretty lucky to have some veterans guys on D like Dwayne Zinger, Brett Skinner, and Sean Curry to show me the ropes. They’ve all moved on to other teams as well as many other guys from last year and will be missed, but we wish them good luck with their new teams. The coaches gave me the opportunity to play, learn and develop and I couldn’t really ask for much more than that. Something I really wanted to work on the past year was my skating and I was fortunate enough to get to work with Paul Vincent all winter. It took extra work but I feel like my skating improved quite a bit over the course of the year. So I’m taking everything I learned last year in Providence into this season in hopes of showing myself well, turning some heads and then letting the chips fall as they may. I think the key for me going to camp was confidence, not overthinking things, only worrying about the things I can control and mostly just working hard. Once again, I hope everyone had a great summer and that you’re all anxious to get back to the rink. It is going to be another exciting team to cheer for in Providence this year!