Passenger Trains > Boston Bruins take the A(cela) Train

(taken from BLE.org)


Railroad trip takes Bruins back in times

FROM PHILADELPHIA UP THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR -- Their eyes were bleary from too little sleep, their gaits were slow from not having had a cup of coffee, the Boston Globe reports.

As the Bruins trundled out of their hotel yesterday and onto the bus after a makeshift continental breakfast in the lobby, it was not even 5:30 a.m. And they were about to embark on a new adventure: train travel.

Into the wee hours Monday, after a 6-4 loss to the Flyers, Hall of Famer John Bucyk, who handles the team's accommodations and itinerary, was on his cellphone trying to get the Bruins home from the city of brotherly love. First, they were going to fly home on their usual charter. But as weather conditions worsened in Boston and it was learned that the aircraft was actually in Wichita, Kan., while the crew was in Ottawa, Bucyk had to scramble for other options. One idea, because of the amount of equipment the team carries, was to take a bus home. But the roads were treacherous north of New York.

Amtrak proved the best alternative for the players and coaching staff. That left equipment manager Peter Henderson and top aide Muggsy Aldrich to load up a rental truck with the sticks, pads, and sweaters and make their way slowly northward beginning at 1 a.m., with arrival in Boston sometime after 8.

Meanwhile, the club was able to secure a private car in business class on the Acela Express that was scheduled to pull out of Philly at 6:32 and into South Station a little before noon. A pregame meal was waiting for the players at an area hotel, and they planned a nap prior to last night's game against the Buffalo Sabres. After that, they would have to pick up their automobiles at Hanscom Field, where they left them to board the charter for Philly Monday afternoon.

Under normal conditions, traveling for professional teams is relatively hassle-free, although the Bruins have had an inordinate number of problems with their charter company this season. In this case, though, Mother Nature proved to be the great equalizer, and it gave ''changing on the fly'' an entirely different meaning.

Center Shawn Bates, who as a native of Medford, Mass., thought of the MBTA when he thought of trains, was initially horrified when he was told how the Bruins would be getting home. But once he saw the bright blue seats and squeaky-clean car and felt the smooth ride, he changed his mind.

''I don't think it's as bad as people think,'' said Bates. ''It's quite an experience, that's for sure. I didn't know what to expect.

''It can reach up to 150 miles per hour. I don't think we were going that fast because of the weather. But it wasn't bad at all. I don't think anyone expected to have this nice of a train. I think they were thinking it was maybe like a commuter train. It was pretty comfortable seating-wise.

''It's just weird, though, because you go from maybe a 45-minute flight to a six-hour train ride. It's pretty bizarre. But that's what we have to go through.''

Some players passed the time reading, some talked on their cellphones, others commiserated with each other. At various stages of the journey, they all tried to get in some rest. In many cases, it wasn't easy. Defenseman Hal Gill tried to squeeze his 6-foot-7-inch frame across two seats, only to have his long legs spill into the aisle. The short night and relatively small train seats didn't make for great sleeping.

''After playing a game, it's pretty tough to get to bed anyway,'' said Bates. ''So, you figure guys probably didn't get to bed until 2 a.m. and then you have a 5 o'clock wakeup call. Then you get on a train and it's not as comfortable for sleeping as if you were in a plane. Guys were trying to get a nap in.''

Trainer Don Del Negro said it wasn't an ideal situation but it was certainly bearable given that it was only one night.

''It's not the type of recovery rate you want to achieve going into back-to-back games,'' said Del Negro. ''You just don't get the rest."

''They probably slept for a few hours and had to wake up at 5 and then had to wait for two or three hours and then went back to sleep for an hour or two. Then there are the bells and whistles and noises of the train and the announcements. It's a restless sleep, so they never really get into a deep, restful, recovery-type sleep.''

Another challenge was to keep the players drinking liquids.

''When you travel like this in these boxcars, they cause a lot of dehydration because the air is being filtered and the humidity is low,'' said Del Negro. ''It's pretty dry on planes and trains.''

As unusual as this circumstance was, train travel was actually the norm when the NHL was made up of its Original Six franchises. That fact was not lost on the current Bruins. As players walked by Bucyk on the train, several veterans joked that it was old-time hockey.

''It used to take us a day and a half to go from Boston to Chicago,'' said Bucyk. ''We took a lot of trains. We had sleeper cars with curtains.''

There was also a certain hierarchy, as rookies were banished to the upper bunks and veterans occupied the lower ones. There was a great deal of team bonding time.

''We'd go from Boston to Toronto, get up, play the game, get back on the train, get in the sleeper and then go to Detroit,'' said Bucyk. ''We'd play Detroit and then go to Chicago. Then we trained it back. We used to take the train to New York, play the game, and then stay there for three days.

''That was the fun of it in those days. You'd be able to go sightseeing. You ask the guys now, how many of them have ever been to the Empire State Building? How many have seen the Statue of Liberty? You'd go practice for two hours and then you'd have the day off and go touring. It was fun. Guys were together and we'd have a good time.''

Even the food and service were first-class in those days.

''We had a regular dining car,'' said Bucyk. ''We used to have our pregame meals on the train. They'd do steaks for us. The food was excellent. We'd have steak and potatoes and salad and soup, even though half of it would end up in your lap [because of the motion]. We even had our own porter. You'd put your shoes out and he'd polish your shoes.''

If this ride was a novelty for the current players, it was a genuine dash of nostalgia for Bucyk.

''Those were the days,'' he said with a smile. ''This kind of reminded me of old-time hockey. I haven't been on a train in 30 years.''

Karl you beat me to the posting! I just saw the same story on the Boston Globe site and was thinking I had a scoop! My subject line was going to be "The NHL On The NEC"!

billywa