Off The Post Road Report: Saturday in St. John’s
Once again, the radio voice of the MAINEiacs Jeff Mannix checks in:
The long day that was the trip from Lewiston to St. John’s, Newfoundland yesterday has turned into a fairly short night and preperation for tonight’s game with the Fog Devils. Lewiston caught a direct flight from Montreal’s Dorval Airport, which took off at about 9:05 p.m., Eastern Time. The plane landed at St. John’s International Airport at 1:05 a.m., Newfoundland Time (11:35 p.m., Eastern Time). After a fairly short bus ride to the hotel, the team was in their rooms by 2:00 a.m., Newfoundland Time. They awoke this morning at about 9:30 a.m., and had their morning skate at 11:00 a.m. After that, it’s lunch and some rest time before the game. The Fog Devils seemed to take it fairly easy toward the end of their morning skate, opting to work on special teams with only the special teamers on the ice, working with back-up goalie Devin O’Brien.
The MAINEiacs have a healthy lineup today and should be at full strength for tonight’s faceoff with the Fog Devils.
Mile One Stadium is one of the nicer venues in the Q. It is practically brand new, build around the year 2000. It is one-tier building that seats a little over 6,000. It can get loud when the Fog Devil fans get behind their team, which only adds to their home-ice advantage. The Press Center here is very much like you’d find at an NHL rink. Their are booths for Game-Ops staff and beautiful press row, from the end of which, will be my broadcast location tonight. The press box, named for Hockey Night In Canada broadcasting legend and Newfoundland-native Bob Cole (whose calls are really the reason I’m doing what I’m doing, and I will no doubt never equal as a broadcaster) is located four floors above the ice surface, right at the top of the building. It provides one of the better views of the rink than any other building in the league.
As for me and my broadcast tonight, my throat is a little bit under the weather due to minor cold. It’s much better than it was two days ago, but it’s not up-to-snuff in my book. Hopefully, I’ll make a full recovery by this afternoon and be ready to go for tonight’s game. But if my pipes give out on me on some goal calls, don’t be alarmed!
On tonight’s IBEW/NECA Pregame Show, we’ll play back an interview I did with Kevin Marshall on Wednesday that was not aired due to technical issues that night, and we’ll talk with both Clem Jodoin and St. John’s Coach Real Paiement. The pregame show begins at 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time tonight, with the faceoff at 5:30.
Also a friendly reminder, don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour tonight. That will actually help both teams recover a little bit with a 2:30 p.m., Eastern Time faceoff on Sunday. I just love having to change my clocks back an hour right about when I’ll have gotten acclimated to Newfoundland Time. Oh well.
Special thanks to Jeff for keeping us updated…
As always, news, rumours, questions and comments appreciated. offthepost@lewistonhockey.com
