CATCHING UP WITH COLIN McDONALD
Springfield Falcons right wing #18 Colin McDonald continues his official blog for Falconsahl.com. McDonald is in his second season with Springfield and the Hartford, Connecticut native will keep fans posted with happenings both on and off the ice during the season.
Before I start getting into a variety of topics this week, I wanted to first thank all the fans who attended our season ticket holder event on March 18 at Champions. At that event, I had many requests to write another blog, so here we are, writing away again. The event was a lot of fun and it’s always nice to interact with the fans that support the team all year! Thank you!
Now, before we had a great season ticket holder event, myself and teammate Bryan Young enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day after practice with some quality time at local Irish establishment. Bryan and I grabbed some lunch at McAffrey’s after practice on St. Patrick’s Day and just had an enjoyable time relaxing. I am not 100% Irish, but mostly Irish and over the years my family has always enjoyed celebrating the day. We listened to some Irish music and just had a good time. Bryan is Irish as well, so we just spent the day in our green shirts and green hats. I was able to wear by New England Whalers shirt, which is very green, and that shirt is a great conversation starter with die-hard hockey fans in New England. Overall, St. Patrick’s Day was just a fun day from start to finish.
As we get closer to the spring and summer, I enjoy attending Dave Matthews’ concerts during the off-season. Tickets for Dave Matthews went on sale last week and I spent a day online buying my tickets, so I am all set to attend some concerts this summer. As you get into the off-season, you are always looking for fun things to do and as I mentioned last year, I enjoy Dave Matthews and it has become a tradition of mine to attend as many of his concerts as I can. My friends and my brother’s friends all attend the shows and it’s just a great time.
One topic I get asked a lot about is how players spend their time on some long bus trips. In Springfield, we don’t have many long trips, but recently we had a six-hour trip to Hershey and we have also had a nine-hour trip to Toronto and 10-hour voyage to Norfolk. Personally, I sit towards the middle of the bus, usually it’s a little quieter towards the front of the bus. As you get further back on the bus, it can tend to get a little noisier, but it’s a little lower key in the middle seats on the bus. I like to read and listen to my I-Pod for the most part on the bus trips. Everyone is different, a lot of guys like to play cards or play video games they bring along on the trip. There is usually a movie playing on the bus as well. Some guys catch up on some sleep, everyone has different ways to pass time on the bus.
As we head down the stretch here, I think as a team we have been playing much better as of late. I think we now enter every game feeling we can win that particular game. It was a confidence boost going into places like Hershey and being able to win. We had a stretch of four games where we played against some of the top teams in the conference and we had success. Everything is a lot more fun when you are winning, it’s more fun to be around the rink for practices and games, and obviously the fans have a lot more fun too. As I write this, we have nine games left and all we are focusing on for those nine games is to win and end on a positive note. We have had great fan support all season long and even recently we had another crowd over 6,000, so as players we can’t thank the fans enough for sticking with us this year.
We are also inching closer to opening day at Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox. I was able to watch a little bit of the World Baseball Classic, but being a member of Red Sox Nation, I still have been following the Red Sox spring training games more than anything else. Every year I try to bring some of my teammates, who have never been to Fenway, to a game when our season concludes and I am trying to do that again this year. I think the experience of going to Fenway is something that every fan should enjoy at least one time. Like all Red Sox fans, I am looking at some games to attend this summer and like always, it will be a lot of fun.
Thanks again for all your support, talk to you soon!
Colin
