Aug. 13, 2001

This report was filed by Stevie Nicholas, a sophomore from Fullerton, Calif. For other diaries from various players as the trip progresses, click here.

Today was awesome, but fatigue has definitely set in. We started off with an early morning, taping at 6:30 and breakfast at 7. Breakfast was pretty good, though, we had fruit and yogurt, cereal ... basically anything we could have wanted to eat. After breakfast, we had some time to go back to our rooms and relax before our frist practice session.

We got on the bus to leave at about 8:30, and by 9 we were in full practice mode. The really good thing about today's practice was that we had the chance to practice with the Pioneer professional team. They run drills at a way faster tempo than we do, so we had our work cut out for us. But by the end, we had definitely caught on, and we actually kept up with them pretty well. The practice consisted of defensive drills and a little six-on-six at the end. We learned a lot just by watching them play. It was a really good practice for us all.

After practice, we went straight to lunch at a steak house. I guess because we are from America, they think that we love steak because they have been serving it at every meal. But this steak was actually pretty good. They had an all-you-can-eat salad bar that was full of veggies and fruit, and really good slush-puppy machines. We were all stuffed by the end of our meals.

By this time, it was about 1:30 p.m., so we went back to the gym and took a quick little nap on the gym floor. We then got ready for practice No. 2 at around 2:15. This practice was basically all scrimmages against the Red Wings. We played 7 games to 30, which ended up taking about three hours. After seven games, we were all really tired. We did not win a game, but obvious improvements have dramatically changed the way we play. All of the drills are helping us smooth out our spots. Everyone is working really hard and having a lot of fun in the process.

We finished playing around 6:30 and headed back to our hotel for the night. Dinner was buffet style with pasta, fish, rice, soup, beef stew, fruit and bread. we all ate a lot and headed off to our rooms where we spent the rest of the night relaxing. We got some needed sleep, tomorrow is going to be the same thing all over again. I hope we keep improving at the rate we have been.

Hello to everyone at home. I miss you and love you. Dad and T, I love you guys. Lauren and Jeremy, I miss you and love you. Mommy, I miss you a bunch. Hugs and kisses. Katie, see you in a few days. Roo, I love you and miss you a ton. I miss all of you so much.

Hugs & kisses, Stevie

Next Journal ... Kara Kennedy, Fr., DS, New Braunfels, Texas