Long bus trips, criss-crossing a wintry landscape to face the next foe on the ice, are as much a part of the game as sticks and pucks.
The horrible tragedy involving the team bus of the Humboldt Broncos in April focused attention for some on what's really just part of the life of junior hockey players from coast to coast.
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles are the team that's geographically placed furthest east in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Preparing the players for 34 games away from home is a challenge.
“There's no doubt it's a bigger challenge in Cape Breton then it is anywhere else in the league,” said Marc-Andre Dumont, the Screaming Eagles’ head coach and general manager.
Long days and nights on the road are what players have come accustomed to across our country, in order to play the game they love in hopes of one day making it to that next level.
For the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, that road is a little longer. A 14-hour bus ride is not out of the question.
They are the second most travelled team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with their provincial rivals in Halifax being their closest opponent, nearly five hours away.
“Of course, it's a lot of travel being in Cape Breton, but I enjoy it,” said Screaming Eagles forward Alex Drover. “You're on the bus with a great group of guys, they make it fun. We're joking around. We're telling stories. It all lives up to the experience and it's great memories that's for sure.”
The bus is more than a mode of transportation; it's a place to study and better their education.
But most importantly, it's where friendships are made and players develop a bond and create memories that will last a lifetime.
“Spending so much time on the bus you have no choice but to be around your teammates so much that the bonds created are just a lot stronger than anything I've ever been a part of before,” said Screaming Eagles forward Shaun Miller.
On April 6 this, an unimaginable tragedy highlighted the dangers of long bus trips on dark winter nights.
A crash involving the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Humboldt Broncos killed 16, including the team's head coach and captain.
The team was travelling to Nipawin for Game 5 of their semifinal series when their team bus was struck by a transport truck.
“My first trip in August for a preseason game, it was on my thoughts a lot,” Dumont said.
He says his first call after hearing about the tragedy was to his bus driver. For 65 days during the hockey season, Dave Burke is the man behind the wheel.
“I wanted to tell them how much I feel safe with them and I've never felt unsafe with Dave or Jim as our drivers,” Dumont said.
Says Burke: “It is nerve-racking sometimes with the weather and different areas with moose, but we've had no problems over the years and I've gotten along with all the players.”
Though more than seven months have passed, and a new season has begun Humboldt remains on the minds of these players are they prepare for games.
“We like to focus on our hockey and leave the driving to our great driver Dave, but what happened in Humboldt was horrible and we just hope it's not going to happen again,” Drover said.
For these players, a junior career full of road trips like this one is something they'll never forget.
“Yeah, you think about it now,” said Eagles forward Mitchell Balmas. “Time went by really fast obviously. Five years comes and goes quick. You make a lot of friendships and a lot of memories are made.”
In the life of a junior hockey player, life on the ice is only part of the story.
Once the game is over and the cheering stops, bus rides that criss-cross the Canadian landscape are once again a way of life.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.
