The New Jersey Devils have completed their four-game road trip with a record of 3-1-0. The club swept the Western Canada portion of the trip, but suffered a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Sunday afternoon.
Ahead of the team’s trip, I sat with Cody Glass, who offered some insight into what goes on during long flights, the exhaustion that accompanies them, and the team bonding that occurs off the ice.
Passing Time On The Plane
Devils players pass the time by engaging in various activities. Jack Hughes takes advantage of the travel time to read. At any given time, Paul Cotter, Nico Hischier, and Dawson Mercer can be found huddled around the poker table. Depending on the flight, Cody Glass can be found killing time in different ways.
“This year, I have gotten into reading more,” Glass shared. “I just finished a Stephen King book called 11/22/63. It is a good show on Netflix that I just watched after I finished the book. Really good. I am into horror and mystery.”
Glass is a self-proclaimed movie guy and is usually pretty quiet on the plane, that is, until Stickman Golf was introduced to him and a handful of teammates.
“We started switching to a phone game that six of us play,” Glass said. “It is called Stickman Golf, and we just played it during our last road trip.
“It got pretty hectic.”
The group included Glass, Dougie Hamilton, Colton White, Jonas Siegenthaler, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Juho Lammikko.
“It is an iPhone game,” Kovacevic explained. “You have this little stick man, and there are different courses, and you have to try and get the ball in the hole. You can play offline, so when we are in the air, we all have our phones out, and you can play on a local network. As long as someone hosts the game, we can all play.
“Basically, there are six balls (because there are six players) at once, trying to get into the hole as quickly as possible. That is basically it,” he continued with a smile. “There are six balls flying at once, and you try to get your ball in first.”
It is believed that Hamilton, who sits next to White on the plane, was the player who discovered the mobile game. At the time of publication, that information has not been confirmed.
The group of six sat next to and near each other on that flight, so it was easy to trash-talk and chirp one another without disrupting the rest of their teammates. Naturally, it is Siegenthaler who was stirring the pot.
“(Siegenthaler) and I get after it pretty good,” Glass said.
White joined Glass as the two ganged up on Siegenthaler, who, I am told, has not mastered the game quite yet. He is on Level 1 or Level 2, while Glass and Hamilton are on Level 16 or 17.
Wear-And-Tear On The Body
Inflammation, lactic acid, and exhaustion are all factors players need to be aware of on long travel days.
“Sleep is always an issue, Glass explained. “You are so amped up from the games and try to get a proper sleep, but it is difficult.
He referenced the team’s trip earlier this month, during which they played back-to-back games against the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild.
“We played Winnipeg and Minnesota, then came back to New Jersey at 3:00 a.m., and then had to play the day after,” he continued. “With the schedule being that close, and being on a road trip where time change is a factor, it's just a little bit harder to go to sleep all that kind of stuff.”
Glass credited the team’s staff with providing all the resources the players need on the road throughout the season.
Every player deals with exhaustion and bumps and bruises; it is that grind that brings everyone together, especially those second games on back-to-backs.
When all that kicks in, there needs to be that one player who provides the team with energy. The one who can rally the group despite the fatigue. For the Devils, that player is Connor Brown.
“I would say Brown is probably the number one,” Glass said. “He is just constantly talking, constantly going. He has a motor, and you can tell in his game that is kind of how he is.”
Team Bonding
Regardless of whether the Devils are away for two days or a week, plenty of team bonding occurs off the ice.
A perfect example is the MSG Networks segment showing Mercer and goaltender Jake Allen going to the Fraser River to do some fishing on the team’s day off in Vancouver. One thing they will occasionally do as a group is an activity like Topgolf or an indoor golf simulator.
“We like doing that because it gets us out moving and stuff like that,” Glass said. “We always have something going on. That is why it is nice to be on the road.”
Of course, the guys will also go out to lunch and dinner together, as Arseny Gritsyuk has documented on Telegram.
Stick Man Golf wouldn’t exactly count as a team bonding activity, since personal vendettas can form as the game progresses.
“It gets intense,” Kovacevic said with a smile. “We need to take breaks, for sure.”
As the snow continues to fall in New Jersey, the Devils will try to return home as the club’s next game is scheduled at Prudential Center for Tuesday night.
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