Shawsy's Thoughts: "The Shaw Skate Reflection"
Senior defenseman Hayden Shaw will give us an inside look at the University of North Dakota hockey team as it aims to make a second-half push. Shaw will be blogging from the road with the Fighting Hawks making trips to Omaha, Denver, Kalamazoo, Colorado Springs and then on to St. Paul, Fargo and hopefully another crack in Buffalo down the line. Follow the team's progress here.

THURSDAY
Ooooooohhhhhhhhhh we're back. Did ya miss me and my words? Coming to you live from beautiful Denver, Colorado where the weather is 45 degrees and sunny, sorry to you folks back in Forks but we got out of dodge. Denver is a unique trip with the fact we leave on a Wednesday to help adjust to the altitude, leaving the gorgeous -65 degree weather to the polar vortex lovers back home. 
 
11 am: 
The boys wrap up breakfast and head over to the rink for our pregame skate. Thursdays are always finished with a shootout competition, this week's being won by fellow defenseman Andrew Peski. Josh Reiger still looking for his first goal of the season, he has resorted to trying a new tape job on his blade. This week Joshua went with a very Jamie Benn-esque style with just a few strips of white tape in the middle of the blade and still.... no luck. Maybe next week, Reggie. 
This is the view from our hotel room. 

 
2 pm: 
Back to the hotel for some downtime until 6 o'clock dinner. This gives the fellas some time to explore or catch up on their studies. Most of the guys today decided to head over to the mall to do a little retail therapy. Casey Johnson went into a Tesla store and had the chance to test drive one of the cars. Despite the risk with him behind the wheel, a couple guys got in the back and had the chance to take a car way out of their price range for a little joy ride. Thanks Elon.

After we wrapped up at the mall, former teammate Tyson Jost came for the boys to pile in his car and take us to his house for a little rest and relaxation. Always great to see an old teammate , Tyson is currently playing for the Colorado Avalanche and lives in a beautiful house downtown Denver. Also I may add Josty's house has an elevator in it ... is that good?
 
6 pm:
A hungry group of players and staff pile into the bus and head over to Del Frisco's steak house. What a treat that was, steaks are done and we're ready to roll out of the restaurant. Back to the hotel for another surprise visit from former players Brock Boeser and Troy Stecher. They are in town to take on the Avalanche Saturday night and will be attending our game tomorrow. 
 
9 pm: 
Brock and Troy have caught up with our coaches, and now time to hangout with Rhett Gardner and I. Brock and I were freshman year roommates in historic Walsh Hall. I wish I could show the fans of this blog the pig sty of Brock's side of the room, pretty impressive. Brock, Rhett and I continued to live together in a house our sophomore year, you could say Brock's cleanliness did not improve.
 
Time for me to sign off and hangout with the boys for a bit! Follow along tomorrow for more of a day in the life of Game day!
 
Also, thank you everyone who tweeted at me with name suggestions, but I have I have found the winner! Thank you to Randy Lieberg for coming up with "The Shaw Skate Reflection". Nice little spin to an incredible movie.
 
Night guys!

FRIDAY
8 am:
Early wake up for the fellas as we fuel up and head to the rink for pre game skate. This morning's skate was about 15 minutes long to conserve energy for two big games ahead, rest is a weapon. 
 
11:30 am:
The boys waited for the bus outside and caught some vitamin D with a cloudless 53 degree day. Roommate Gabe Bast and I head back to the room for some rest while we wait for our power play meeting and pregame meal. Perks of being a senior, we get our food first allowing underclassmen at your table to watch every single bite you take as they wait their turn. Time to decompress and get some shut eye before we head to the rink for game time. 
 
4:00 pm:
Basty, Kiers and I come out of hibernation and go for a walk to Starbucks to get our legs back under us. We head to the rink for a penalty kill meeting and warmup to get us prepared for tonight's game. Denver's weather allowed us to warm up outside to a gorgeous sunset as we play soccer before most guys stretch and do a dynamic warmup. Time for me to sign off until after the game! 
 
10:00 pm:
Unfortunately , Denver takes game one in a barn-burner of a game. Although that's not the result we wanted, there are many positives we can take from that game as well as having a burr in our saddle for game two. I liked our physical play and our commitment to getting pucks and bodies to the net, which is how we scored our goal. I want to take a quick second to talk about our fan support in Denver's Magness Arena...  insane. There could've been more green in the arena than any other color, making it feel like a home game wherever we are. With constant chants and cheers from our fans, that sucks life out of the other team considering it's supposed to be their name getting screamed!

SATURDAY
10 am:
A little sleep in was in order for the boys after a hard fought game. This morning we switched the schedule around a bit and instead of going to the rink for morning skate, we stayed at the hotel and had breakfast followed by a walk and stretch to get the blood pumping and save the legs.  After stretch we had a power play meeting to go over the previous night's minutes and make some adjustments for tonight's game. After the meeting we eat our traditional meal and head back to our rooms to do whatever guys need to do to prepare for their best efforts.  Basty and I lay in bed and find a movie to watch while we talk hockey and what not. That is one of the best parts about road trips, the time you spend with the fellas who become your second family. Time for some shut eye!
 
4 pm: 
The mood always shifts to a more serious manner as we wake up from our naps. Basty and I play music in our room as we suit up and get dialed for the match up. Once we get to the rink, sticks are taped and we have a penalty kill meeting before we are on our own for warmup. Denver gave us something we don't usually have in Forks, and that's the chance to get some fresh air and warmup outside before the game. My routine is usually two games of two touch (the soccer game we play) followed by a stretch and jog to get a little sweat going then it's off to the locker room to get dressed. 
 
10 pm: 
A fans dream game with no lack of action, that's for sure. Unfortunately, we could not convert in overtime. I cannot say enough how proud I am of this team after this weekend's efforts. Obviously not the result we wanted, but there is no question of the heart and compete we have in the room. We have seen what we are capable of, with grinding teams down and bringing an overwhelming physical aspect to our game. Once again our fans give us such an extra bump with the support and cheers throughout the game. There will be a lot of nay-sayers out there… but there is no doubt within our room and we will find a way.
 
We head into bye week for an opportunity to get healthy and recovered while focusing on a couple things we need to work on in our game. Thank you for following along and we will see you in two weeks as the boys visit Western Michigan!