Thanks to Chuck Seegert of Quick Action Photography for this awesome photo taken from the First round of the GLHL Tourney. 

“…And a ‘baa baa’ here…”

While most folks were off enjoying their Easter Sunday with their respective families, I was going over various stat sheets and gathering my thoughts for my final blog on the Vernon Hills Capitals season.

Well, after a trip to church, that is.

Don’t make too much fun! Most of my family spent the holiday working so it wasn’t like I was ignoring anyone…

On Friday, March 30^th, the Vernon Hills Capitals were set to take on their first opponent in the Great Lakes Hockey League’s (GLHL) Championship Tourney.  The regular-season champion Capitals (18-1-1) were playing the Madison Blues (1-19-0) who were hosting the tournament. I was thrilled to cover the event as it would be exciting to see if the Capitals were able to finally take home both the Magnuson Cup (awarded to the team with the best regular season record) and the Kohlman Cup (given to the team who wins the GLHL Tourney.)

Last year, the Capitals were able to claim the Magnuson Cup, however, at the tourney; they fell short, losing in the finals to the Mosinee Papermakers. That loss left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Capitals boys as I’ve learned that they are all extremely competitive. As such, I knew that the guys would enter into this year’s tourney ready to “rock and roll”…as my dad would say.

I made my way north to Madison, Wisconsin with two of my favorite cameramen, Ian Pragovich and Thomas Wrightson. While the weather was pretty dreary, the drive was pretty fun as Ian played DJ and played some great tunes (seriously, is there a better driving song than Toto’s “Africa”??? I don’t think so!)

We made good time (I think our singing along to every song helped move my trusty jeep faster down the road) and ended up at the hotel about an hour before the Capitals took on their first opponent. 

After checking in, we headed to the elevator to drop off our luggage at our rooms. What ensued would be one of the goofiest moments of the weekend. As the elevator door closed, a message appeared on a black and white photo simply stating: “…And a ‘baa baa’ here…” evoking the old nursery rhyme of “Old McDonald.”

Tommy Wrightson looked at it and read it aloud, but his pronunciation…was a tad…off. He read the words and they came out sounding a bit more like, “…And a ‘bwa bwa’ here…”

We all erupted into giggle fits. 

I guess you had to have been there.

The boys and I had just about enough time to run around our awesome rooms like three little kids (seriously, the Hampton Inn and Suites had some gorgeous rooms!) and gather our equipment before we had to head out to Capitol Ice Arena.

I was relieved to discover that none of the Capitals boys needed a towel from my room due to the fact that they had forgotten to pack one.

We arrived at Capitol Ice arena moments before the puck dropped and I quickly recorded an intro for our video coverage of the tournament.  I met up with a few family members of various players in the lobby and discussed how we felt the boys would perform against the Madison Blues.

One of the things that I’ve learned that I really enjoy about covering the Capitals is that I’ve really come to know and love the families of these guys…but I digress.

I posted my cameramen in their respective positions and waited for the game to begin.

I can honestly say that there wasn’t a single one of us there who could have anticipated the roller-coaster ride that would be the first round game between the Vernon Hills Capitals and the Madison Blues. 

To be continued in part 2…