At 6pm, the players loaded the buses for Mellon Arena. The line of people waiting to get in wrapped completely around the building. They don't open the gates until 6:30 for a 7:30 start. Don got the tickets and by the time they were distributed to the players, parents, and English sheep dogs, er chaperons, the flock was herded into the arena.

The seats were in the corner on the 2nd level on the Zamboni end of the rink. The seats had a great view of the rink, but the Jumbotron/Scoreboard was hidden by the 3rd level ledge. The arena has extra score boards all around so people in those seats can track the score along with TV monitors of whats on the Jumbotron.

For the most part, Pittsburgh people are fairly nice, unless they are beered up too much. However, the workers at Mellon Arena were 100% certified a**es. From the bus traffic director to security chasing us out of the building while we were trying to get to the Canes locker room, the experience with the Mellon Arena staff was far from pleasant. Needless to say, the only players the teams met this trip was the Junior A's in Detroit.

The plan is to be rolling at 8am tomorrow which should put the teams into Raleigh around 6pm with an expected stop somewhere in West Virginia for lunch.

This will probably be the last update from the road.

While the players didn't get every thing that was planned, there was very little time for them to be board and they still had a great time. Expect some very tired but happly players when they exit the bus tomorrow.