Mostly, though, the trip is all about the Big Three. They play hockey. Then they eat, sleep, and do it all again the next day. The price to pay for making a living out of playing a game. As you would expect from professionals, the IceRays are reserved, courteous and polite when dealing with the public.
Afternoons pass amid adolescent pranks and insults.
Not a single soul, however, was confused about the gravity of the situation on this trip. The team had lost seven of its last 10 games before leaving South Texas, including its last five road games. A week before heading off to Belton, site of the first game, the IceRays fell out of first place in the Western Professional Hockey League Central Division for the first time in 94 days. If the team fails to improve its play during the road swing, Corpus Christi could easily find itself in fourth place in the Central Division when it returns home. I'm not typically a big trader, but sometimes you have to do something.