Long trips on the road a breeze for Fortier
KITCHENER — Jason Fortier is a book man. “I like biographies,” he said. The real-life reads jump off the pages for the Kitchener Rangers associate coach but, like the tales themselves, there is more to the story with his fixation on facts.
“If you want to focus on sleeping, I’m a big believer that you have to read,” he said. “That works for me.”
And getting some shut-eye can be critical on long road trips. The Rangers are preparing for one of their worst — a two-game series that sees the club visit North Bay on Friday night and Sudbury on Sunday afternoon.
But when it comes to highway hauls, the Blueshirts don’t have it too bad. In fact, the team is one of the most centralized franchises in the Ontario Hockey League with nine opponents within a two-hour drive from the Aud.
For Fortier, the trip north is more a jaunt than a journey. Last season, he was an assistant in Rouyn-Noranda, which is one of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s outposts. The city is just over the Ontario-Quebec border about an hour east of Kirkland Lake. “I couldn’t even tell you the hours I’ve spent on a bus,” said Fortier.
Rouyn-Noranda’s closest foe is in Val-d’Or, which is a good hour and a half drive east along Highway 117. The Huskies’ average road trip is probably about eight hours. Road swings to the Maritimes were the most draining.
The team would leave their home arena around 7 p.m. and drive through the night before stopping for an earlymorning breakfast. From there, it was off to a rink in a town along the route for a quick practice and then back on the bus for another six or seven hours.
It would often be a week before the Huskies returned to their own beds from the east coast.
“They’re long trips,” said Fortier. “There were a lot of nights in hotels.”
The team rode in style. The bus had three seats across — two, an aisle and then a single — and they were all leather recliners. There was food on board, two drivers when needed and lots of leg room. “They had one of the best buses you could have,” said Fortier. “It was comfy.”
The Rangers bus isn’t quite as cushy. Rookies have a cruising buddy and sit up front, while veterans get a two-seater all to themselves. Overage players get the most respect.
“The old goats get the back,” said winger Jake Henderson.
It’s about four hours and change to North Bay and about five hours home from Sudbury. For younger players, it’s a good time to catch up on homework. Older guys watch movies, listen to music or play Blackjack and poker, among other things.
“It really isn’t that bad to me, but I know a few guys get bus legs a lot,” said Henderson, who endured 20-hour return trips at times while playing for the Omaha Lancers in the United States Hockey League before joining the Rangers. “Once we get there, we’ll get the stretching going and we’ll be fine.”
There is a code of conduct on the bus, maybe none more important than hitting the can before pulling out of town. Nobody needs traces of toilet tang while travelling. It all comes down to common sense on the road.
“I would say the one rule on the bus for any successful team is making sure you treat the bus with respect and clean up after yourself,” said Fortier. Catching a few winks is also key. Henderson slips on his headphones and nods off when he’s tired.
Fortier has sleeping down to an art. He just turns a few pages of his latest paperback and soon he’s seeing the Sandman. Though, after spending a year on and off Rouyn-Noranda’s bus, Friday’s four-hour trek to North Bay is more like a pleasure cruise. “I’m not even bringing a book,” he said.