‘Roll with the punches’: Jets-Blues series becomes mental test

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Hockey players are creatures of habit, their lives built around the routines of morning skate times and game times that are fairly consistent.

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Then the Stanley Cup playoffs and its TV network demands come barging into their lives.

“We have had some wacko start times,” Winnipeg Jets forward Mason Appleton was saying on Monday. “If you think back to that game against Edmonton a few years ago, when it was a nine o’clock start, and with those overtimes you are out of here at 1:30 in the morning. It is what the playoffs have become.”

The Jets and St. Louis Blues will get the full experience this week.

In what may feel like an eternity between games, Game 3 won’t start until 8:30 p.m. in St. Louis on Thursday, leaving Tuesday and Wednesday for practice (insert NBA star Allen Iverson’s “we talkin’ about practice” rant here).

Another two days off in St. Louis, then it’s Game 4 on Sunday. At noon.

“Rest is also important,” Appleton said. “But two games where you have two days in between each one, it looks a little different than traditionally in the playoffs. But both teams have to deal with it.”

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“It’s definitely different,” Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo added. “You play at weird times, times you’ve never played at all year. Routine is important. It’s good to have. But if you’re married to the routine you can get into your own head.

“Sometimes you just roll with the punches.”

Next Sunday it’ll be more like rolling out of the sack for a puck brunch.

“Most of us like a noon start where you don’t have to think,” Appleton said. “You roll out of bed, eat breakfast and go to the rink.”

Waiting for an evening game can be a challenge, as players expend all kinds of energy well before the drop of the puck.

“I’ve heard hockey players talk about it, that you get so caught up in what’s coming that you burn all of your energy during the day,” Arniel said. “And then you don’t sleep the night before, (with) all you’re thinking about. You’re almost zapped. I’ve heard lots about guys going into the Super Bowl, it’s the hype, hype, hype and then you get into the game and instead of being calm and cool, you’re already so hyped that it affects you.

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“We went through it once here… now we know what to expect.”

The Jets looked a little rattled at the start of Game 1 on Saturday, before settling down.

The way St. Louis captain Brayden Schenn opened the series, throwing himself at opposing players on virtually every shift, you’d think he might appreciate the extra days of rest coming up.

“Yes and no,” Schenn said. “Obviously the recovery’s great. But the mental side of it… it’s just nice to be in the flow of playing hockey every second day. So you get a little bit of both. At the end of the day, that’s what we got thrown at us.”

It’ll get thrown at them between Games 4 and 5, too, as the series won’t shift back to Winnipeg until Wednesday, April 30.

paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca

X: @friesensunmedia

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