How the Canes Have Spent Their Time Off in the Toronto Bubble

TORONTO - The final horn sounded at Scotiabank Arena at 10:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday.
A jubilant Carolina Hurricanes bunch skated down to James Reimer, who held strong in his crease with 37 saves on 38 shots in
Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers
. The Canes made quick work of the New York Rangers, winning three games in four days to sweep the series and become the first team to advance from the qualifying round into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
How have they filled the four days since?

It's a question Rod Brind'Amour and his coaching staff immediately knew they would have to creatively tackle.
"This is going to be tricky, to be quite honest," Brind'Amour said after the Game 3 victory. "
We could have a week off
, and that's probably the worst thing to have when there's really not anything to do. We're going to have to get creative and find things to keep the guys together and mentally sharp. The down time is what kills you in this kind of setting. … We're going to enjoy it tonight and figure the rest out as we move along."
Time off in a typical season - or, for instance, after the Canes swept the New York Islanders in the Second Round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs - is easy. You practice, you work out, you game plan and then you do whatever, whenever, wherever.
It's 2020, though, a bubble life is much different, and options are more limited. There are only a handful of restaurants that are accessible, so Uber Eats drivers are becoming more and more familiar with dropping off food with security outside the bubble fence. There are only so many social activity options, too.
But spending time together as a team away from the rink isn't so bad, either.
"The best thing is the team bonding. We have a floor to ourselves and a lounge. Whenever we have free time we go spend time in the lounge, playing cards, watching golf or hockey, just hanging out 24/7," said Joel Edmundson, who won a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. "I'm a big believer on if you're close off the ice, it's going to transfer on the ice."
Figuring out a plan for Wednesday was easy. That question was answered before Brind'Amour even left the locker room after his
postgame speech
.
"Day off?" someone bellowed as Brind'Amour was walking out. He turned around and poked his head around the corner. "You got it!" he responded, to a chorus of cheers.
It was a well-earned rest and recovery day, and with gorgeous summertime weather in Toronto - sunny with temperatures in the 70s (mid-20s Celsius) and no oppressive North Carolina humidity - it would have been the perfect day for the team, who Haydn Fleury asserts is the best golfing bunch in the league, to hit the links.
But, there's not a golf course in the Toronto bubble. The Canes instead had to settle for the golf simulator in the hotel lounge or the Top Golf swing suite at Hotel X, the other hotel in the bubble. Or, as has been a popular option, a simple putting contest down the eighth-floor hallway at the Fairmont Royal York, which boasts a putting-friendly long, stretching corridor.
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The eighth floor is unmistakably the Canes' home away from home. Take warning stepping off the elevator because a ping pong ball might whizz in as soon as the doors open. The main elevator bank lobby, after all, is the Canes' designated "ping pong room," as an adhesive on a nearby pillar indicates. A large "Earn It" banner sits just outside the "ping pong room," while flags with the primary logo adorn the walls and decals with the secondary logo are plastered on each room door.
Summer camp vibes are evident as players bounce in and out of the players' lounge at the end of the hallway, a two-bedroom suite that's been converted into the central hub of social activity on the Canes' eighth floor. You can hear Edmundson's music playlist or the shuffling of poker chips from down the hall.
Catan is the go-to boardgame.
"I've heard Slavo is the guy to beat," Edmundson said.
"And the worst player is Martinook, I heard as well," Jake Gardiner added.
Super Tock, Codenames and Cards Against Humanity, to name a few, have also been popular. There are also video games - the NHL set up a Wi-Fi network at the Fairmont specifically for console gaming - and plenty of hockey and other sports on television.
"Yesterday, we had golf on one TV and hockey on the other TV," Gardiner said. "It's some good TV to watch right now. It keeps us busy."
It was back to the rink on Thursday and Friday. Thursday was the lighter of the two days, while Friday's skate was capped with a team workout inside the gym at Hotel X.
"We don't want to the lose the sharpness, but at the same time, we're not playing for a while," Brind'Amour said on Thursday. "Really, it's the mental side of things for the guys, trying to keep them engaged when we're not playing. That's the challenge."
Saturday, the Canes' second and last day off in this elongated stretch of time between series, provided an opportunity for team activities at Hotel X and BMO Field, the more recreation-friendly sector of the Toronto bubble.
Following daily COVID-19 testing and breakfast, the team broke a sweat at the Hotel X gym. Some opted to accompany their workout, arranged by strength and conditioning coach Bill Burniston, with tennis or squash.

Then, it was over to BMO Field, where the Canes enjoyed a team lunch at Lakeview BBQ on the terrace before heading down to the grass for an afternoon of activities, and the weather could not have been more perfect.

The highlight of the afternoon was a Spikeball tournament, with the team of Jaccob Slavin and Morgan Geekie defeating Ryan Dzingel and Jake Bean in a marathon match.

Some staged Spikeball friendlies.

Others tossed a frisbee or kicked a soccer ball.

Brady Skjei, who quarterbacked the Lakeville North High School football team and whose grandfather played football at the University of Minnesota, dropped in dimes up and down the field. All the while, a replay of the Toronto Maple Leafs' improbable comeback win over the Columbus Blue Jackets from the night prior was shown on the big screen, while top-40 tunes bounced around the 30,000 empty stadium seats.

Before long, the bus transported the team back to the Fairmont. Some stuck around to soak up a little extra yard time and wait for a shuttle, which stops by each bubble location every 30 minutes.
As a handful of Canes, the last to leave BMO Field, boarded the 3 p.m. shuttle, "Rock You Like a Hurricane" played on the radio.