Hello from Switzerland!
And, good bye, 24 hours of travel.
This update is being finalized from what is technically the municpality of Quinto but more endearingly throughout the hockey world known as the Ticino alpine conglomerate of Ambri-Piotta. If you’ve heard of these villages, it’s because you’re either familiar with Switzerland’s National League A or have read my daydreaming wisps of stunning Alpine surroundings in which one of hockey’s greatest David vs Goliath stories has been told for the last 35 years.
That’s how many years HC Ambri-Piotta has consecutively spent in the top flight competing against teams in Zurich, Geneva and Bern even though the two villages they represent are home to a population of fewer than 1,000 souls. HC Lugano, their chief rival some 40 miles to the south, play in a chic resort and banking town and are owned by a billionaire.
The resort I’m staying at is at the southern mouth of the Gotthard Road Tunnel, which when completed was the longest road tunnel in the world and is now the fifth-longest. It has Tesla charging stations. Also, it’s not as much a resort as it is a waypoint for those traveling by car between central Europe and Italy. Several TripAdvisor snippets:
“We stopped here when driving from Luxembourg to Italy.”
“We stopped at this motel enroute from Umbria to England. Excellent stopover motel”
“Booked in here for overnight stop en route from Greece to U.K.”
“An ideal stop on the way to or from Italy.”
“Ideal when you need to continue your journey to Italy next morning.”
But those who pass through quietly won’t experience the fanaticism within Gottardo Arena, the brand new, 6,775-capacity arena that replaces the venerated open-ended and avalanche-prone Valsacia, where seven-thousand strong packed into tight quarters to back the biancoblu as Ambri’s population swelled 10 times over on game nights.
It’s an experience I’m excited to share with you on a project I’m undertaking for The Hockey News. There will be a full write-up on Nuova Valascia in an upcoming print edition of THN, and I’ll share additional color on Hardly Scholars. And I’m not only Ambri-bound before turning around. There are stories to come from Germany and Finland, as well, as I embark on a storytelling adventure I’ve been excited about for some time.
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The idea for this project actually began on a scale appropriate for LA Kings Insider and was theorized as LAKI treatment for the Eisbaren Berlin during a first round playoff series of theirs in 2020. I’d created virtually identical multimedia content templates with Manchester Monarchs Insider and Ontario Reign Insider, and the plan was to travel to Berlin in April, 2020, but then ::gestures in all directions::
But here we are in Switzerland a year and a half later. Much, much, much, much more importantly than these details and logistics are the love and appreciation I share with my wife, Jen, for whom this road trip is all too common. For years, she’s picked up the slack after already picking up the slack, and I can only do things like this because she sacrifices and works so hard and most importantly believes in my purpose and voice and the stories I’m excited to share. This doesn’t happen without her blessing and overtime.
Like anyone, I’ve been restless throughout the pandemic and varying shades of quarantine. We’ve kept safe, we wear masks everywhere, we’ve been double-vaccinated and have cut down on extraneous travel and Phish concerts. But as society has suspended, that tingling for adventure hasn’t. It’s not as easy to sit in front of a screen and write about events when circumstances keep us gravitated to our homes and neighborhoods and Zoom windows. Live events are to be experienced and embellished, when possible, through the sensations of travel.
I didn’t want to let 10 days in September waste away without any projects lined up, and so after some communication with The Hockey News we decided on this multi-part feature. (Thank you to Graeme Roustan and Edward Fraser for an amazing opportunity.) It’s hard to say this because I’m leaving my family and that is very difficult, especially after hearing Dominic say NO, NO DADA I WANT TO COME WITH YOU the day I left. But he’s now the man of the house and can count on his big sister, who tells me that she has ascended to the honor of Wind Princess.
Everything on this trip will be pursued safely and away from large crowds as much as possible. This was quite easy at LAX’s Korean Air Lounge, where I spent 45 minutes before takeoff as literally the only traveler inside. But the days and evenings I’ll spend inside a hockey rink will only be undertaken with responsible precaution – particularly here in Switzerland, where a mandatory vaccine passport was recently mandated for indoor establishments. I will be tested. I have printed out many documents.
The flight here was empty. I comfortably and only moderately slovenly spread out over three seats, a suite colloquially known as poor-man’s first class. The seating arrangement was similar to when the NHL chartered a Delta long-range jet to fly a U.S. contingent to Shanghai for the 2017 China Games. On that flight I was seated one row in front of Derek Armstrong – a lively seat! – which in Ann Arbor would be like renting an apartment bordering Dominick’s. Either because of Derek or me (ed: not me), there were happy crowds convening and socializing. My flights to Zurich were less gabby.
So, why travel to Europe to write about hockey?
1) I’ve done this before, and it was fun and had a positive impact personally and professionally. I was insanely lucky when I met Jen the summer of the Kings’ first Cup, and within six weeks was planning a trip abroad with her to visit her friends in Barcelona and Milan. From an incredible trip in which I jumped off for several additional stops to tell hockey stories on behalf of FOXSports.com, I visited Salzburg, Mora, Lugano and even Kladno, where I spoke with Jaromir Jagr in his gym right after his post-game workout as he chugged a nutrition shake after he and a bunch of NHL guys beat the pants off a less equipped HC Vitkovice. I rode on the second story of a chartered Mora IK bus in which Anze Kopitar, and his brother Gasper, took Twitter questions from the lower-level coach. It was great being able to form a relationship with Anze before I’d worked directly for the Kings, and he’d become a very easy guy to work with and get along with. The year prior, I reported on the Kings and Ducks in Hamburg and Stockholm as part of the 2011 NHL Premiere, which meant the first NHL regular season game I covered was the 3-2 overtime win over the New York Rangers to kick off the 2011-12 season. Jack Johnson netted the OTGWG. If you see Rich Hammond, ask him about the pre-game media knockwurst.
2) This is not too expensive! As it turns out, flying between two transfer stations of the pandemic costs very little and there are airline perks that make flying long distances much more tolerable.
3) I’m seeing friends on this trip I don’t get to see often, including those I’ve been on long bus rides with and those I’ve hosted while covering hockey back home. I’m excited to see them and their families in their home countries, which I’ve always wanted to visit. I still can’t believe I’m going to be in friggin’ Finland on this trip.
4) Time to get paid to write again. The elephant in the room is that for much of the past year, it’s been hard to find quality full-time broadcasting, content and reporting work. I want to be proactive and continue to get my name out and do so with an encouraging and visible partner like The Hockey News by using a similar voice to that which conveyed Kings news, profiles, analysis, travel and minutiae.
It’s getting late here in Switzerland, and I want to hear Jen’s voice before my body inevitably wakes up confused and ready to start the day at some crooked hour between now and when I’m scheduled to arrive at the rink. So much more to come on this ultimate road trip, gang. Let’s talk soon.