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Mack · 02-13-2021, 10:59 PM

To get pumped with no fans is a challenge. We rely on each other now to be more vocal and have been doing fun games with each other to psyche each other up. Right now we have been playing a lot of games in the locker room to be more social with each other. Right now with no fans and no access to family we are losing our humanity. We talk to each other and try our best to stay positive as we think of a bright future ahead when all this masking and distance is past us. We can't wait until all the fans are packed together and we even have been working on visualization exercises to pretend all the fans are back. Some teammates have come up with dances or songs to keep themselves loose and entertained. We have been spending extra time just on the mental side mostly trying to stay strong and not focus too much on the outside world. It is hard at times as a player because we are still members of the community.

Jala · 02-13-2021, 11:37 PM

COVID has changed a lot of the things we do on a daily basis, but some things don't change. We still have rookie hazings around the team like most and Calgary's revolves around the rookies competing against each other in Dragons mascot suits. This season it's myself and Chris Goodname, so before we get dressed they make us get into the suits and sumo wrestle each other, race one another down the main corridor or if the senior guys are really feeling wild they'll lace us up on skates and get us to have a speed competition during the warm down part of practice. Being defensemen we're also subjected to doing the back skate after rounding the goal and it's ridiculously difficult in a mascot suit. Once the fun dies down the last thing we do before we head down the tunnel is group up and roar and chant Dra-gons, complete with the drum. Dragonite

The comradery helps us get through the eerie quiet of an empty stadium but I can't wait to get my first taste of big league hockey at home in front of a teeming arena.

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ImYolo · 02-14-2021, 12:44 AM

COVID-19 has definitely had a huge impact on the team. We live off of our fans and the cheers they scream when we score. It's a very unfortunate situation that we cannot see the happy faces of our young fans and the familiar ones that we've seen the past few seasons. Nonetheless, it's time to gear up for another season of SMJHL hockey. We've had to find new ways to get hyped in the locker room and when we do end up stepping on the ice. In terms of the pre-ice game, we get pumped with our music playlist - we're all singing along as we tie our skates. When we hop on the ice, the real challenge begins. We're used to hearing the entire stadium cheer us onto the ice but there are crickets chirping nowadays. We simply have learned to play as if the fans were there. Every goal has the same intense celebration. Every win goes with a massive congratulation to our tendy. We hope to see our fans back in the stands very soon.

GeckoeyGecko · 02-14-2021, 03:20 AM

***CaptainCrazy*** · 02-14-2021, 04:17 AM

Minessota has put celebrities everywhere because we think that is cool!

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Leoben · 02-14-2021, 05:11 AM

We all employ different tactics to stay hyped before the games. A few of the newer guys have some fun rituals to hype themselves up but it involves a lot of screaming and chest-bumping. Williams or Hudson usually leads them in some chant that I can’t understand but everyone is doing a great job so they need to keep doing what they’re doing. I tend to be quiet and just listen to some music. I’m typically napping with some music in, so unless coach has something important for me to do then napping is the best thing. Other guys listen to their music or just watch motivational videos. Our GMs are pretty low-key guys in the locker room so they kind of let us run the place as long as no one gets out of line. They’ll usually throw out a few ideas for plays just to get the team atmosphere flowing. We all get hyped in our own ways but so far so good.

DollarAndADream · 02-14-2021, 07:24 AM

The Calgary Dragons for a long time have had a unique certain food that they like to eat. Without fans in the building, the Dragons have taken to live streaming their cooking and eating sessions pre and post-game with the fans. As a team, they have a ritual of eating large quantities of chicken parm meals before and after the games. Fans can ask them questions while they eat, or give their own chicken parm recipes, and it has been some great interaction to try and get pumped before the game. Chicken parms can go a long way, and the Calgary Dragons championship history can attest to that. Blasting some great music and just downing some chicken and cheese has gotten the Dragons rolling on a lot of nights this season, and there are no signs of stopping that. Do you have any chicken parm recipes that you would like to share with the team before the next puck drop?

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majesiu · 02-14-2021, 07:43 AM

http://probaseballexperience.jcink.net/i...t&p=275728 PBE affiliation

*Fluw* · 02-14-2021, 10:37 AM

Prior to the game they pump the soundtracks of fans cheering into the locker room to simulate the feeling of having fans supporting you. Additionally, we select a new player each day to take the role as the hype man who makes sure he walks to each and every player on the team with the sole job of pumping them up. I can tell you that Andrei does the job the best and it really does reflect on our performance on the ice. We haven’t lost a game with Andrei as the hype man. After a loss it can be tough not having fans to have your back however what he started doing is ordering in food and playing some tabletop games to get our minds off the game, and essentially giving us a little reset. Finally, the last method that we use to replace the fans is allowing them to see inside the locker room through zoom, a meeting with the team. Ultimate hype.

***Canadice*** · 02-14-2021, 10:44 AM

While having no people in attendance for the games have put a damper on the atmosphere for all of the home games, the empty seats permitted the Spectrum Center groundskeeper crew to really go to town on some of their more crazy ideas. One time during training camp, they had rigged all the folding chairs at one end of the arena to some mechanical levers that could control the seats, and when the drill was over, each seat moved to the beat of the music playing in the arena. On the seats behind the benches they also painted the seats different colors and managed to create a really cool pixelated Kraken

depicted attacking the opposing team. Seeing that every time you enter the ice really gets your blood pumping. They also tried to put in cardboard cutouts of people, similar to what other sports have done, but they did not really get the intended effect.

The locker room and hallway gets very quiet when the stadium isn't filled with people, but they have placed speakers in different spots with recordings of both the arena and corridors from previous games. Especially thrilling was the mixing of play-by-plays that can be heard taken from the previous seasons' trips to the 4-Star Cup Championship. Everyone is looking forward to be back there and produce some more iconic material for later Kraken

to listen back to.

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*kenvald* · 02-14-2021, 11:08 AM

Since we have no fans in the stands. WE have to become the fans! As part of our warmup for every home game we tell each player to run around the stands and pick one section each. They're then given a megaphone to mimic more audience members. After that I'm in the announcers box using the arena speakers to announce everyone that's playing today's game. The player being announced is supposed to walk around their section waving to the "audience". Everyone else will at the same time scream and cheer into their megaphone as to hype up the player. It's great fun and it improves everyone's mood and energy just before the game of the day.

It might even stay a thing after the audience is allowed back. We have all had a lot of fun with it. But in the end nothing can replace the cheering and booing of thousands of people all at once. It's special and I hope we can go back to normal really soon.

**The__Y-man__100** · 02-14-2021, 11:13 AM

Calgary might not have people in the stands since covid 19 is a bitch, but we still have the family of our lovely mascot the Parm Pigeon! That’s right, Calgary filled the stadium with pigeons and every time Calgary scores they sound the horn and the pigeons go crazy! Pigeons can’t suffer hearing damage can they? I guess only time will tell.

But how did we get such a wonderful idea? You can thanks Boris Poroshenko for that one. Playing in Ukraine for the Kiyv Bears, whatever seats they could not sell that night they’d go to the local forest and round up some bears and bring them to the empty seats. Boy did the fans love that move, it was even rumoured that the arena would purposely not sell a few tickets just so the bears could come in a hype the players and the crowd up. Only 6 casualties occurred but hey, that’s why you sign a waiver

First ever Yukon Malamute draft pick (1st overall S65)

UrsinZ · 02-14-2021, 12:22 PM

The Toronto North Stars have 2 fans at stadium which are watching the games. First off it's 1 goalie whom isn't playing when the other is in the net and one player because there is one player to many on our roster. So we have at least 2 fans which are cheering for us!
To hype us up we listen to some pump up songs during our final minutes in the locker room! Also @juniped is going around and treatening people to punch them if they don't go out and give their all!
The rest of the time we try to stay pretty calm and collected becuase a calm and collected player tends to make wise decisions on ice!
Me and my D partner @Moreorless89 usually go out for a meal before our games to get in sync and talk about our days and how we feel! If one of us had a bad day we try to give our opponents an even bader day which also hypes us up!

Bongo · 02-14-2021, 12:34 PM

Me and the Baltimore Platoon fellas get super hype by utilizing smelling salts all of the time - we also bump the DMX - this was essential to defeating Buffalo in our first game of the season - a 2-1 victory. To be honest it isn't difficult to get hyoed in arenas that are usually pretty empty such as San Francisco and Tampa Bay. It's a little more noticable in the bigger hockey markets like toronto and manhattan. If we're feeling particularly unhyped during intermission, usually Raiden pops on the JOrdan Peterson / joe rogan / jocko willink / xxxtentacion motivational speech mix with some 300 violin orchestra. The boys are also injecting some IV's via banana bag - gotta stay hydrated and keep that extra pep in ur step. We realize that we have finite time without fans and make the best of it. Hopefully when the fans return, baltimore will be competitng for a playoff spot.

CB2212 · 02-14-2021, 12:55 PM

Atlanta's the kind of city where the arena's aren't all that full even when there isn't Covid running about, so nothing's changed really, players get pumped up to the sweet sound of silence, or whoever managed to grab control of the bluetooth speaker and has his own stuff playing.

Also, to keep in theme with the whole Inferno thing, guys like to eat a dozen super hot wings before every game, the heat makes them kinda crazy but coaches swear by it's ability to hone each player's focus and get them ready for the game, kind of like those ammonia sticks.

Thirdly, a few of the players like to gather in a corner of the arena and pump themselves up to Miley Cyrus's party in the U.S.A, no one really knows how this started, but it's been going on for years.

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