Nov. 20, 2007

Cleveland State senior forward Robyn Hoying is keeping a personal blog of her trip to Anchorage, Alaska for the Carrs/Great Alaska Shootout. Following is her entry for Monday, Nov. 19.

Today, we started out with practice at Dimond High School. It was a different kind of practice because we had lots of high school fans watching us.

Next, we headed over to Sullivan Arena to shoot around on the game court. It was exciting to see them setting up for the Great Alaska Shootout. They were putting up t-shirts and setting up chairs. People were standing in line to purchase tickets for our game.

After we showered and got some lunch, we headed out to see the vast Alaskan countryside. We drove around this curvy road through snow-covered mountains to see Portage Glacier. We all took pictures and got into a huge snowball fight. I think coach Epps was the main target. Then we went to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation, where we got to see moose, caribou, bison, deer, and brown bears. I think some of the team made some new friends! When we headed out, our bus got stuck in the snow! Just another story to add to this exciting trip.

Back at the hotel, we had the banquet for the shootout. We experienced a native Alaskan dance and music (some players even got to participate in the action). After the meal, we exchanged t-shirts and got to meet the girls on the other teams,

After the banquet, we retired to our rooms to get some sleep for our first game of the Shootout on Tuesday.