Saint Peter’s/Fairfield Trip- 1/24-1/27

Hey there Purple Eagle fans I’m back after a little hiatus.

I just got back to my dorm around 10:30 on Sunday Night. We had an 8:10 flight from JFK back to Niagara Falls. Which was nice, because I don’t think I could take another bus trip.

How about the Purple Eagles this weekend all across the board, great wins for our women’s basketball team, our men’s hockey team, who went into Quinnipiac who was 12^th in the nation and came home with a sweep and of course us. We really needed these two wins on the road to prove that we an elite team in this conference. For those of you paying attention, this was our ninth game on the road out of our last 12. A streak like that, most teams would be 3-9, but we came out 9-3 proving that we are 'Road Warriors'.

Our trip started off Thursday with an afternoon practice and a bus ride to Buffalo International Airport. Colin and I kept our streak alive of going to Burger King at the airport. I’m pretty sure we have gone to BK for every flight we’ve had with Niagara basketball. We downed the BK quickly and jumped on our JetBlue flight to JFK. The best part of JetBlue is the DirecTV, we all watched some basketball games that were on and relaxed a little for the hour flight.

Once we landed we grabbed our bags, jumped on the bus and headed to our hotel; the GlenPointe Marriott. This hotel is a team and coach favorite, and we always seem to do well when we stay there. The hotel has fallen down my list though, because they now charge each room for internet. So, if an alum or someone reading this is a close friend of Bill Marriott, you need to get him to toss some free wireless in the rooms. This way I can keep track of any notifications I have on my Facebook account from the road.

I got paired up with Colin as roommates for the first time this season, which was nice because we both have the same taste in T.V. I had ordered some pizzas from the bus, so they were there when we got the hotel. We had no drinks though, so I got a cab and headed to a 7-Eleven where I cleared the store out of Gatorades. I always get a little stressed out on the road because there is so much to do and the potential for a lot of things to go wrong. So far so good though.

I finally got back to my room and watched some 'Survivor Man' with Colin on the Discovery Channel. We’re bigger fans of 'Man vs. Wild' but that’s what was on. If you haven’t seen 'Man vs. Wild' I suggest you TiVo it or sit down and watch it because this guy is insane. Another T.V. favorite on the road is 'Locked Up' on MSNBC at like 1 a.m. Former manager Sean Mahany put me onto this show, and I’ve been hooked for four years.

Friday was game day so we woke up for breakfast and headed Farleigh Dickinson University for a walk-thru. Rather than challenging NYC traffic to go shoot at Saint Peter’s, we stuck with FDU and had a very good walk-thru and looked pumped up for the game. We headed back to the hotel where we chilled out for a while before our pre-game meal. After the meal we left the hotel for Saint Peter’s at 5 p.m. We hit some heavy traffic, but we got to the gym and got ready to play.

Saint Peter’s can be a tough place for our team to get pumped up to play because the crowd is light in numbers. Luckily for us, we have the best road following in the country and were about 100 strong behind our bench. Our SID Kevin Carver didn’t make the trip, so I took his spot at the table doing the scorebook and Colin was in charge of things on the bench.

The game started off well and Tyrone finally found his stroke again, hitting trey ball after trey ball. I think he ended up with six for the game; it was great to see him shooting well again because he works so hard in practice on his shot.

We got solid performances from Benson, Kam, AP and Meeche. Of course we had our senior leadership, which wouldn’t let us lose the game, and our floor general Anthony kept us under control. It was a great win and it felt good to win on the road again. My fans of the game once again went to Mrs. Hodge, Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Lewis. They are fantastic in the stands for us.

After the game, we got on the bus and headed to Bridgeport, Conn., to get ready for Fairfield. The last time we were at the Bridgeport Holiday Inn, we were walking the halls as MAAC Champs, so we have great memories there.

Friday was also exciting elsewhere in Purple Eagle land as our men’s hockey team led by my boy Ted Cook (#25 in your program) and my boy Pags (#1 in our hearts) went into a ranked-opponent's house and stunned them. Great win for them and the school. Back on Monteagle Ridge our women’s basketball team handled business and got a great road win, so congrats to the coaching staff and the players. My friend Liz Flooks got 11 points and 13 boards and my lovely facebook girlfriend Ashley Cornett got a key 10 points in the win, which is great. Now I gotta take her out to Applebee’s or bowling or something to celebrate. That team works hard, and I think because I see them practice everyday and see how hard they do work, that I want the team and the coaches to win so bad. Congrats to them on a great win.

Saturday was a relaxed day for us. We were coming off a road win and were also mentally preparing for Fairfield. Colin and Coach Dobrich headed to Maine on a recruiting trip so De Luca (our other manager) and I stayed back at the hotel. De Luca hit a Laundromat early in the morning to take care of the game laundry, and I got to sleep in a little bit for a change.

After team breakfast we headed to a local rec gym for a light practice. Coach Martelli had also gone recruiting for the day and Coach AK was in charge of Fairfield, so he stayed around to go over their team. Practice went well and we got a lot done. I’m clearly biased but I would say our coaching staff does one of the best jobs in the country of motivating our players and preparing them for the opposition. To be in the locker room or practice and watch Coach Mihalich motivate the team and mentally prepare them to play is something that has been a joy to watch for the last four years.

As we headed back to the hotel Coach Dobrich sent us a picture message of Colin, who had fallen asleep 20 minutes into their drive. So much for a travel partner. Colin later informed us that they ate at Burger King twice and ordered the same thing each time. Haha, typical. After lunch, I headed to my room for a big time nap, which is rare on roadtrips.

We normally eat dinner at this nice Italian place Roberto’s, but the owner hit me with a Chuck Norris Roundhouse kick to the face with the final bill, so I had to look elsewhere. I found a diner, so Coach Mihalich, Munz and myself took a walk to find this place. It was a little farther than we thought. We walked almost three miles roundtrip and an old woman almost hit Coach with her car. But all in all it was nice to just walk and talk to Coach. You think John Calipari is walking three miles with his manager and athletic trainer to find a diner to eat dinner? That’s what makes Coach such a special person.

We headed to dinner around 8 p.m. which meant I had some time to catch the G’Town Hoyas game, which of course they went on to win, but it looked like it was a great game. Meghan Phelps surprised me in the hotel because she works close to Bridgeport, so she was coming to dinner with us. I hear my blog is spreading through the offices of SportsCenter in Bristol, Conn., and I promised I would give a shout out to a few of her fellow employees who are fans of my writing.

Dinner was great and the joke of the night was the place played this sappy love music all night. So the team kept saying how Coach Martelli made this CD and dropped it off to the waitress to play for him and Meghan. It was great and everyone had a good time. We got back to the hotel where everyone pretty much fell asleep, including myself, until Colin came back around 2 a.m. waking me and telling me all about life on the road. It sounded like he and Coach Dobrich had a good time and from what I heard Coach Dobrich may be hitting up an American Idol audition after his performance in the car singing along with the radio.

1 p.m. game days are a little weird for us because you wake up so early and there’s a lot to do in not much time. We had a good team breakfast, showered up, and Colin and I pretty much wore the same outfit, which was “fantastic”. I heard from Mr. McLaughlin (My favorite AD) that the men’s hockey team swept Quinnipiac which was great for them, keep it going boys.

We got to the arena and Colin noticed they had replaced the nets on the baskets (those of you with a bad memory, we cut them down last year). Again, I manned the scorebook and Colin and De Luca dealt with bench matters, the game started out hard fought and the score flipped back and forth a lot. We ended up down four at the half but everyone had a good feeling. We were again about 150 deep with fans behind our bench and they were louder than the Fairfield band.

Tyrone was on fire again knocking SIX try balls for the second day in a row and had several nice drives to the basket. Charron (my roommate/ #24 in your media guide) played well hitting several tough jumpers and grabbing clutch rebounds at the end of the game. Stan (high school friend/ my main man) played solid as always and we got some very solid minutes from the bench. Benson played great although he got hit with foul trouble. AP played a solid game in front of his home crowd (he's from Conn.) and all around we looked like road warriors. We held Fairfield scoreless in the last 4 minutes of the game except for 3 ball late. Fairfield is an underrated place to play, but we appreciate the win because we know how hard it really is to get a win there. We also know we better be ready when they come up here next Sunday.

After the game we said our thank you's and good-bye's to the fans and headed to JFK to catch our flight. Colin and I hit up a restaurant for some food, I got some Bourbon Chicken, Colin had wings. Then we headed down to the gate to talk to Coach and Mr. McLaughlin. Coach presented us with a challenge of naming every Jesuit University in the country; there are 28 if anybody’s wondering. We got to 24 before using the Internet for help (Detroit Mercy kind of snuck up on us).

Colin declares himself an RPI Guru and follows it closely for ESPN BracketBuster purposes, we have a good shot at T.V. game and Coach likes to grill him on his knowledge. If the RPI was a class here, Colin might actually graduate on time. I kid! He knows everything about the RPI and also does well in school here. We finally boarded the plane where Colin and I sat next to a lovely lady from Buffalo where she got to watch Colin and I jam out to the XM Radio option they have on the plane. I’m sure she was impressed with our display of lyrical knowledge and our taste in music.

We finally got home around 10:30 p.m. and look forward to a weekend at home. We need every N-ZONE member, chairback fan and the general public there Friday Night. We also welcome to the Gallagher Center ‘The’ Chuck Carver (Kevin’s Dad) and the Dobrich clan, led by ‘Spider’ and Mrs. Ellen Dobrich. Loyola is a very good team and we need everyone there to show them what a Niagara home game is all about. See ya there.

FYI  fans my class schedule will be made public soon in case your looking to talk to me and get an autograph, you’ll now what hours I’m free.

ROAD WARRIORS!!!!!!! - Danny        

Iona/Manhattan Trip: 1/5/08

Hey there fans, sorry I'm getting the last day of the trip up so late. We got back to school late Saturday night so I had no time to blog. I want to send a big thank you to all the fans we had over the weekend, I've said this before but it was evident at the Manhattan game, we have the best road fans in the country. They kept us in the game the whole time again led by my second mom, Ms. Rogers (Charron's Mom). She's the best and really gets the fans into the game.

Since the game was at 2 p.m., we woke up a little bit earlier than most game days and had a team breakfast in the lobby. Everyone ate well and looked ready to go. After breakfast Colin and I put together our shirt/tie combo's for the game. I went with my Silver Bullet pinstripe suit, Colin with his goto Blue Polo. Coach Martelli went with his famous Brown Bear suit, this usually means good things are going to happen. That suit is a good luck charm on the bench. At 12 p.m. we departed for Draddy Gym on Manhattan's campus, there was no traffic at all so we made good time and got some extra time in to stretch and get some shots up. My boy Stanley (Gonzaga High School) was unable to play, but he was like our 5th coach for the game. He worked with Tyrone before the game on mid-range jump shots and pull-up J's. If you were at the game you would see how these drills might have helped. (Tyrone had 27 points).

We started the game a little slow and fell behind early by 6, that would be the most Manhattan ever led by and we took off after an early timeout called by Coach. We came out on fire and started taking it to the Jaspers. We built a number of big leads and went into halftime feeling good. Coach always says "Be the Hammer, Not the Nail" and we definately came out like a top of the line Hammer from Home Depot. We played overall a fantastic game, depsite Stanley on the bench. Stan spent all 40 minutes of the game on his feet at the end of the bench coaching and helping out teammates. He did a great job, he was very upbeat and was a great teammate throughout the game. Coach Dobrich really had this team ready to go against everything Manhattan ran as always our assistant coaches did a great job and Coach Mihalich was a great motivator getting this team ready. Manhattan did make a run at the end of the game hitting some shots, getting within eight but we knocked down all our free throws and went on to win the game. Tyrone, Benson(22 points, 11 rebounds), Kam, Ant, AP and of course Charron gave us some great performances on the court.

After the game the locker room was great, and it was awesome hanging out with all our fans in the lobby of the gym. I had to run and get the food since we were taking the bus back, I think we had enough. 15 pizzas and 21 subs but of course every slice was gone by the time we got back to the Falls. Meghan Phelps again came to the game and had gotten some cookies and other treats for me and Colin. Colin managed to finish an entire bag of cookies in less than two hours on the road, pretty impressive. Mr. McLaughlin introduced me to a fan of the blog so it's great people are checking in with it and following our team. Finally we said our good byes and got on the bus headed back to Niagara.

The bus driver flew and we made great time getting home. We had a chance to watch the game again on the bus as well a couple other movies. The Kingdom, which I recommend, and also Spider Man 3. I might as well be a movie critic as well. Everyone was having a good time on the bus and it was great to get out of NYC with two critical road wins. The wins put us 10-3 overall and 4-0 in the MAAC. We finally rolled into Monteagle Ridge at midnight and unloaded the bus. We finally get to stay at school for awhile after living out of a suitcase the last 10 days. It feels good to unpack for good.

I'm glad this blog took off and I can give you an insight into our roadtrips, I won't be with you for awhile so I got a few things to say before I go. This Friday we play Siena who is 2-0 on the MAAC on ESPNU at the Gallagher Center. We're still on break so we need you fans. We need to sell the place out and we need you to be loud. This is a rematch of last year's MAAC championship game, so we need you there and we need your help being our 6th MAN. Thats all for now I'll be back in a couple weeks and I hope to see you all this Friday.

Check out Espn.Com if you get a chance theres an article on contenders and pretenders, and the website has picked us as the contender out of the MAAC which is pretty cool. Also check out my hero Gilbert Arenas's blog, I don't think I'm on his level yet but I'm trying to get there with help from all my fans. Thanks for reading, have a great week and see ya Friday.

MAKE HISTORY!!!!!!- Danny

Iona/Manhattan Trip: 1/4/08 Hey Purple Eagle fans and a special hello to Liz Martelli (sister of Coach Martelli). Sorry for leaving you out of my entourage, it's nice to know I have another fan out there who reads my blog. Since Coach Martelli got to Niagara via Manhattan College, I have gained great respect for him not only as a coach but also as a friend. He too is a product of a Jesuit High School education coming from St. Joe's Prep in Philadelphia. This is also the alma mater of Colin Curtin where he was a manager and rowed crew. I digress, ever since Coach Martelli got here I have become a fan of the school where his dad coaches, St. Joe's Univeristy so I would like to wish them good luck the rest of the season and also wish his family all the best during this holiday season. I know Liz has a birthday coming up and she plans to visit Niagara soon so I hope she's doing well and is having a good Christmas break. My day started a little earlier than the players today. Coach Martelli drove me to a local laundromat around 9 a.m. to wash and dry all the laundry from the previous night's game. The tricky part of our laundry is that we can't dry the game uniforms or warm-up tops, they have to hang dry. This takes a long time so the earlier we can wash things the better. Back at the hotel the team sat down to breakfast at 11 a.m. and watched some film on Manhattan. Coach Dobrich has the scout for this game, so the team will be well prepared to take on Manhattan. Just like Iona where Coach Ak had the team prepared, we are ready for anything. We have great assistant coaches who break down opposing teams and get our team ready games that are so close to each other. Coach Martelli came and grabbed me from the laundromat where I had fallen alseep with my iPod on and a Maxim magazine opened across my stomach. Since I missed breakfast, he got me some KFC which got me ready to go for the day. I got back to the hotel, passed out all the gear, and we got ready to go to practice. We headed to Fairleigh Dickinson University for practice rather than driving through crazy Manhattan traffic to practice there. Practice went well and Colin got a little playing time running some plays on the scout team (team that runs Manhattan's plays against our defense or offense). He looked good out there and I think he even broke a sweat. During practice, I managed to lock down a dinner reservation at Coach's Corner Diner, which is a team favorite when we come to Teaneck, N.J. After practice we got on the bus and headed back to the hotel. For lunch I took down everyone's Subway order and faxed it in for a pick-up. We all got a little downtime until Colin, myself and Coach Martelli headed out to Subway to pick up the subs. I failed to do something kind of important for this trip, get directions to Subway. Fortunately for me, the manager of Subway spoke perfect english, I kid of course. We ended up getting lost going to a Subway (sound familiar from California). There was more than smoke coming out of Coach Martelli's ears, while Colin was passed out asleep in the back seat of cousre no help at all, except for the occasional pat on the back letting me now things were ok. Finally we got there, picked the subs up and got back to the hotel. After passing them out I took a nice nap and got ready for some dinner. Coach Mihalich, Martelli and Waheed hit the recruiting trail since NY/NJ is a high school basketball hotbed while Coach Dobrich, myself and Colin were in charge at dinner. We got on the bus and headed to the Diner. Dinner was great and the team looked relaxed. A funny moment at dinner was when a waiter asked Colin what he would like to drink, Colin said a Coke and the man then replied with "Diet Sir". Coach Dobrich and I died laughing because if anyone knows Colin, it's clear he's not a big fan of diet drinks or fat free food. Of course this isn't a harsh joke, I love Colin and he's a great manager and friend. That's how we work; just joke on each other all day - every day, it's what keeps us all sane. Dinner ended well and the team had a great time. When we got back to the hotel the other coaches joined us where we had a film session/meeting. Coach Martelli and I headed out to get more gatorades and treats for the bus ride back to the Falls tomorrow after the game. From what I heard the meeting went well and we're ready to go for tomorrow. This is a favorite place to play for our players, Manhattan's fans are all over us the whole game and our players love that so it should be a another great game in the MAAC. Thats all for today. It was a full day but we look prepared for a big game tomorrow which is good. I appreciate all the positive feedback I've been getting from fans and students back at NU and Purple Eagle fans around the country for that matter. I'm glad I can give you some insight into Niagara Basketball on the road. Good luck to our women's team this weekend at Saint Peter's. Hopefully they can come home with a road MAAC win also. OK I'm out for now, but check in Sunday sometime for my game recap and our bus ride back to the Falls. Thanks again for tuning in and Happy early birthdays to Colin Curtin (Tuesday/the big 21) and Liz Martelli (the 11th/the big 21). Hope they have great days. Man who gave me the power to type, I just find ways to ramble on. Before I go i need to thank our other manager Jeff back at Niagara for calling Iona and getting us squared away with a working gametape, Thanks Jeff (Good Luck In New Hamshire). Alright fans time for bed, hope to see you at the game tomorrow or around school next week. Have a great weekend. MAKE HISTORY!!!!!!!!- Danny

Iona/Manhattan Trip: 1/3/08 What a win Purple Eagle fans. Iona has always been a tough place play, and we managed to sneak out of there with a great win. The day started with with an 11 a.m. breakfast followed by a 12 p.m. walk-thru over at Iona. We looked locked in as always going over Iona's stuff and were well prepared by Coach Waheed who had the scout. Iona players started strolling into the gym a little early trying to catch a peak at us; they had to wait till 7:30 p.m. to get the whole thing. After the walk-thru, we headed back to the hotel to have some down time before our pre-game meal. I couldn't wait for the meal and ran over to Taco Bell for a couple steak gorditas. During the meal the players looked ready to go and pumped up to play. After the meal I headed to my room to do some ironing and get my outfit ready. At 6 p.m., we met at the bus where everyone realized Colin and Coach Mihalich were wearing the same shirt/tie and pants combo. It was pretty funny and got a good laugh out of everyone to loosen things up before the game. We got to the gym and went over the pregame game plan one more time before taking the court. We had a great fan atmosphere behind the bench with Charron's mom leading the charge. We have the best road following in the country with a strong fan presence at every away game. We started the game off strong and broke out to a 12 point lead in the first half which was cut down just before halftime. The second half turned out to be a battle with the lead going back and forth. We got big contributions from Benson, Kamau and Meech towards the end of the game. Charron (my roommate/best friend) poured in 32 points and 12 rebounds (21 in the first half). Benson also had a monster dunk at the end of the game with a foul. It was a great win and awesome to get out of there with the W. Meghan Phelps, who I now consider a part of my blogging entourage, was on hand to give out brownies, cookies and other treats after the game.  It was great to see her there as a dedicated Niagara fan. After the game we headed to our new hotel which is also a player favorite, the Glen Pointe Marriott in Teaneck, N.J. I got Charron as my roommate here, a first on the road ever. You think we'd see enough of each being roommates in the dorms, but we're really good friends, so it's nice being roommates on the road also.   We're here for two nights before playing our next MAAC opponent, Manahttan. I'd like to give Gonzaga High School's head basketball coach Steve Turner a shout-out. Gonzaga is ranked No. 1 in The Washington Post for area teams, at 12-0 and 3-0 in the WCAC. They are doing a great job and are about to ranked in the country. Also I want to wish our men's hockey team good luck  this weekend at Cornell. Saturday's game will be on the Niagara Sports network, so you should all tune in. I'm good friends with all those guys and hope they do well. My boy Ted Cook tallied his 100th point the other day so that was a great accomplishment for him, Congrats Cookie. Thats all for now, check back tomorrow as we prepare for Manhattan, and get ready for our game Saturday. MAKE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!- Daniel 1/2/08 Purple Eagle Fans, I am back after a short hiatus. Contract negotiations went well with Mr. McLaughlin and we agreed on a compensation plan where I will get lunch from Wendy's once a week. Anyway I am glad I got so much positive feedback and that I could give you a special inside look into Niagara Men's Basketball on the road. I will be with you the rest of the season now from the road. I still have the power of the pen for now so I would like to give a special thanks to Ellen and Tom "Spider" Dobrich the parents of Coach Dobrich. I got a very nice phone call from Mrs. Dobrich telling me how great the blog was and how she enjoyed following the team through the Cable Car Classic. Right now I am writing from our hotel in New Rochelle, New York. I am a little late getting to you but yesterday was kind of a hectic travel day and I was exhausted. We started off the day with a noon practice in which we dedicated our total focus to Iona. They are a completely different team from a year ago and Iona is always a tough place to play. Practice went well and our guys looked really locked in on what Iona runs and what type of team they have this year. After practice Colin and I got prepared for yet another road trip-I feel like I'm on an NBA schedule right now. We got everything packed and were on the bus by 3 p.m. we headed to the Buffalo Airport. Once we got their Colin, myself and the coaches have a tradition of getting some Burger King before the flight. Our plane got delayed a little bit so Coach Dobrich and I decided to check out those massage chairs they have in the terminal, we both agreed it was the most painful 3 minutes of our lives, it was pretty bad. In the gate next to us a man and wife had been kicked off the plane because he had too many Pepsi's I guess. He put on a huge temper tantrum and eventually airport police showed up to regulate the situation. Finally we boarded the plane and were headed to NYC. We flew one of the small planes which makes us all nervous, but things went well and we finally landed at Kennedy around 8:30 p.m. We grabbed our bags, hopped on the bus and headed to straight to Boston Market. The Market was closing at 9 so I brokered a deal with the guy where I got everyone's order on the bus and called it in to the guy. I also convinced the manager with my 'smooth words' to let us stay there and eat past closing time. Everything worked out well and we all got a decent dinner the night before a game. Finally, we got to the hotel around 9:30 p.m., the players and coaches had a quick film review on Iona while Colin and I walked through cold winds to get Gatorades from the Stop N Shop. We got a ton of gatorades and some Coca-Cola for Coach Mihalich. We had too many bags, so Colin and I "borrowed" the shopping cart and pushed it all the way back to the hotel lobby. Just another day for us on the road doing whatever's necessary. Everyone got in their rooms around 11 p.m. and headed to bed. It was a long travel day but everything went smoothly which was nice. Check back in tomorrow night, to get my game recap and events following up to and after the game. Catch us courtesy of Todd Callen at 105.1 The River back in the Falls. MAKE HISTORY!!!!!! - Danny