Oct. 8, 2009

The Wolverines begin their 2009-10 campaign in the final frontier - Alaska. While U-M regularly visits Fairbanks as the Alaska Nanooks are in the CCHA, this trip is to Anchorage, a coastal city that is a seven-hour drive south of Fairbanks. This is U-M's first trip to Anchorage since the start of the 2000-01 season. Michigan is one of four schools playing in the Kendall Hockey Classic. The others are Mercyhurst, Alaska and Alaska Anchorage. U-M takes on Alaska on Friday afternoon and Alaska Anchorage on Saturday. Michigan left Ann Arbor early Wednesday morning and will land in Detroit after 4 p.m. Sunday.

6:42 a.m. ET - Steve Kampfer: I was really, really excited about going to Alaska before I got the wakeup call at 5:45 this morning. I hit the snooze a couple times before I got up. These guys talked about how much of a pain it was going to be to get up and get on the plane today. Now after a good breakfast I'm a little bit awake but I'm still trying to wake up. Pictured above on the left (from left to right) Jeff Rohrkemper, Steve Kampfer, Anthony Ciraulo and on the right-hand side: Kampfer, Chris Summers and Scooter Vaughan.

7:51 a.m. ET - Louie Caporusso: We're pretty tired this morning especially since we decided to have a fantasy hockey draft last night. I'm going to give Steve Kampfer the credit for setting it all up. It was a combination of guys being online and sitting around our house to discuss trades and strategy. (Pictured on the left: Shawn Hunwick, Steve Kampfer, Louie Caporusso, Brandon Burlon).

Steve Kampfer: I'm not sure who's going to win. Everyone has a 40-goal scorer or a top scorer on their team. We'll see how things play out. I think a quality pick was Chris Summers taking Travis Turnbull in the third round (editor's note: Turnbull is playing for the Buffalo Sabres' AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates).

Mike Cammalleri was the highest-drafted Michigan player. I think he went in the first or second round to Chad Langlais. We got through the whole draft pretty quickly since guys just started drafting players on a whim. Shawn Hunwick drafted a bunch of Boston Bruins, of course, because of his brother (Matt), but he didn't even pick his brother.

Shawn Hunwick: I don't want to jinx Matt. Last year somebody picked him up and his game went in the tank, so I took his defense partner, Dennis Wideman, instead and hopefully Matt can contribute that way.

11:24 a.m. CT - We took off a little late for the first flight. I fell asleep while we were waiting on the tarmac, so then I was awake during the whole flight. It was pretty miserable but watching Chad Langlais twitch while he was sleeping and Brian Lebler mess with him was funny. We're now sitting in the Minneapolis airport and I grabbed a foot-long sub sandwich. My yogurt smoothie should go well with it. I'll enjoy those things on our six-hour flight to Alaska as I sit next to Shawn Hunwick.

Shawn Hunwick: I'm pretty upset about [sitting next to Kampfer for the next six hours]. The only thing worse would be sitting next to Tristin Llewellyn.

Kampfer: I think Shawn and I are going to watch some movies and hopefully work out some trades for our fantasy teams.

Noon AKT - Steve Kampfer: We're about halfway through this flight and I'm starting to realize how this trip can put some wear and tear on your body. I've been walking up and down the plane the last hour or so. A couple guys are doing homework, but most guys are sleeping. A few others are playing video games or watching movies. The consensus is that guys are getting hungry and rather antsy because we just want to get playing hockey. (Pictured (above): Carl Hagelin studying (left); Luke Glendening watching a movie and Robbie Czarnik napping (right); and on the right-hand side - Lee Moffie hydrating and eating cookies).

6:10 p.m. AKT - Steve Kampfer: We finally arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, around 3:15 or 3:30 p.m., so its 7:30 p.m. back home. It's been a long day. We've been in an airplane or at an airport for like 12 hours. I think everyone was in high spirits to get off the plane finally. Everyone is excited for practice.

We're pretty eager to eat now. We had a snack before practice but we're heading out to a really nice dinner now. I think I ordered the halibut, but maybe it was prime rib. Afterward, we'll stay up as late as we can so we can get used to the time difference. Tomorrow, we have a big day with practice and then a team activity and a tournament banquet. (pictured above: view out the window as we landed in Anchorage, Lindsey Sparks, Ben Winnett, A.J. Treais, Steve Kampfer by a wilderness exhibit at the airport; below - view from the restaurant, Simon & Seafort's)