Edmonton, Canada

Western Conference, JW Marriott

Joseph Taylor Compher is my soulmate. And no, JT Compher did not type that. That is all the thoughts of-- Sorry, about that, ladies and gentleman. I leave my seat to show off my amazing ukulele skills to the newbies (Vladdy Namestnikov, Nazem Kadri, Val Nichushkin, Andre Burakovsky, Bowen Byram, to name a few of them) and he takes over my 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs journal.

We're about to touch down in the wonderful city of Edmonton, who so graciously is giving the season a second chance to finish the right way. With the Colorado Avalanche being named the Stanley Cup Champions.

Please, readers, hold your applause and tears.

And, yes, Jimothy Timothy will -- of course -- be my amazing ginger-haired roomie. Don't tell him this, but while he's wasting the day away playing stupid video games on his computer, I will be serenating the hotel in sweet musical harmonies.

Gravy [Ryan Graves] peers around the seat and whispers, "So, how did they like the mad uke skills?"

I shrug at him. "Bo was clapping along, Naz booed and I might have made Vladdy prego."

"You did not make me pregnant, Josty, I'm a MAN!" Vladdy's [Vladislav Namestnikov] high-pitched whine comes from the front of the plane.

I roll my head around the side of my chair and flash him a playful, cheesy smile. Sammy G [Samuel Girard], who is sitting next to him with an arm around the blonde man's shoulders looks at me and gives me a middle finger.

I turn back around and report to Comphy [Jimothy Timothy Compher]. "Sammy G just flipped me off."

"You deserved it," Comphy remarks with a roll of his eyes as he smashes his hands on the keyboard of his laptop. "And you distracted me, so now I'm dead. Thanks, Josty, you're a real pal."

"Anything for you, boo."

Comphy sets his laptop on the tray table and then reaches over and grabs me around the head with one arm, while he gives me a noogie with the other hand. "You're going to regret doing that!!"

I glimpse Mikko Rantanen, Gabe [Gabriel Landeskog], Nathan "The Dogg" MacKinnon and Cale Makar, who are playing cards to the side of me. Mikko throws his cards down in frustration and folds his arms across his chest.

"This no fun! Gabe always win."

Cale smiles. "This IS fun!"

"At least someone enjoys it," Gabe says. "If you don't, Mikko, maybe you'd rather go listen to Josty's terrible uke playing."

Mikko grumbles to himself as the intercom comes to life in the plane. Comphy lets me go, my sex curls shooting out in all directions like I'd just waken up.

"This is your captain speaking--" the voice begins to say.

"NO IT ISN'T!" Gabe shouts out.

"Silence, Landeskog," the pilot sighs. "As if I haven't heard that joke many times before."

Gabe begins to die laughing at his own joke. Cale joins him. Nathan rolls his eyes and grabs the book that he is reading, Origin by Dan Brown.

"Anyway, please take your seats PROPERLY and prepare for landing...and no more puns, Landeskog!" the pilot pleads.

I can see Gabe preparing to make a comment, but instead he stows his tray table and buckles his seatbelt.

"Oh, and welcome to Edmonton, Colorado Avalanche," the pilot sighs into the mic, before cutting the intercom back off.

The plane begins to descend, when I hear a flush and then the door to the bathroom in the back of the plane swing open.

"WAIT!" Burky [Andre Burakovsky] shouts out, scampering down the aisle and almost falling into Val's [Valeri Nichushkin] lap. He dives into his seat, behind where Comphy and I are sitting and bangs his head against Gravy's knee.

I can feel and hear Burky popping back up, apologizing to Gravy in the process and working quickly to fasten his seatbelt as the plane dips again. I grip tightly to the arms of the chair I am in, glancing to my stern-faced friend next to me. He is looking out the window though, taking in the view of the city below.

"You knew we were close and yet, you still had to pee," Nathan hisses at him. "You're lucky you didn't just get a concussion from all that."

"I'm sorry. I'm not in control of my bladder...weeeeeee!" Burky says at another, longer dip of the plane.

"You're special," Nathan responds with a shake of his head.

In front of me, Logan O'Connor sits with another rookie named Bowen Byram. I can see through the crease between the seats that Bo is gripping the arms tightly and squeezing his eyes shut. His face twitches as we drop again and can now see cars driving on the roads below us.

After a few long minutes of dropping and listening to Bo's nervous sniffling and Burky's "weeeees," we touch down.

"TOUCH DOWN, FINALLY!" Naz [Nazem Kadri] shouts out.

The engines roar on either side of us as the plane slowly comes to a taxi as we near the airport in Edmonton.

"My water just broke," Z [Nikita Zadorov] mocks Vladdy's voice.

"SHUT UP!" Vladdy wails and slaps Z on the shoulder.

The plane comes to a halt and, almost immediately, everyone jumps up to their feet. We grab our personal bags and exit the aircraft. Crisp Canada winds greet us. I shove my bag into Comphy's hands and throw my hands into the air.

"HELLO, EDMONTON! TYSON JOST IS HERE!" I scream out to the air.

Comphy rolls his eyes and shoves the bag back to me. "Must you greet EVERY city like that. You do it when we return to Colorado too! It's rather annoying."

"Hey, let the little guy have fun," Naz chirps. "It's the only moment in the spotlight he'll get."

I skip down the stairs with Comphy trailing me, spotting a bus parked a few feet away for us to get on and travel into our part of the bubble in Edmonton for playoff hockey. "Oh, ha-ha, funny, Naz."

Naz pops me with a fist in the shoulder. "Just returning the chirp from last week about how I tend to choke in the playoffs, buddy."

We board the bus that is for us.

"You're more attached at the hip to Comphy than Sammy G since he met Vladdy," Z chirps as he sits before Comphy and I on the bus with his Russian pal, Val [Valeri Nichushkin]. "It's disturbing, he's got a wife."

Comphy folds his arms and snorts.

"That's because away from Colorado, Comphy is my lover," I remark, proudly. "We sleep together, eat together--"

"SHOWER TOGETHER!" Naz calls back.

"I'd say get a room, but, you've done that," Gabe sneers as he passes by us and ruffles my hair.

"No, we don't shower together, Naz. That's gross," I retort, wrinkling my nose up. What couple showers together? Ew.

The rest of the guys get on the bus and then, within not even fifteen minutes, we are zooming down the road and into the heart of Downtown Edmonton. I've taken the window seat, so I can look out at the scenery. (Usually Comphy and I are pretty easy-going with a rotation and fairness, for instance, he got the window seat on the plane and now it is my turn. In the hotel, he will have the choice of which bed to sleep in.)

I can see lots of trees and tall buildings. The city is very clean-looking actually. We pass by the Edmonton Oilers' arena, Rogers' Place, which is decked out and ready for the playoffs. I can see that they are welcoming all the teams into the bubble with our logos on the arena's small patio.

The bus takes us onward, toward a tall building with a rectangular shaped building at the base of it.

The JW Marriott, our new home for the playoffs and the next three months.

We pull up under the entrance awning and file off of the bus. We all grab our equipment from the bottom of the vehicle and enter the grand hotel.

I know that we will be sharing this with the St. Louis Blues, Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators.

As I walk in with Comphy on my left, a familiar smiling face greets us all. A giant bear of a man with sandy blond waves of hair.

"Welcome friends. I'm so happy that you arrived safe and unharmed. Welcome to the only hotel that will be full of friends and smiles and everyone getting along together!" He walks over and wraps his massive, bulky arms around Bo.

Bo squeaks in shock and looks in the direction of Gabe.

"It's okay, Bo, Colton Parayko is just being SUPER friendly like always," Gabe remarks, coming over and putting a hand on Colton's arm. "Easy there, big guy, you're scaring our precious rookie defenseman!"

Colton steps back, releasing Bo finally, just as a streak of yellow flashes by, shouting out, "Welcome to Edmonton, losers! It's about time you and your pitiful team showed up, Lucklesskog and Meakinnon."

The yellow streak skids to a halt a feet away and I can see a familiar scowling brunette man standing before us on a pair of custom-made black and yellow roller skates. He has on a mustard yellow Nashville Predators t-shirt with black athletic shorts that have the team's logo on them.

"Matt Duchene," Gabe and Nathan growl out.