Our First Out-of-State Hockey Tournament: A Little Rusty, a Lot to Remember

Our first out-of-state hockey tournament of the season took us to Detroit, and apparently, we needed a little refresher course in how this whole travel hockey thing works.

We’ve done this before. We know the drill. Pack the gear, load the car, arrange the dog boarding, get everyone out the door, and somehow make it to the rink on time.

Easy, right?

Well… not exactly.

The Night-Before Packing Scramble

We waited until the night before to pack.

Not a couple of days ahead, when we could calmly check things off a list. Not even the morning before, when there might have been time to recover from a forgotten item.

The night before.

We were a little rusty.

Hockey gear? Check. Clothes? Check. Everything else we’d need for a weekend away? We hoped so.

Of course, the things that make a hockey trip complicated aren’t always the things you remember to put on a hockey packing list. There are hotel details, snacks, chargers, toiletries, and all the little things that somehow become essential the minute you realize they’re sitting on your kitchen counter at home.

And then there are the dogs.

The Dog Food Incident

We usually have our player preload the dogs’ food bowls before we leave for a tournament. It’s part of the routine, and one less thing for the adults to manage.

Except this time, we’d managed to forget to prepack the dogs’ food for boarding.

So, instead of having everything ready to go, we found ourselves tag-teaming the dog food the morning we left.

Was it the end of the world? No.

Was it exactly the kind of avoidable chaos that happens when you leave everything until the last minute? Absolutely.

The dogs still got taken care of, we still got on the road, and everyone survived. But it was a pretty good reminder that a travel hockey weekend doesn’t start when you pull into the rink parking lot. It starts with everything you have to coordinate before you even leave the house.

Hockey gear is only one piece of the puzzle.

The Black-and-Yellow Tote That Saves Us Every Time

Thankfully, we did have one thing going for us: our tournament tote.

It’s one of those black-and-yellow-lid storage totes from Home Depot. Nothing fancy. No coordinated luggage set or Pinterest-worthy packing system. Just a sturdy plastic tote that has become one of our most dependable pieces of hockey travel equipment.

Inside are the things we’ve learned to bring after enough weekends at the rink. The little extras that aren’t always top of mind when you’re packing in a hurry, but that can make a long tournament weekend so much easier.

We’ve built up this collection over time, adding things as we realize we need them. Some items come in handy almost every weekend. Others are there for the moment when something goes wrong and we’re grateful we thought to throw them in.

Having that tote packed and ready meant we had one less category of things to worry about while we scrambled to get everything else together.

It’s not glamorous, but it works.

And when you’re managing hockey gear, hotel reservations, tournament schedules, food, travel, and dog boarding, sometimes the most useful system is the one that’s simple enough to actually stick with.

A Little Rusty, But Getting Back Into the Routine

Our first out-of-state tournament in Detroit reminded me that travel hockey has a rhythm of its own.

When you’re in the middle of the season, so much of the preparation becomes automatic. You know what needs to be packed, what should stay in the car, what you always forget, and which little conveniences make the weekend easier.

After a break, though, even familiar routines can feel a little less automatic.

The good news? You don’t have to get everything right to have a successful weekend.

You just need to get your player where they need to be, make sure the essentials are covered, and give yourself a little grace when something slips through the cracks.

And maybe don’t wait until the night before to pack.

We’re still figuring out what works best for our family, and every tournament gives us another opportunity to make the process a little smoother.

Next time, we’ll aim to pack earlier, get the dog food ready ahead of time, and keep our trusty tote stocked and ready to go.

Or at least that’s the plan.

Because if there’s one thing travel hockey teaches you, it’s that the plan and what actually happens aren’t always the same thing.

And that’s okay.

We’re back on the road, we’re getting back into our routine, and we’re learning as we go.

Less chaos. More hockey.