Hey Flyers fans… we’re here in San Jose and just about to get on the ice for the second day of practice.Backing up a bit, it was a tough loss against the Ducks. There was a little bit of a scrum there in the first period and Mase got into it with Perry. Schenner went to his aid and it seemed like one guy after another were piling in there so I ended up getting in there too. Tough way to start the second half of the season for me to sit in the box there for 10 minutes, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.There ended up being a lot of us in the penalty box. Obviously we don’t want to be down two guys, 5 on 3, but at the same time it was good the guys stuck together and were there for Mase. You can’t have guys taking extra liberties on him and he stepped up for himself too.So back to San Jose - First day here was pretty basic. Practice in the morning (Check out some GoPro video of the morning skates above)Because of the two days off between games we had a few hours to kill. I got lunch with some of the boys here. On the west coast some of the football game started pretty early so we found a spot to watch the game and then grabbed dinner afterwards.Didn’t do much walking around the area - it’s a little cold out here for California weather so I didn’t stay outside for too long! Today after practice, it’ll be mostly the same.Thanks for reading and we’ll catch up with you in LA!-RyanHey fans, thanks for following along on our road trip. It’s a been a great couple of days during the break.

My dad was with me in Philly while we were still playing for about a week and once the last game was over, we flew home together to Manitoba on the 22nd. Everything went smoothly and we got home at a decent time.

I just tried to spend as much time with family and friends as I could. It goes by pretty quick when you’re trying to see family on both sides and I have my girlfriend with me too so I was seeing her side of the family as well.

On my mom’s side, they live out on the farm so I got to spend some time out in the bush. That was a good time.

I also got to take advantage of some good home cooking. I had turkey and ham with all the trimmings on Christmas Eve - that was probably my favorite meal. I hate to say it, but being around all the baking was kind of my crutch - my girlfriend’s mom, she’s great at baking with cookies, cakes and pies and everything else so I was digging into that as much as I could.

Christmas Day didn’t disappoint either. I got a new set of headphones from my girl, nice clothes from my parents that keep me going throughout the year and on road trips so I’m looking good for the second half of the season.

The funny thing is, I’m getting older now and you’re not really there for the gifts as much as you’re there to spend time with the family. I’m really happy I got to see my grandma again this year, she’s 79 years old.

I didn’t take the team charter from Philly to get to Anaheim. I flew to Vancouver from home and then down here to the rink. I actually got in so early that I spent a few hours at the arena here by myself. It’s really good to see the guys again. It’s funny, you get away from them a couple days and you start to miss them too!

We got a good long practice in when everyone arrived. That was really nice to just get the feet wet and get back into hockey mode. Its tough having a few days off, then trying to get after it again. I thought we had a good practice and I’m looking forward to playing these games here in California.

That’s it for me, I’ll catch up with you a little later on the trip.

-Ryan