Yukon Reinvesting in Facilities? Don't Hold Your Breath

[Ace 85]

There's been a lot of scrutiny regarding the facilities that the Yukon Rush players utilize every season. When comparing their facilities to other franchise's in the VHLM, the Rush are woefully unqualified and under supplied. Instead of a full gym, the Rush expect their players to train by carrying large bags of concrete bricks from one side of their sales office to the other. Hot tubs? No way, try "jump in the fucking lake outside of the rink, we'll give you a blanket and a blow dryer after, that should make your body rebound after intense workouts". 

 

 

Yukon's training facilities. 

 

Rush center Frans Eller was caught on mic on Tuesday - "I don't know why they just don't spend the money on it. I had a better training experience when I was playing soccer when I was 7. It's pathetic. All it takes is what, $500,000 or so to build what we need if we want to truly compare to other teams? I don't know how we're keeping pace in this league with what we've got. Imagine if we had the same infrastructure as a Philadelphia? We'd be blowing their doors off."

 

Some would say that this is a "tough love" type of training. Not everything needs to be catering or to spoil the players, but it's no secret that players that are happy and having fun produce a lot more than upset, negative players. When asked for comment, the Yukon Rush front office had the following statement - 

 

"The Yukon Rush franchise has always met the VHLM's rigorous training facilities requirements and we're proud to be among the league leaders in the standings thus far this season. There's no reason for anyone to consider our facilities any less adequate than other franchises, and any other claims are unfounded and inaccurate. The Rush will have no further comment on this topic at this time."

 

It's clear that this accusation has struck a nerve of the Yukon front office - we sent an undercover reporter to gain more intel on the true condition of these training facilities. The results of their investigation were shocking. Daily meals were indeed provided, but instead of a well balanced meal that a high level athlete requires, McDonalds "McDoubles" were provided at room temperature with bottled "Bug Juice" products from the local convenience store. The players were not provided the consultation of a nutritionist, and were told to rely on what their "Lite Edition Calorie Counter App" that the GM staff installed on each of their smartphones had advised them for peak nutrition. They also had no strength and conditioning coach, only a 83 year old Vietnam Veteran who keeps claiming that he got strong by eating kimchi and running barefoot eight miles a day. It's not clear if that will directly translate to on ice endurance yet. 

 

When asked about these findings, the Yukon Rush franchise did not respond. 

 

One thing is for sure, things aren't quite up to snuff in Yukon, and the players are getting to the point of letting the whole world know.