Written By Brian Lockhart

For many young hockey players, their first experience staying at a hotel is when their team is on the road for a tournament.

The Ontario Minor Hockey Association is offering tips to players to have a successful hotel experience when away from home.

Spending time with your teammates and friends during a road trip is exciting, but there's a lot more that should go into hotel selection than just finding the first one available.

Getting a good night's sleep is key for playing hockey with a high level of performance

Finding a hotel with comfortable bed helps make sure that getting rest is counting for something.

Staying in a hotel presents a few challenges for young players not used to
the experience.

The mattress is different, the pillows aren't the same, and the temperature and layout are all new. It may be tough to immediately adjust.

A study about sleep while travelling showed that half of your brain may remain alert when you sleep in a new location – at least for the first night. You should give yourself a few extra minutes to get into your routing while on the road.

A different schedule for each day of a tournament will make it harder to get into a bedtime routine.

You should avoid high intensity activities before bed and give yourself time to relax and wind down.

Stick to your team's travel curfew.

If you have a later game, put the Do Not Disturb sign on the outside of your hotel door, to avoid hotel staff interrupting you.

You can bring along some extras like your own pillow or ear plugs if it will make a difference in getting a good night's sleep.

If possible, ask for a room away from high-activity and loud areas of the hotel. Things like elevators and ice machines may bring in unwanted noise at all hours of the night.

All these things factor into having a good experience when you are on the road for a tournament and want to have a good night's sleep to be ready for your game.