Adam Mair (Photo: Bill Wippert)

The flu bug hit us a little early this year despite some changes to try and stave it off.

Before anyone even got sick, coming out of training camp, we ended up getting our own water bottles during practice and all home games. Our numbers are on all of them so we don’t share in an effort to reduce the possibility of the spread of infection or flu-like symptoms.

We’re also being cognizant of sharing face towels – making sure we don’t use anyone else’s during games or even just waiting until in between periods to use the one in your locker.

The reality of it is that you are in such close contact - whether it’s Gatorade bottles or face towels on the bench, or even just bumping in front of the net during practice – that it’s difficult to avoid.

We’ve already had Paul [Gaustad] miss a few games, although he’s back at practice, as well as Pat Kaleta and Clarke MacArthur – which has made for interesting road trips.

In traveling, with the stale environment of a plane, we had a few guys that took precautionary steps and wore a mask. Clarke was the first to institute that, which was a little laughable on the plane. Actually, Lindy came back and snapped a few picture on his camera phone at one point.

But you’re in such close proximity with each other all the time that it’s bound to happen. The best defense is really just getting rest, making sure you’re sleeping and keeping your nutrition up so that hopefully your immune system will fight things off.

The flu is the flu and especially with a group like us – males between 20 and 35 years old that are in good shape – we aren’t in high risk for anything serious.

Where it does get touchy are for guys with families or wives that are pregnant – which we have two of on our team right now. One actually just delivered a baby today. So I think that’s where the concern is for us, making sure that their families stay healthy and the kids don’t get sick.

The flu seems to hit the team probably once a year on average. This is a little bit early, it usually hits in the winter, but we’re definitely not the only team dealing with it.