Inside the dressing room: From Jamaica to engagements, here’s how the Flyers spent the All-Star break

While Kevin Hayes went to Florida to join the league in celebrating the best hockey has to offer at All-Star weekend, many of his teammates took off across the globe in an effort to get away from the sport for a few days.

After a grueling January where the team only had one day, at most between games, for two straight weeks, the pause from hockey was much needed. Some Flyers needed a mental break, while others took the time to let their bodies heal.

» READ MORE: Flyers edge Connor McDavid and the Oilers in their first shootout win of season

With their teammate competing in the All-Star game and skills competition, they couldn’t completely disconnect — they enjoyed watching his 3-year-old nephew Beau steal the show — but everyone agreed they felt rejuvenated upon their return.

What were they up to in their time away from hockey? For the latest peek inside the dressing room, the Flyers shared some of their adventures:

At the Flyers’ first practice back, the team celebrated Noah Cates’ 24th birthday. The rookie said he’s feeling kind of old — he closed on a house a few days prior.

Cates, who’s from Stillwater, Minnesota, couldn’t check out the house from Philadelphia, so his parents went on tours and sent him pictures. He finally saw it over Christmas break.

When the All-Star break arrived, rather than heading to a tropical climate, he went home to Minnesota to close on the house and move in.

» READ MORE: Cates brothers’ unbreakable bond has carried them from their Minnesota basement to the Flyers

“Weather dropped right when I got home, so it was like negative 10 out when we moved in,” Cates said with a resigned laugh.

While with his friends and family, he celebrated both his birthday and his housewarming.

After the Flyers celebrated Cates in their first stretch circle, they then shoved Owen Tippett in. Tippett is also a February baby, but his birthday isn’t for another few weeks. They were celebrating a very different life event: his engagement.

Over the break, Tippett gathered his friends and family in New York. When he and his girlfriend went up to the Edge observation deck, Tippett dropped to one knee and popped the question.

It was a good way to get his mind off hockey. The moment was too important to think about anything else.

“Something that’s so special, you want to remember it,” Tippett said.

Defenseman Cam York came back with some sun-colored cheeks, but he didn’t go to the beach like many of his teammates. He went to Utah to meet his dad for a fishing trip. Did they bring back a haul?

“We didn’t catch anything at all — I’m kidding,” York said. “No, we did. We caught a bunch of rainbow trout, brown trout, stuff like that. It was ice fishing. So it was really cold, but a lot of fun.”

Konecny also went to the mountains, spending time in beautiful Banff, Alberta.

But Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost went in the complete opposite direction. They headed to Jamaica with two of Frost’s friends, who Farabee knew from prior visits to Philadelphia.

“It was actually a really good time,” Farabee said. “Probably too good of a time, honestly.”

Compared to York’s ice fishing trip, Frost and Farabee enjoyed “90 and sunny every day.”

Travis Sanheim knew he wanted to go somewhere with a warm climate. However, he and his girlfriend had to stay within the United States because of the terms of her visa. They wanted to avoid the All-Star festivities, so they ended up in Miami rather than Fort Lauderdale.

Scott Laughton and Justin Braun had similar ideas.

While they didn’t vacation together, they shared a few meals, courtesy of Sanheim.

“They made me buy,” Sanheim joked. “So you should get on them about that, being cheap.”

Sanheim made the most of the 80-degree weather, but Konecny challenged Sanheim’s decision to go to Miami rather than return to Canada.

“Some guys don’t remember where they came from,” Konecny said. “I like to go back to where I came from.”

Isn’t Konecny from Ontario, not Alberta?

“Exactly!” Sanheim exclaimed. “He plays his hometown team and doesn’t say it’s his hometown team. … It should be Toronto. Then he says it’s Detroit. And now, when we play both those teams, he’s like ‘No, no, no, it’s Calgary now.’”

This means on the Flyers’ next road trip, Konecny will be claiming he’s headed home.

The one bit of hockey that leaked through the break was the All-Star game — for good and for bad.

Some of the players watched Hayes during the skills competition and the game in real-time while others caught highlights. They all had opinions, though.

» READ MORE: Kevin Hayes lives his late brother Jimmy’s All-Star dream as 3-year-old Beau steals the show

Braun said he thinks they should have three players do fastest skater and then have everyone else participate in hardest shot and the accuracy shooting.

“Accuracy’s the only good one,” Braun said.

Sanheim is inclined to agree.

“Some of those other events, it gets to be a little too much, and then the guys aren’t trying and the skills aren’t necessarily there,” Sanheim said. “I just feel like you’re trying to showcase guys’ skills and you want them to try in events.”

Frost, meanwhile, has liked some of the newer competitions, although he agreed this year’s event wasn’t as good. He watched it once he returned from Jamaica — which is a good thing because Farabee would have got up and left the room if he saw it on. Farabee had the strongest opinion of them all.

“I thought it was horrible, honestly,” Farabee said. “I thought the whole thing was pretty bad. I don’t know why they stay away from the skills. The skills is the coolest part, and now they try to make it like an entire show. … I’m not kidding. I turned it on and saw Marner do his thing where he’s like ‘I need the package’ or something, and I shut the whole thing off.”

The one thing he thought they did well was the way they involved the kids, like Beau Hayes and Sergei Ovechkin.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Farabee said.