Sandy Stranded Hockey Team Returns To Minn.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- On Wednesday, the St. Cloud State women's hockey team finally returned to Minnesota after six days away. The Huskies were slated to have eight road trips this season, but they'll never have another quite like their last.

During their most recent trip, the team got stranded by superstorm Sandy in Providence, RI, after playing a pair of games over the weekend. Their flight home was canceled when the storm shut down airports across the eastern seaboard.

"[Sandy] knocked a tree over outside my room," said freshman Vanessa Spataro. "It was pretty bad."

They missed the worst of the weather, but not the delay.

"We were all packed, sitting in lobby, and then we got news [of the cancellation] at about 6:30 a.m.," said team captain Alex Nelson.

So they packed up bags of laundry, as the four-day trip turned into a six-day trip. Twitter and cards offered relief from the downtime hours. And they also ate as a group when the coach ran out of cash.

"We walked into one Boston Market, ran 27 people through the till all at one time so I could use a credit card," said coach Jeff Giesen.

And after watching the storm coverage on TV, the team posted their own storm videos.

"We thought it would be funny if I tried to hold onto the side of a poll while Alex [Nelson] held my legs...like I was blowing in the wind," said forward Molli Mott.

"It wasn't something to make fun of," Nelson said. "But Providence wasn't an area that got hit really hard."

When a flight finally came from nearby Boston Wednesday, the team couldn't wait to fly back home.

"I know people back here miss us," Nelson said. "Our rink misses us. We miss our rink. We've been gone now for four weekends on away games, and we're just ready to be back."

The Huskies landed in the Twin Cities around 2 p.m., and practiced about two hours later, preparing for big games against Ohio State coming up on both Friday and Saturday.