Coachella Valley Firebirds share how they spent their summer vacations

Each year when kids return to school, a traditional assignment is for them to tell the rest of the class what they did on their summer vacation.

Replace "kids" with Coachella Valley Firebirds and "school" with Acrisure Arena and we asked the same thing.

From golf and fishing to an engagement to Bruce Springsteen, here is what some of the returning members of the Firebirds family did on their summer vacation:

Coach Dan Bylsma: "The summer was quick, just the way we like it," Bylsma said, referencing the hockey adage that a short summer means you had a successful season with a deep playoff run. "But still I had a good chance to get away. Get back home and refresh a little bit. Did a little fishing in our home base in Ludington, Michigan. But I also spent time getting excited about year number two."

Ian McKinnon: Said he spent some time in his hometown just outside of Toronto, and pretty much did regular guy stuff: "Kept busy training, did a little traveling. Golfing with family, couple trips to the dog park. That's about it."

The Coachella Valley Firebirds 2023-24 schedule including theme nights

Jeremy McKenna: McKenna is from Summerside, Prince Edward Island in Canada, which is so far east that it's actually in a time zone even more east than the Eastern Time Zone. McKenna's hometown is a four-hour difference from the Coachella Valley and is about 3,734 miles away, or a simple 51-hour car ride. "I went home, which is far, far away and enjoyed some time with my family, my three sisters and my parents. It's so different from the Coachella Valley, but I had a good time."

Cameron Hughes: "My summer was quick but went back home to Edmonton, worked on my house quite a bit, worked in the backyard. Worked on the deck and everything, that's about as exciting as it got."

Troy Bodie, the Firebirds vice president of hockey operations: Bodie visited family in Europe and was able to accomplish a pretty big life moment. He and his wife Francesca saw Bruce Springsteen perform outdoors at Hyde Park in London. "It was pretty amazing, I'm not going to lie," Bodie said.

Kole Lind: It's fair to say that Lind had the most eventful summer of any returning Firebirds player. "Yeah, it was a great summer, went to Nashville and saw my brother (Kalan) get drafted by the Predators right after the season. That was obviously really cool. And then I got engaged to my now fiance." He described the proposal to his partner Paige this way: "Yeah, it was down by the river in Saskatoon (Saskatchewan). We went to dinner and I was nervous as can be, shaking the whole time, and I definitely thought I was going to give it away, but I didn't. And she said yes."

Shane Wright: "Flew out to Whistler in B.C. for a little golf trip with my buddies and our dads, like a four-, five-day thing to get away, a little guy's trip, so that was a lot of fun for sure. My golf game is alright, played a good amount in the summer and of course, you can play here in Coachella any time you want, but my game's OK, we're getting there."

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Have a question about the Firebirds or Acrisure Arena? Shoot him an e-mail at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella Valley Firebirds share how they spent their summer vacations