NEW YORK (AP) — Getting to the East Coast for their road trip this week involved the Anaheim Ducks changing airports, switching planes, sitting on the tarmac and arriving at their hotel after 2 a.m.
“It was a long shift,” coach Joel Quenneville said.
Quenneville, a hockey lifer, watched football — a lot of it — thanks to NFL RedZone. Rookie Roger McQueen and some of the younger guys played cards. All in all, it was a 15-hour travel ordeal Sunday for the Ducks that was less than ideal as the delays were unfolding but something they hope will turn out to be a valuable bonding experience.
“You spend tons of time with each other, and something like yesterday could be one of those moments where it could bring everybody together,” Quenneville said Monday after the team's morning skate at Madison Square Garden. “They handled it like pros, and so here we are today. Let’s play hockey.”
The Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars were on the field in London when Anaheim players, coaches and staff departed for John Wayne Airport in Orange County. The 1 p.m. Eastern slate was well underway by the time they changed course to Los Angeles International Airport to meet their rerouted plane.
Were there doubts about getting to the New York area?
“For sure," defenseman Jackson LaCombe said. “We had no idea what was going on for a bit.”
They were on the plane to see the Pittsburgh Steelers come back to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and were still sitting there by the time the preseason Super Bowl favorite Los Angeles Rams lost to the Arizona Cardinals.
“We watched a lot of football games,” forward Cutter Gauthier said. "Pretty much every single one of them. That killed our time nicely.”
Mechanical issues led to them needing a different charter plane, which did not take off until after the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers kicked off in primetime at Lambeau Field. That plane landed at 1:45 a.m., and players were on the ice before 11:30.
“Tried to enjoy it on the bus with the guys, play some cards,” said McQueen, who made his NHL debut last week. "A lot of phone (time). But we tried to play some cards. Didn’t really finish any of our games — well, actually, one of them. No, it was good. Some more time with the guys. Delays aren’t fun, but you take what it is.”
It was new for the likes of McQueen and Gauthier and old hat for some of the veterans. Captain Mikael Granlund called it part of the game, and the Ducks don't want to use travel trouble as an excuse when they face the New York Rangers and Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers before turning around and going home.
"We’re ready to go," defenseman Nick Jensen said. “There’s something to the mentality where it’s just like, ‘We’re here, let’s do this.’ Like, it doesn’t matter. We’re showing up. Yeah, yesterday wasn’t fun, but we made it, we’re a good team and everyone’s kind of in the same position.”
See AP’s full NHL coverage here
Anaheim Ducks players celebrate a goal by center Leo Carlsson (91) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, center, celebrates after his team defeated the Winnipeg Jets in of an NHL hockey game in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)
Anaheim Ducks right wing Beckett Sennecke, right, celebrates his goal with defenseman Jackson LaCombe during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
MADRID (AP) — Rising fuel costs, discontent with the state of schools, declining public services and a housing crisis have created perfectly stormy weather for an autumn of protests in Europe.
Crowds have taken to the streets for weeks in major cities, resulting in arrests, looting, injuries, and violence across France, Italy and Albania. In Spain and Portugal, tent camps have sprung up in protests against unattainable rents and housing costs.
Young Europeans are experiencing “a strong sense of uncertainty and a lack of control,” said María Silvestre, professor of sociology at the University of Deusto in Spain. “And when specific situations come together, a spark suddenly ignites that is capable of channeling that discontent and driving people into the streets.”
Cities have turned into battlefields as top EU economies, including France, Italy and Spain, approach pivotal elections, while far-right parties have made electoral gains in Germany and could do so elsewhere. It also comes as Europe faces a critical moment in its support for Ukraine, with President Donald Trump making overtures to President Vladimir Putin even as Russia is blamed for increasingly frequent hybrid attacks in NATO countries.
Right-wing politicians have seized on the chaos. While protests in France have appeared broad-based, Trump portrayed immigrants as responsible for the destruction, writing on his Truth Social platform: “The migrants have taken over France. They must CLOSE THE BORDERS, FAST!” on Monday.
Many of the protests have been fueled by frustrated young people. Other elements including black-clad, masked agitators have fomented violence, but French authorities and police have not blamed immigrants.
Here's a look at what's driving the unrest:
In France, which has a centuries-old tradition of popular protest, high schoolers have staged blockades and demonstrations for more than three weeks, demanding more resources for schools they call understaffed and dilapidated, especially in lower-income neighborhoods.
The protests then broadened as France's CGT labor union and other activists joined in while students paused for a fall break. The movement now includes demands over rising living costs and public services.
Despite hundreds of thousands of people marching peacefully, the weekend’s unrest led to 2,400 arrests and serious disturbances in parts of France, including looting in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux. In Limoges, flames engulfed the 19th-century City Hall and nearly destroyed the building. Some schools were set on fire. As students and rioters threw firebombs and law enforcement responded with tear gas, hundreds have been injured.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Saturday’s violence, accusing far-left activists of trying to foment chaos by attacking buildings and police.
“Those who looted will have to pay for the damage, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable,” Macron said Sunday in a rare televised address.
In Spain, elementary and secondary schoolteachers began an indefinite strike in Madrid last week to demand better pay and working conditions. Discontented teachers staged similar walkouts elsewhere in Spain this year.
In Madrid's central Puerta del Sol, tarpaulin tents have blanketed the square for weeks to protest rising housing costs, sparked by the eviction of Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman who later died while hospitalized. Smaller protest camps followed in other Spanish cities.
The public pressure led the ruling Socialist government to approve affordable housing measures, but they lacked support in Parliament, triggering a snap election announced by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for November. A general strike also was called for November — the first in 14 years.
Similar housing protests have sprung up in Portugal’s largest cities, Lisbon and Porto, and in Barcelona, a focal point of Spain's overtourism and housing challenges.
Spain's minimum wage is 1,221 euros ($1,370), while the average monthly rent for an 80-square-meter apartment is around 1,130 euros (about $1,270), according to an analysis by the business newspaper Expansión.
“Most of my paycheck goes to the rent. My roommate struggles to make ends meet just like I do,” said Diana Manzanares, a 20-year-old waitress at the Madrid encampment. “This is my reality and the reality of most of us living in this city.”
“Italia in Piazza,” or Italy in the Streets, has galvanized thousands of demonstrators, voicing demands for better employment, healthcare, education, and access to housing, as well as higher wages. Inflation in Italy rose to 4.2% in September, surpassing the eurozone’s 3.8%, according to government data.
The peaceful marches were followed by violent riots in Turin and Bologna, and in Italy's finance and fashion capital of Milan, where masked rioters clashed with police, looted stores and set property on fire. Milan police said 271 people were arrested — most of them minors — and 14 security officers were injured during two days of unrest.
Now a newly formed group calling itself the “Oct. 17 Movement” has announced what it describes as a “permanent mobilization” to demonstrate every Saturday at 3 p.m. in cities across Italy.
Anti-government protests have stretched over a week in Albania's capital of Tirana, with clashes escalating after high school and university students joined the broad anti-government “Flamingo” movement calling for Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign.
Rama has condemned the protesters as “ideologized and radicalized” by antifa, an umbrella term for loosely organized far-left militants in the United States, where President Donald Trump has designated the movement a terrorist organization.
Ending corruption is a major demand of the movement, which was named for the natural habitat of flamingos in an area where Rama's government agreed to allow a major luxury tourism development linked to Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. They also want protections for healthcare, education, and public pensions, according to its website.
In Serbia, the university students leading mass anti-corruption protests for nearly two years are challenging an attempted return to power by the Balkan country’s former populist leader Aleksandar Vucic in parliamentary elections.
The former authoritarian president is aiming to be named prime minister after the Oct. 25 vote. The youth-backed Students’ List party is believed to be running close to Vucic’s party, making the outcome uncertain and fueling fears of possible violence.
A protester holds a French flag at Republic Square during a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Police confront "Italia in Piazza" protesters in Milan, Italy, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (Stefano Porta/LaPresse via AP)
Protesters gather during clashes at an anti-government demonstration in Tirana, Albania, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
A man sets up a roof cover at a makeshift camp set up by protesters demanding stronger laws to protect renters in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, Spain, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Protesters march during a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A protester wraps a French flag around them in front of the burning tourism office during a demonstration against rising living costs and in solidarity with students’ grievances in Lyon, France, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
