I had no expectations for myself coming into the tryout, and to be honest, I don't think anyone else expected anything from me either. Of course I wanted to do well and show people I could play, but the USHL is just at a whole other level than what I'm used to, and I was not sure I could play at that high of a level. I didn't know what to expect from the weekend; I knew I was in a good spot because the guy I knew at Indiana would help me out over the weekend, and Jason came down from Detroit to help me out during the weekend also. I wasn't really a player the Ice were interested in, and the reason for going to the main camp of the Ice wasn't to make the team but to make myself more confident and get some needed exposure. So I was in a position of no pressure: I already had a tender with Bismarck, and I was just a high school kid, coming out to show how I could play hockey. The Ice coaches and staff didn't really expect much from me as I wasn't a top recruit, but I came ready to compete. I didn't want to embarrass myself.
Again, I walked through the doors to the ice rink and saw a lot of AAA hockey players. They all knew each other, had seen each other at various tournaments throughout the year. I stood in line for the off-ice testing very quietly, thinking about what I had to do in the upcoming weekend. I was nervous and anxious, but mostly calm as I really had nothing to worry about. I got into the coaches' room and they measured my height and weight. They were pleasantly surprised with my weight (206 lbs.) and my height (6'4") and they all remembered me from when I came to skate with them in March. I didn't skate very well back in March because it was hard to come into a team's practice and get noticed in a good way. The drills were unusual to me and the level was way higher than what I was used to. The coaches noticed I wasn't ready for the USHL yet, and I could tell when I saw them in the coaches' room that they still felt the same way. There were other kids that they were more interested in, that they had more expectations for.
Still, I had a feeling that I could prove people wrong and turn some heads at this camp.
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