Good Learning Experience, Not a Good Weekend

The drive to Topeka is like 13 hours. I'm not sure how long it really is because I was sleeping or in my bunk for the majority of the time. I had a lot of time to think about the weekend on the way there, and I was so ready to play well in the two games. I ended up not playing on Friday, and on Saturday, I was ejected from the game in the first period. Towards the end of the first period on Saturday, there was a scrum in front of our net after our goalie covered the puck. A few fights broke out, and I got in the middle of things a little bit. Then, I saw my teammate on the ice getting punched by a Topeka player. He had his jersey pulled over his head, so I went in to pull the Topeka player off of him because the refs weren't doing anything about it, and I wasn't going to let him punch my teammate who was pretty defenseless at this point. I didn't have any idea it was something I was going to get ejected for, or I would've thrown a few punches myself. I went back to the bench after the refs broke everything up. Then, all of a sudden, the refs put another goal on the scoreboard for Topeka, making it 2-0, and I was told that I was being ejected from the game for being the 3rd man into a fight. It was a load of crap, honestly, because the puck didn't go in the net from what I could tell, and I was standing pretty much in the crease, and because I didn't even throw any punches and I was ejected from the game. I was just trying to protect my teammate.

I thought I was playing really well up until my game ejection, so it really sucks that I was kicked out. I was playing with confidence, and I could tell I was going to have a very good game. But then it got cut short. I guess it's part of the game, though. The 3rd man into a fight always gets a penalty, but it was something I had to do. I was in the locker room and Coach told me, "Teddy, I know it sucks, but you did the right thing. Sometimes stuff like that happens." On the bench, the assistant coach was telling me that I should've gone in earlier, and as long as I was getting a game ejection, I should've broken the kid's nose. Well, I didn't know I was going to get ejected. But now I know that's what happens to the 3rd man in. And now I know the next time something like that happens to one of my teammates, I'm going to do things differently, and maybe break a few bones. It just sucks really bad because I thought I could've helped the team last night, and I only got to play 4 shifts all weekend. And it sucks even more that the team went 0-2. I spent a lot of time preparing myself to play my best on Friday and Saturday, and I ended up having one of the shortest games of my life. I guess there's some more motivation to have a stellar week this week in practice and to have an awesome weekend next weekend.

We ended up losing 6-3. It made the bus ride home that much longer. And it was already a long one for me because I had another 13, 14 hours to think about what I should've done differently, what I could've done in the game if I didn't get ejected, and what I will do next weekend. The team is so close to winning some games. I can feel it. We put forth a lot of effort; we just have some mental lapses, like right after the other team scores. And that should be the time where we're the strongest. I think we can turn things around, but we need to play a full 60 minutes. I'm going to try to have the best week of practice of my life this week because I want to get out on the ice so much more after this weekend.