Learning to Battle

Today was a really fun day of practice. We did a lot of battle drills, with one-on-one, two-on-two, and three-on-three competitions. I love these days because every drill keeps me on my toes. And every drill, I have to give it my all or risk being embarrassed in front of the whole team. I think you really see who the competitors are on days like this. I'm learning to battle like I've never had to in my whole hockey career. It's really fun to get out there and compete against my teammates because it gets me ready for game situations, where I have to battle for every inch and for every puck. These days are also good because they bring the team together. We're out there competing against each other, but it's a lot of fun to have competitions between the forwards and defensemen, which, of course, the D-men always win. Defensemen are the better, smarter hockey players after all.

My family's coming into town tonight for Thanksgiving. It should be really fun to see my sister, parents, and grandparents and it should be even more fun to play in front of them. We play the Wichita Falls Wildcats this weekend, and it's our military appreciation weekend, so we're wearing special camouflage uniforms that will be auctioned off after the game on Saturday night. I'm going to try to be a tour guide for my family this weekend, but I'm still pretty new to the area also, so I'll do my best.

On a side note, I got featured in an article here in the local newspaper. The link to it is: http://www.rrobserver.com/sports/article_b78d57fa-f78f-11df-8b60-001cc4c03286.html

After our last game against Corpus Christi, as I was walking into the locker room, a newspaper guy asked me if I was Connor Tedstrom and if he could use some of my blog in an article. I said, "Yeah, sure." I think it's pretty cool. It can't hurt to have people know what I'm going through and to separate myself from that "dumb hockey player" stereotype.