We went 4-0 in the Vegas showcase!  Obviously, it was a good weekend, but we still have half the season left.  Can't let up when we get back.  Now, it's time for a well-needed break, though!  Off to Italy with the family!  I'm very lucky to be able to do these cool things with my family!

We played our best game of the season so far yesterday in a 6-1 rout of the Seattle Totems. We absolutely dominated them. In the first game we won 4-2 and played OK.  But now we know our potential as a team.  Our coaches were very impressed with how we played together.  My grandpa told me that we "were a completely different team" than the day before.

1 Year Anniversary

This weekend is my 1 year anniversary as an Idaho Junior Steelhead.  We're playing in the WSHL Showcase in Las Vegas this weekend. That's pretty cool.  It seems like this year has flown by, but at the same time it seems like 3 years have passed; I've changed a lot in the past year, as a hockey player and as a person.  Anyway, I'm really excited about this weekend--to see my grandparents and play hockey!  A lot has happened to me in the past year and a half as I've "followed my hockey dream" (I know, it's cheesy of me to use my own blog title in a post, but I'm taking a chance...) and this 1 year anniversary is pretty cool because it allows me to look back on all I've gone through:  mistakes and right decisions that have led me to where I am today.  It was kind of a strange road there for a while last year, but things worked out for me in the end, and now I'm on a team where I'm still learning every day and still getting better every day, if you can believe that...I don't know if you're tired of hearing about how much better I'm getting every day, but I really believe I am still improving and still have a lot to improve upon.  I'm proud to be a Steelhead.

Our coach gave us the spiel today after practice.  This weekend we have to play for each other because collectively we can make individuals shine.  To a scout--and this is something I've known all along; this isn't new to me, but it's good for it to be reiterated and for our rookies to hear--individual statistics are not nearly as important as how well a team plays together and how hard we play for each other.  Our coach tells us all the time that a college coach told him last year we were a team that could've beaten half the teams in the NAHL, not because we had certain superstars or goal scorers, but because of how we played together as a team and because of how hard we competed.  Another coach from the Boulder team we played last weekend told us that we play like a pro team, specifically in the way we enter the offensive zone with few turnovers.  We are relentless.  We get the puck out and get it deep and then go crush the other team with our forecheck.  That's our style of play.  And it works.  That's what we have to do this weekend for each other.  This weekend is a big chance for a lot of our players wanting to go onto the college level.

It's going to be a fun weekend.  There will be some good competition for us, and we play 4 games in 4 days.  Can't wait!

Here's a picture of me in the local newspaper in McCall!  My billet family up there put an ad in the paper for my upcoming birthday. It was a great surprise!  Just another example of the relationships you can make with people involved in junior hockey.  I will miss them over the next month!

And here's another picture of us taking our pregame walk in McCall.  It's pretty cool staying at a billet house that is about a 2 minute walk from the rink!  Not many junior teams in the country get to play at such a special place.  We are very lucky to call McCall home!

I'll Miss You, McCall

We swept the Boulder Bison this weekend!  That is a huge series for us because every head-to-head game with them is basically a 4 point game.  Now, it's going to be difficult for them to catch us in the division standings.  The games this weekend, though, were very important because we have a much harder schedule than them at the Las Vegas showcase next weekend.  I love playing up in McCall!  It's no surprise we have such a good record up there because we all just feel so at home, and it's always fun to play there.  We won all three games pretty handily even though we were playing a good Boulder team.  It's good to see us playing so well before the showcase, but I still believe we--and I, personally--can play even better.  Our coach keeps telling us he doesn't think we've come close to reaching our potential, and he could go through the locker room and tell each player something they need to do better to help our team reach our potential.

We won the first game 3-0 (I scored the first goal from the point), then won the second game 5-1, and won today 4-1.  The games were all close, but we played a style of game that Boulder did not want to play.  We dictated the direction of the series by playing physically and just tiring them out.  By the second period of the first game, I could tell they were tired, and we just kept rolling.  They did not have many scoring chances all weekend because our play in our defensive zone was great.  Our penalty kill was great this weekend, too, and we scored when we needed to.  It was a fun series.  The weekends in McCall always fly by, but I can't wait for Vegas!  My grandparents are coming to see me play, and then it's off to Italy with the family for me!

Big series against Boulder this weekend in McCall.  It's a battle between the top two teams in our division, so this could go a long way in determining home ice advantage in the playoffs!  It's gonna be fun.  I'm so excited to be back up in McCall!!

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately; I've just been very busy with work, hockey, and gearing up for the holidays.  We're going to Italy as a family to see my brother who's studying abroad in Copenhagen for the whole year!!

Close Call in Ogden

We got back from Ogden at 4:30 this morning.  It was a fun trip.  Again, I think our team is coming a lot closer.  We're starting to pull pranks on each other at the hotels (which I won't go into detail about), we're singing together on the bus, and just having a lot of fun.  That's what a long hockey season is all about.  The close relationships with friends I've made throughout this junior experience are some that I will hold onto forever.  It's hard to describe how close a team gets throughout a season, but battling with a teammate for a whole season creates a pretty close friendship, plus all the time you spend together off the ice on road trips and in the locker room.

The first night in Ogden, we won 7-1.  We were up 6-0 in the first period, playing really well, then we started to let up and try to do things individually.  Plus, the backup goalie for Ogden played a solid game after coming in when the score was 6-0.  On Saturday night, I think we came into the game much too confident.  We played with little energy for the first two periods.  We didn't necessarily play badly, but we didn't play with heart, which is something you always have to do in the sport of hockey.  After the 2nd period, we found ourselves in a 2-1 hole.  Ogden's goalie was again playing lights out, and we were mostly playing a perimeter possession game.  We had to change those things in the 3rd period if we were going to win.  Quickly, we tied the game up 2-2.  Then, a few defensive breakdowns got us back down by a score of 4-2 with 7 minutes left.  I got the puck on the point and just tried to put a shot on net.  I managed to get it through a lot of sticks and skates and the puck went in right on the ice.  It wasn't the greatest shot, but the goalie didn't even see it.  Sometimes you just have to get it there.  Now, we were only down 4-3.  With under a minute left, we tied the score up 4-4.  Once we got the game to overtime, there was no way we were going to lose or let the game go into a shootout.  We scored the game winner, again, with under a minute left in the overtime period.  It was a pretty exhilarating finish!  A little too close against a 3-18 team...

Sometimes it's hard to win.  There are going to be some off nights.  That's just the nature of sports.  Sometimes things won't go your way.  Their second goal hit our goalie and went in off my wrist.  We had some bad bounces go against us last night.  That fact combined with the other team's hot goalie made for a dangerous game for us.  But it's really good to know now that we are a team that can come back no matter what the circumstances are.  We fought and battled and nothing was going to keep us from winning.

The Boys Are Back in Town, But We're Leaving Again Friday!

It's so nice to be back in Boise.  The road trip to Long Beach and El Paso was a lot of fun, but it was also A LOT of bus travel, and sometimes the rigid schedule of a team's itinerary on the road gets old (wake up, eat breakfast, go back to sleep, eat pregame meal, go back to sleep, go to game, play, eat postgame meal, go to sleep, do it all over again) so it's nice to be back on my own schedule.  We had the day off on Monday, and yesterday, our coaches came on the ice and played with us in a 4-on-4 scrimmage.  We had the head coach on our team, and it was a really fun day of practice.  My team won.  I scored 4 goals.  No big deal.  And today we had another laid back practice, kind of getting back in the groove of things because we weren't able to practice at all on our 10 day road trip.  It was noticeable that we hadn't practiced in a while because we were all a little slow on the ice.  Tomorrow, though, our coach said we are going to have a tough practice.  We've had a few days to sort of mentally and physically recover from the trip, and it's time to get back at it.  We're going to do a lot of battle drills and competitive drills to get us ready for our 2 game series in Ogden this weekend.

I think the long road trip really brought us together as a team, as it should when you travel with the same people for so many hours.  Before the trip, there were definitely some cliques on our team, which I think is natural for any team.  But I can honestly say that we've become a lot more unified after our big road trip.  I think those games were an important step for us.  6 games in 9 nights is hard.  But we did it, and we didn't lose a game in regulation.  Good teams have to be able to win on the road, and we did that.  We had a lot of learning experiences on the trip, like when we let a 4 goal lead slip in Long Beach and when we realized in El Paso that sometimes refs are going to "homer" us, but we played through those challenges, and took a big step together.  Now, we have to keep this good thing going.  No mental lapses this weekend in Ogden.  Ogden is a team we should beat, but those games are usually the most dangerous.  In any case, we're back on the road again on Friday.  At least it's only a 4 hour trip this time, though.  That's a cake walk compared to the 22 hour trek to El Paso.

Big win, big series, big road trip!! 10/12 points on the road, picking up at least a point in every game! That's a big road trip for us, one that could be very important for us down the road.  I've had a lot of fun, but I'm ready to get the hell back to Boise!  Still a long trip ahead of us, though.  At least 20 more hours on the bus...FEAR THE FISH.

Game - On!

Another huge game tonight. We won on Wednesday 5-3 and played pretty well. We played with a little fear, and that's always when you play the best. Our coach keeps telling us, though, that he thinks we got El Paso's B game. They're going to come out a lot harder tonight and we have to be ready. There are few chances for us as a team to make statements because the bottom line is that sometimes our quality of opponent is not the greatest in this league. That's why our coach also stresses that practice needs to be where we make steps as a team, where we really push ourselves, compete, and get better. This series is one where we can really measure ourselves as a team and make a statement in the league. It's one of the--if not the--most important series of the year for us. I'm so excited for tonight. Our coach has also kept telling us that how successful we are as college hockey players will be determined by how well we play in big games against tough opponents. Tonight's game is a big game.

Good ol' Thanksgiving dinner at McDonald's in El Paso! Everything else was closed...

Biggest Game of the Year

Tonight we play the El Paso Rhinos in what is the biggest game of the year so far.  We need to be ready to play our best because El Paso is going to be very good.  Yesterday, we had a short, hard practice.  It felt really good to get out there and blow off some steam after being stuck on a bus for a few days.  And tonight at 7:30 we play our first game of 3 here in El Paso.  It's going to be fun.  Just being here reminds me of when we came in and won the Thorne Cup last year, and I don't think the fans or the team has forgotten about that.

Finally in El Paso!

We made it to El Paso...finally!  I was so glad to get off the bus, and I went straight to the hotel exercise room to run when we got here because I just felt so lethargic and sore.  We've spent a lot of time on the bus this trip, but now we're here.  And I can see Mexico!  I couldn't think of a better place to spend Thanksgiving.  Tomorrow we get to practice and get our bus legs out even though we don't play until Wednesday night.  It's good to be back; it's brought back some memories from our Thorne Cup Championship Series last year, and we're looking to have another good showing here on the road.

The game on Saturday night in Long Beach ended up being a disaster.  It was pretty embarrassing.  We were up 4-0 in the first period and ended up losing 6-5 in a shootout.  No one was very happy about it, but it definitely exposed some of our team's weaknesses and some of our players' weaknesses, which will be good in the long run.  The next day we came out and absolutely dominated.  We won 7-2 and played much better throughout the whole game, proving that our loss on Saturday night was definitely a fluke.

Last night we won 4-0.  We played really well defensively, considering we were on the bus for 20 hours the past 2 days.  But we got those bus legs out, and I think we're going to play even better tonight.  Our coach singled the defense out and told us we've made some big improvements in moving the puck and making the right decisions under pressure, which is heartening because we've been working on that stuff a lot lately.  I'm excited for tonight!

Gearin' Up

10 day road trip starts tomorrow!  It's going to be a blast!  Except for the part where we try to sleep on the bus.  But other than that, the road trips are always really fun.  I'm excited.  We play 6 games in 9 nights, so it's going to be an exhausting one, and I already stocked up on my Emergen-C and Cheez-It's for the bus.  On the bright side, though, we get to spend Thanksgiving in El Paso!...And we're going to an Anaheim Ducks vs. Detroit Red Wings game after our series against Long Beach on the way to El Paso.  It's going to be really fun, and I'm excited to see how our team plays.  Here we go!

It's Official

First of all, shout out to my older brother, who is studying abroad in Copenhagen (lucky!) right now.  He turns 22 today!  Love you Charlie!  Follow his adventures at teddysexcellentadventure.blogspot.com!  I guess us Tedstrom's are just hip bloggers...Dad, Mom...time to start blogging?

Anyway, today, I've officially decided on going Early Decision to St. Olaf College to play Division III hockey and maybe soccer.  November 15th is the deadline, and I went for it for a lot of reasons.  I loved the school when I went there this summer, and it is in a location where my family will be able to come and see me very easily.  I've decided I would rather go to school in the Midwest than go out East because my family and friends will be able to come watch me and because I've always been able to see myself living in a Midwestern city like Minneapolis after college.  Of all the small Division III hockey schools in the Midwest, I think it is the best academically, and that's very important to me.  So pending my admission to the college, that is where I will be going next year.  I'm very excited, and, obviously, getting this decision out of the way is a load off my shoulders.  My roommate said to me the other day, "How nice is it to already know where you're going to school?"  I said, "Very nice," with a sort of wry smile on my face.  Now, my parents still want me to apply to some reach schools that I might not be able to play hockey at, just to see, and I think that's a good idea.

Of course I'm really excited for school.  College is something I've been looking forward to since a very young age when my parents started telling me their college stories.  But now that I have that decision out of my way, I can really focus on continuing to get better at the hockey side of things.  I can keep getting better every day if I don't let myself get complacent.  I've been talking to some of my friends and family a lot lately, and the consensus is that I have to be better at living in the present.  I'm doing something that a lot of kids would love to be doing, and I'm so lucky to be doing it.  I need to realize that and approach every day with a tenacity and desire to improve.  For some reason, I'm one of those people who wants to worry about something, and, unfortunately, when I'm not playing hockey or working or doing something, my mind starts to wander, and I feel sorry for myself that I'm not going to school or that I'm missing out by not going to school.  Nonsense!  I'm living the dream.  My dream.  And if I were in school right now, I would probably want to be doing what I'm doing right now, or wondering what it would be like to be doing what I'm doing.  So, I'm going to stop having those thoughts altogether.  They are the kind of thoughts that get me nowhere.  This year is going to go by fast enough; I don't need to hurry through it or miss out on any chance to get better by thinking about the future or the past.  That's just stupid.

At the beginning of the season, I did approach every day with a tenacity to improve, and I drove myself with a desire to be a leader on the team.  In the past week or so, I've started telling my parents that I think this junior hockey experience has become a little monotonous:  long road trips, work, hockey, eat, gym, sleep, do it all over again.  That's my life.  But I have to relish it because it'll be over soon enough, and I'll be out in the real world, wanting to be back here.  I think these kinds of thoughts are natural for someone going through their second or third season of junior hockey.  I know my roommate has some of the same feelings because we've talked about it.  I'm going to revisit my goals for the season, though, and really focus on getting better daily.  I'm not going to let my mind get the best of me anymore.  No matter how monotonous the season gets, I'm not going to complain anymore because this is my dream.  And I'm living it.

It's completely white here in Park City...finally feels like hockey season!

My Day: Brightened

Today I received an email from my billet family up in McCall that says how happy they are to have me in their extended family.  They were just sending me an email to tell me they think I'm a great young kid and they're proud to have me as their part-time billet brother/son.  After a few short weekends up in McCall, this family has graciously welcomed me into their home and family, and it's awesome.  It's these kinds of relationships forged throughout a junior hockey season that really make everything worthwhile.  I've met some incredible people on this journey, some that I will never forget and will probably keep in touch with for the rest of my life.  Sometimes, though, during this long, grueling season--where there seems to be no break in the action--it's hard to stay positive and things like that keep me going.

Chasing my dream of playing college hockey is sometimes a very lonely ordeal.  I look at facebook pictures of friends at school, at football games, and see how much fun they're having; I realize that I'm sacrificing a normal college life for this dream.  Believe it or not, lacing up the skates isn't always fun (it is a vast majority of the time) but it's also a lot of hard work.  Things like that little email, though, really validate the fact that I'm doing this for a reason and that I am making a difference in my life and in other's lives even though I'm taking a very different path than most of my friends.  I'm sort of at a crossroads right now where I so badly want to be in college, playing hockey and learning new things, but I also need to realize that I can still benefit greatly from the rest of this season.  I still have a lot to learn about myself as a hockey player and person this season before I get to college.  But it's always nice to hear things like that from people out of the blue, and it just really brightened my day.

We have 9 away games in a row now before our next games up in McCall.  Next week, we go on a 9-day road trip, where we play 6 games in 9 nights.  It's going to be a tough stretch for us, one that really tests our young team.  It's going to be fun to see how we handle the hostile road environments of Long Beach and El Paso, though.  

Clean Sweep

We completed a three game sweep of the Cheyenne Stampede this weekend in McCall.  It was a close series for the most part.  The Stampede really kept things close in the first two games.  No matter how much offense we created, they hung around and kept things interesting.  But we won the first night 4-0 (first shutout of the year,) and the second night 3-1, and on Sunday afternoon we won 10-2.  It was a fun weekend.  I love being up in McCall because it reminds me so much of being back in Colorado, and it's just a great atmosphere up there.  You can tell the town really livens up when the Junior Steelheads come to town.  We had our Pink in the Rink event this weekend, so we wore pink laces, taped our sticks with pink tape, and wore pink armbands that were auctioned off with proceeds going to benefit breast cancer.  There were great crowds for every game, and I had a lot of fun!

I played pretty solid in all the games, but I still have things I need to work on.  I need to work on making better decisions when under pressure.  Quite often, I just throw the puck away when I get pressured, and I could make a simple board pass to our forwards.  Throwing the puck out of the zone is never a bad play, but my coach wants me to work on making better plays and seeing the ice better.  I also need to work on my execution on the power play.  I didn't have a very good weekend on the power play and neither did our team as a whole, but I need to focus on making smarter decisions with the puck on the blue line in the next week.  We need to execute our power play a lot better because we're going to end up playing teams with good penalty kills later on in the season, so it will be important for us to capitalize when we have the man advantage.  Offensively, I had a bad weekend (0 points) but I didn't need to put up points.  Our forwards handled that.  And, more importantly, I wasn't on the ice for any of their goals all weekend.  I think I might've been jinxed by the game program, which featured me and said I had a "hot stick" with 12 points in 10 games, but I don't really care about points.  As long as I make a difference with my play and help our team win, I'm happy.  And I think I did that this weekend.  I'm just being hard on myself, like I've learned to be from my coaches.  I can only get better by knowing the things I need to work on.

On Tuesday I went to the doctor about the knee that's been bothering me.  They took some X-rays and everything looked good.  Turns out I just sprained my MCL...it's not really a serious injury; it's just a nagging injury that can take a while to heal.  I'm excited for our three games in McCall this weekend against the Cheyenne Stampede!  They are in first place in our division right now after our two losses to Fresno, so we're looking to regain our position atop the division and bounce back after a tough weekend last weekend.  But it's not going to be easy.  We're going to have to be ready!

A Little Slice of Humble Pie

Fresno almost brought out the brooms on us this weekend.  We almost got swept in our 3 game series in Fresno.  On Saturday night we lost again 4-1.  The game was much closer than the score indicates; it was a hard fought battle, but they ended up capitalizing on our mistakes and we couldn't find the back of the net.  Sunday morning, though, we were determined to come out with a win.  No way were we going to drive all the way to Fresno and go home without a win.  After the game on Saturday night, our coaches decided to have individual meetings with all the players to try and get a fire going.  There are some kids on our team who--no matter what--play with no emotion.  That's not a good thing in the sport of hockey.  You have to be emotional to play hockey.  You have to play this game with an edge.  That's something I've learned.  In my meeting, the coaches told me they think I'm a different player ever since I decided to drop the gloves.  They think I'm playing much more confidently and growing as a leader.  But they still want me to be more vocal in the locker room.  Our assistant coach went so far as to say that he thought in the 2nd period of the game on Saturday night, I played the best he's ever seen me play.  I felt good, but I really didn't feel like that was the best I've ever played.  I was playing very physically, though.  No one could get into our zone if they decided to come down my side of the blue line.

After the game on Saturday, our backs were against the wall.  I've never been in that situation before where you need to get a win or be completely embarrassed in a 3 game sweep.  It was pretty intense.  We all knew what we had to do, though.  We made a commitment as a team to work to exhaustion every shift and to be fired up emotionally throughout the entire game.  It worked.  We came out flying.  Unfortunately, we got homered a little bit with the officiating, but that'll happen on the road.  It's a good sign that we fought through adversity together and killed off most of our penalties.  It seemed like we were killing penalties the whole game.  It was a back and forth battle.  We were up 2-0, then suddenly down 3-2.  It looked like we were going to lose again.  I scored our third goal to tie it up in the 3rd period from the slot, and then another one of our assistant captains scored about 3 minutes later to put us up for good.

I think I played a helluva weekend of hockey.  I played 3 games all out.  I left nothing in the tank every game.  Our equipment manager told me he thinks I played 35-40 minutes in all 3 games, and that's a lot of ice time.  I'm proud of the way I played and the way I led this team even when things weren't looking so good for us this weekend.  We desperately needed a win on Sunday and found a way to get it done.  It would have been nice to do better against our archrivals, but considering the level of opponent we've played all season up to this point, I think we did well.  It will be good for us in the long run to know that we're not the best team out there right now, that we still have a lot of work to do if we want to do something special this season.  This weekend was an eye-opener for a lot of our young guys, and it was a step forward for me.  By no means did I play a perfect weekend; I made a few mistakes that could have cost us goals, but I will learn from them and continue to get better.  I did, however, play well enough on Sunday morning to earn the game's first star.  When I heard someone tell me that in the locker room after the game, I said, "Since when does a player on the visiting team get the first star in Fresno?"  I'll take it.  But I'll also take this weekend as a lesson:  we need to get better as a team.  And we will.  I like our team's character.

Biiiiiig win!!

Legend

In junior hockey, there's this game that almost every team plays called tag.  Brings you back to the good old childhood days, but just imagine playing with 25 grown hockey players.  Basically, a veteran player has to start the game, and home base is the bus.  Everyone has to touch the bus to be safe; we usually play after team meals or when we stop at gas stations on road trips.  It gets pretty intense, especially when you throw in the fact that the last person to be "it" has to sing a song in front of the whole team on the bus over the loudspeaker.  I have yet to have to do that, but today I came close.

I was the last one on the team who had not touched the bus, so I was screwed.  The person who was it was sure he was going to tag me, but I was determined to not get tagged.  I took a hot lap around the restaurant we were eating at, and then ran around one side of a hedge to use it as protection.  Next thing I know, I decided to jump over the hedge to get to the bus safely and not get tagged.  It was a legendary leap.  No one was expecting me to make it to the bus without getting tagged.  People on the team compared me to a gazelle and asked if I ran hurdles in track.  One kid told me that this game of tag will live on in Idaho Junior Steelheads history forever.  I've forever engraved my name in IJS tag history.

Now, onto the game against Fresno.  It's a must-win game tonight, so it should be fun.  I'm feeling ready to play.

Well, we lost last night 6-5.  We didn't play very well.  We didn't do the things it takes to win a hockey game.  Our team made a lot of terrible turnovers, we weren't committed to a forecheck, and our defense got beat 1-on-1 out of the corners and in the open ice.  After the game, our coach told us we had no business winning the game.  He said we basically played the equivalent of pond hockey where we traded chances with the other team and did not commit to our systems.  Still, we were in the game, which is a good sign.  We were winning 5-4 with 6 minutes left.  We couldn't close it out, though.  It was a very frustrating game in which we made a lot of turnovers and took a lot of penalties.  We definitely didn't play our best, and I think if we come out and play our best tomorrow, they won't know how to handle us.

I think I played hard tonight.  I could've played better but it was really the first time we've played against hard competition, and it took a little while to get used to the speed of the game.

I think I started to play really well in the 2nd and 3rd periods as my legs got going.  I don't know if it was nerves or what, but our whole team did not play very well in the first period.  I ended up getting an assist at the end of the 2nd and scored our 5th goal of the game to go up 5-4.  After our game, we stayed to watch the NAHL game after us between Kenai River and Fresno.  It was fun to compare myself to some of the kids out there who are playing at a higher level.  Bottom line, though, is we have to play better today.  We still have 2 games left to make a statement.  We have to come out today and play like we know we're the better team because I believe we are.

Right now all I wanna do is get off this bus!

Off to Fresno

Tomorrow we'll be on our way to one of America's finest cities:  Fresno, California.  (I say that very sarcastically.)  But I'm excited for the hockey.  3 game series with the Fresno Monsters and our first long roadie as a team.  It's gonna be fun!

Defense is a Test of Character

Today, I sat out of practice because my knee has been bothering me.  I think it will be good for it to have a few days off, and hopefully it will feel better with this rest.  I'm still going to go get it checked out next week just to make sure, but nothing's going to hold me out of this weekend.  This weekend is our biggest test to date, one of the most important series of the year, and I'm playing.

During practice, our coaches stressed defensive zone coverage in drills.  We did some of my favorite drills, so it was a bummer that I was sitting out, but I still listened in to everything the coaches had to say.  After the paint drill--a drill that emphasizes low defensive zone coverage in the corners--our coach said, "I can tell a lot about your character from the way you play defense.  Defense isn't fun.  Everyone wants to go score goals.  But you need to have just as much emphasis on your defensive game as your offensive game if you want to move onto the next level."  On this team, I know my role.  As our team owner tells me, "I'm not paid to go out and score goals."  In reality, I'm not paid at all!  But I'm "paid" to go out there and stop the other team from scoring goals.  And I like to think I've developed into one of the best defenders on our team. It's not easy playing defense, making plays that don't get on the score sheet--that  always makes it more fun when I do make my way onto the score sheet, which is happening more and more often--but doing those unselfish things, like blocking shots, finishing every check, and playing relentless team defense is what wins games.

We have to get better defensively as a team, and we will get better.  We don't really have a choice because our coaches will literally drill certain drills into our heads until we are better defensively if it comes down to it.  I'm confident in our team, though.  We have some young kids who are really improving and working hard to earn their spots on this team.  And that's great.  Competition is always a good thing.  The players with little character can't hide when our team is constantly battling in practice, like our coach preaches.  He says, "Some weeks the best competition you're going to get is here in practice, so we have to embrace the small battles we have between players.  Use them to get better.  Don't get mad at each other."

One-Day Roadie

This weekend we had one game in Ogden, Utah.  It's nice to have some shorter road trips this year...a 5 hour one day trip is much more manageable than a 10 day cross country trip.  But those long trips are fun too.  Ogden has a pretty nice setup themselves in an old Olympic rink, and they drew quite a big crowd.  We were all excited to play; I could tell from our warm up that we were ready to play.  That's usually the way it goes.  Good warm up = good game.  We came out fast and went up 3-0 quickly.  The Olympic-sized ice rink was pretty fun to play on, but personally I think I like the more physical style of play on an NHL-sized rink.  I scored our 5th goal on a slap shot from the point to go up 5-0.  It was a laser if I do say so myself.  Then things wen downhill from there.  The other team started to get really frustrated, cheap, and stupid, yet somehow we still managed to get some bad calls called on us that took us out of our rhythm.  We ended up winning 6-1--a win's a win, I know--but I still don't think we've played a full 60 minute game yet.  Watch out when we do, though.

It was a fun one-day roadie (we got back into Boise at 4:30 AM), but next weekend we play Fresno, our archrivals, so we better be ready to play at our best and be ready to sacrifice for some wins.  It's going to be a battle, like always in that hostile environment.

My knee is still feeling a little uncomfortable from last weekend, so I might take one or two days off this week to try and figure out what's wrong with it.  But I'm excited about next weekend and challenging ourselves this week in practice.

Thanksgiving Come Early

I've been thinking a lot lately about how lucky I am.  I'm extremely lucky.  I have the best family.  And that's all that really matters.  They would support me in any way possible in anything that I wanted to do.  It just so happened that I decided to play junior hockey for two years after high school--something a lot of parents would frown upon--but my parents basically said, "It's your life; go chase your dream," with some slight frowning, but they never showed me.  There are not a lot of people out there in this chaotic world whose only real worry is getting better at a game where the objective is to poke a little circular rubber thing into a net while on skates and ice.  It just sort of puts things into perspective for me, and I can't take anything for granted because I'm not going to be able to play this sport forever, and sooner than later I'm going to be out in the real world.  (Just remember:  All roads lead to beer league, even the NHL road.)  But I'm going to be out there with a lot of gained knowledge from these two years.


Honestly, I never thought I was the kind of kid who could benefit from two years of junior hockey.  I thought I was on the path to go from high school, to college, to Real World (not the MTV version), like most kids in the US, or at least most of my friends.  But I decided to chase my dream with a two year commitment to junior hockey and sacrifice the "normal" college experience.  In a lot of ways, it hasn't been what I was expecting, but in a lot of ways, it's been much more than I ever could've imagined.  I've learned so much.  And, again, I'm lucky to be in the spot I am with an awesome coach, an awesome billet family, and an awesome job (which, by the way, is giving me a sniff of the Real World that not a lot of kids in junior hockey are getting.)  A lot of times, I tend to think that I am so ready to get to college, but I know I will miss this life when it's over in less than a year, and I will always be thankful for the lessons I've learned in the process.  My dad recently sent me a quote from Steve Jobs that probably everyone has read since he passed away, but I think it is just such a great quote: "You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."  I find myself getting caught up in the future way too much, and I let it affect myself in the present, which then has an effect on my past because what I do in the present quickly becomes the past.  Moral of the story:  it's just not good to worry about the future.  Think about it, but don't worry about it.  Things will work out if you have the right work ethic and character.  And I think I do.  I have to enjoy this moment and just trust my gut.  My mom told me a few days ago when I called her that my future is in my hands.  I can do whatever I want in life. 


I now know that in less than a year, I'm going to go to college a much better hockey player and, more importantly, a much more mature person, with a better idea of what I want to do in my life.  For instance, I've decided that I want to write a book about all this crazy junior hockey stuff.  Sort of like a road map to junior hockey and college hockey.  I'd say I have a pretty good start with this blog and all.  I now know I'm going to go into college much more driven to succeed than I would've coming straight out of high school.  For now, though, I can just keep focusing on hockey.  I'm lucky.  I don't really know what inspired this deep thought in this post, but I've been feeling especially thankful these days.    

Gotta Find an Identity

Our team is really struggling to find an identity right now.  We play so inconsistently, and it's very frustrating.  From shift to shift, period to period, we can be a different team.  That's not a good thing because the toughest stretch of our schedule is still to come and because it's just not fun to play that way.  It's not fun to trade chances with a team that you should dominate.  But I guess maybe that is the reason we are so inconsistent:  the teams we've played so far haven't been been great, so we've played down to their level.  We need to find an identity for ourselves and fast.  We can't expect to just turn a switch to the "On" position when we go down to Fresno and El Paso in a few weeks to play two of the best teams in our league.  In practice, we need to better prepare ourselves for the weekend, and in games, we need to bear down and commit to winning as a team every night.  One bad play can break the chain and change the momentum of a game.  We need to have confidence in each other and run the systems our coaches put into place because they work, believe it or not.  I've seen them in action when our team was playing at its best at the end of last season.

This weekend in McCall, we won both our games 7-4 and 6-2.  In the first game, I scored a goal, but unfortunately, during my first shift, I also hurt my knee.  The doctor told me I bruised or tore my meniscus...I'm hoping it's the first choice, but I just have to ice it and see what it feels like in the next few days...It's frustrating giving up so many goals in our games because that's something I'm not accustomed to as a member of the Idaho Junior Steelheads.  Last year, we rarely gave up more than 20 shots a game.  We need to get back to playing that gritty team defense that this team is known for.  The bad news is:  as a team we have A LOT to work on.  The good news is:  the season is still very young.  We have A LOT of time to get better and start playing some IJS hockey.

Busy Busy Busy

Lately I've been trying to find enough hours in the day.  The days really seem to just fly by.  I've been really busy with work, hockey, training, reading (I've set a goal for myself to read TIME Magazine in its entirety every week and read as many books as I can), writing (on this blog, and I'm also the corresponding secretary of the Min-Aqua Bats, in charge of keeping everyone in touch over the winter, so I'm the editor, publisher, author, and CEO of the Min-Aqua Bat Mile, a satirical newsletter that I'm going to try to get out every month), applying to colleges, and having fun (I went to Oregon for the first time the other day with my roommate to go to a shooting range with some friends we met, and we recently had a team bowling night...$6.50 for four games and shoes!).  It's almost overwhelming.  But I'm not complaining; I know it's much better than the alternative:  being a lazy slouch, looking for something to do all day before practice.

Speaking of practice...that has been a little frustrating recently.  We definitely need to step up our level because practice is where we get better, and if we don't prepare ourselves the right way during the week, we'll fail the test on the weekend, and that's no fun.  I like coming to the rink every day to work as hard as I can to get better because that's when it's the most fun, that's when I know that I did all I could that day to become better.  But it's frustrating when I leave feeling like I didn't play very well, like I could've pushed myself just a little bit harder to make the right decision or make a good pass or stand up at the blue line.  And it's even more frustrating when I can look at other people on the team and know that they didn't play very well either--especially frustrating when I can tell they don't care they didn't play very well.  We have to hold each other accountable, and everyone has to pull their own weight.  I'm going to try to be better in the next few practices at showing people how willing I am to work my bag off every day because it seems like some people on our team just aren't willing to do that, and it's holding us all back.  That's frustrating for people like me who want to get better every day.  As a captain on the team, I think I need to start singling people out and getting mad in the locker room because my method of nice guy motivation isn't working so far.  Some people on our team are so inconsistent from drill to drill and from practice to practice, and that needs to change if we are going to accomplish anything as a team.

I know part of being a high-level athlete is having up's and down's.  Everyone has their bad days and good days and those days are just accentuated at such a high level.  Bad days become worse when someone else who is having a really good day beats you in a drill.  That's just the way it goes.  But having those bad days should drive you to work harder and be better the next day.  That's what it does for me.  By having those bad days, I challenge myself to come out a different player the next day so I  can keep climbing the staircase to becoming better.  In the words of one of the horrible bosses in the movie Horrible Bosses, "You can't win a marathon without putting band-aids on your nipples!"  I don't really know how that is at all relevant, but it seems to fit.  Some people just don't get it, though.  Some people are just OK with flatlining and not getting any better, just being mediocre.  Those people on our team need to rethink their priorities and either change their work habits or go home and do something else with their lives because being a hockey player is not for the faint of heart.  And I know our coaches are constantly looking for the best players they can find, so those players better be careful.  They could be gone before they know it.

Anyway, sorry for ranting, but I'm just not OK with being mediocre.  I never have been...We're on our way up to McCall tomorrow night to play against the Ogden Mustangs this weekend.  It's going to be a good test for us...it seems like it's the first time this season we haven't played either Park City or Seattle even though I know we played Southern Oregon once too, but that seems like a long time ago.  I'm excited.  It's going to be another fun weekend, and we have to come ready to play.

 

Great Weekend in McCall

We had our first home regular season games up in McCall this weekend, and it was a great time.  We won both of our games, the first 5-2 and the second 10-2, against the Park City Moose.  On Friday night, we did not play our best.  The game was sloppy--we controlled most of the game--but we just didn't have enough intensity or bite to our game.  On Saturday night, we came out of the gates ready to work.  We had a team meeting after our pre-game skate in the morning, and we told ourselves we were going to make a commitment to having a team effort and flat-out outworking the other team.  To motivate ourselves, we had a little game going to see who on our team could get the most hits.  I ended up tying for the lead with one other kid. We definitely outworked the other team, and it showed.  We weren't afraid to get dirty and drive to the net for garbage goals.  That's the kind of Steelhead hockey we need to start playing every night.  Our team is still trying to find its identity, but I think we're on our way.

Justin and I got to stay with a very nice couple on Friday night after the game.  They treated us very well, and they'll probably end up being our McCall billets for the rest of the year; they loved having us, and we had a great time staying there as well.

After the first period of the game on Saturday night, there was a ring ceremony for returning veterans.  Our team owner handed out rings to returning players from our WSHL championship team last year.  It was a pretty special ceremony, and, again, we're very lucky to have the great people we have running the organization.  We're spoiled.  I don't think there is another team at this level in the whole country that runs as professionally as we do.  And I'm proud to be an Idaho Junior Steelhead.

"I'm a Lover, Not a Fighter...But I'm Also a Fighter."

"I'm a lover, not a fighter...but I'm also a fighter." That's one of my best friend, Bergen's, favorite quotes.  And now I can live by it and use it too!  He loves to use that quote when we're wrestling, trying to prove who is more tough.  I know...it's weird, but that's what teenage boys do, and I'm going to cling onto my teenage years for as long as I can.  Forever young.

But seriously.  I am a lover, not a fighter.  Everyone knows that.  My nickname is Teddy for God's sake.  I remember when I first came to this team, our assistant coach asked me if I had a nickname.  I told him kids in Bismarck called me Teddy, and he said, "Oh that's gay.  You need a new nickname."  But it has stuck because it fits me well.  I'm a nice guy.  Off the ice.  That's why I think it was a big step for me to drop the gloves and show my team and my coach and myself what I'm willing to do to lead.  It definitely was a big step for my confidence as a player.  Now, I know if anyone messes with me or cheap shots me, I can stand up for myself and stand up for a teammate.  I'm not going to fight just to fight, but I might fight when my team needs me to.  My coach told me that I need to become a player that's tougher to play against, and I think I'm taking strides in that department.

A Loss, But a Fun Weekend

This weekend was a fun one for me.  We didn't have a game on Saturday, but we did have practice.  After practice, we all went to tailgate at the BSU game in downtown Boise.  It was a crazy event, with blue and orange everywhere.  I wanted so badly to be inside for the kickoff because it was really loud, and I wanted to see the blue Smurf Turf (BSU's blue field.)  A few of us walked around the stadium while the first half went on, but I was so determined to get into the game!  I wanted to see this BSU team that everyone talks about in person!  At halftime, we were standing outside an exit, and I got a free ticket from someone who was leaving.  It was awesome.  The game was pretty sloppy, and Kellen Moore, BSU's Heisman candidate quarterback, had an off game, but I had fun just being in the stadium in that atmosphere because that's something I've missed out on by not going to college yet.  They ended up winning 30-10.

Picture after the game.  I had to rep the Elway jersey!

Our game was today against the Seattle Totems again.  It was a memorial game, so it was pretty cool how many fans we drew.  And it was a great event for the hockey community here in Boise.  I think a lot of people were touched.  Unfortunately, we did not win the game.  We played well, but made too many costly mistakes.  I thought I played pretty well personally, I just have a few things I need to do better.  And I got in a fight.  Here's the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CITLD_YkTQc&feature=share.  My sister already posted it to YouTube.  

After my fight at the end of the 2nd period, my coach pulled me aside and told me how much he liked what I did in the fight.  He said it will be a huge confidence boost for the kind of player I am, and now I will know that I can run the show.  He said, "If the ice rink is a playground, I am in charge right now."  He's proud of the leader I am becoming and the things I am starting to do as a player.  And, again, he told me he's not the kind of coach who dishes out compliments very often--I should know that now after playing for him for about a year.  If anyone looks at me sideways or does something to me that I don't like, I now know that I can stand up for myself and stand up for myself well.  This fighting thing is probably something that I won't do very often, but now I know I will be able to when I have to.  He told me he thinks I am doing a great job recently, and he wants me to continue to play with confidence and keep taking steps, keep developing into the great defenseman and leader I can be.  We lost the game today 6-4, even after outshooting the other team 40-18, but there were some positives in the game for me personally.  I'm excited about the way I'm playing, but I'm not too excited about how our team played today.  I guess that's hockey, though.  You can't win them all; it's just good that it was an exhibition game, not a regular season matchup.

Home Sweet Home

Back at Qwest Arena--er, CenturyLink Arena--in downtown Boise.  The name's been changed, but it's still good to be back!  We've had to practice at our alternate practice rink way outside of Boise on the opposite end of town as me for the past month, so it's great to be back in a more central rink and a much nicer rink.  We're very lucky to get to practice at such a first-class facility, and it's something that I think I take for granted.  But it reminds me every day what great people run this organization and help our team run as professionally as we can.

Our first day of practice at Qwest--I'm still going to call it that--was not so great.  We were all very sluggish from getting home from Park City at 6 AM the previous morning.  We drove through the night, I was tired, and I didn't feel very good.  It was hot inside the rink, and I felt like I couldn't breathe the whole practice.  Hence, the bad practice.  And yes I just used the word "hence."  Today was better than yesterday, but it still wasn't good enough.  We got chewed out as a team by our coach after practice.  He said we need to start practicing perfect execution because, as coaches, that is what they look for, and they are pretty disappointed with some people's efforts right now.  If some people don't make a change to their practice habits, they are going to start making changes.  Then, he singled out the returning veterans and said it's our responsibility to have kids ready to play and light a little fire in some guys when they're not pulling their weight.  I've tried to do this, but some of the kids just don't respond.  It's something I need to work on in the coming weeks.  I need to be more vocal and I need to work my bag off every practice.  I feel like I have been working very hard the past few weeks, but I know I have more levels to reach, and I have to push myself mentally to be better every day.  In every drill.

Here's a view of CenturyLink Arena.  Mascot practice was going on when I took this...

This should be a fun week.  We have a team poker night planned, and we are all tailgating at the BSU game as a team on Saturday to promote our game on Sunday.  It is a memorial game for a local youth hockey player who died here this past spring in a car accident.  Apparently, he was a very good goalie prospect.  But admission is FREE, and we play Seattle again!

Pretty Good Start

We won our first game against Park City 8-1, and then the next night we won 14-2.  Obviously, our quality of opponent was not very high.  But I really think we have a good team.  We have a lot of skilled players up front.  It wasn't a very tough test for us this weekend, but we had some fun on our first road trip, and it's always good to get the season started out like that.  We have some players that are starting to play better and better, and it's going to be fun to watch us gel together as a team.

I played well this weekend.  I got a lot of power play time, and made no major mistakes; however, there were a few things my coach pointed out to me that I can work on.  The biggest thing my coach wants me to work on is picking my head up and seeing the ice better.  I see the ice pretty well as it is, but I tend to get tunnel vision, where I use the first option I see, I don't scan the rest of the ice to find the best play to make.  It's not necessarily a bad thing if I make a smart play in the end, but my coach wants me to start looking for the best play; he wants me to get my head up and make plays, not just dump the puck in the corner or chip the puck off the glass--both good plays, sometimes the best option, but not always.  I can do that.  I know I can read the game better and always improve my decision making and composure with the puck.  Again, it's hard to tell how well you play when you're playing against such a bad opponent, but I felt good about my weekend.  I made some very good plays--there are just a few things I can work on, like always.

Fun fact:  my coach told me tonight that after this weekend, I am among the top 10 scorers in the league.  I have 4 assists.  I think that's pretty funny!  Then again, the top 10 scorers in the league are probably all Idaho Junior Steelheads after the weekend that we had, but I'll take it!  I'm going to keep working hard to get better and be the best I can be.  Our assistant coach, who coaches the defensemen, said on the bench during the second game, "Teddy's gonna learn to play offense this year."  I'm excited they're using me in different situations because it tells me that I am improving and that they have a lot of confidence in me to be a quarterback in the systems we run.

Regular Season Starts Tomorrow

Tomorrow at 7 AM, we leave for Park City, Utah to play the Park City Moose in our first regular season games.  Can't wait for the first roadie with the boys, and I'm ready to get the meaningful games under way. I think we have a chance to do something special this year.  So far I really like our team's chemistry and our talent, but now we start to really see what we can do.

Today we had a great practice, definitely the best practice of the year so far.  People were hitting every pass, scoring goals, competing, and working hard.  Hopefully that translates into our 2 game set this weekend.  Here we go!

Hitting My Stride

I feel confident.  I'm playing really well lately, and I just know I'm going to continue to play better and improve.  Yesterday, during practice my coach came up to me and said, "Teddy, the game is so much easier when you know what you're doing, isn't it?"  I said, "Yeah, and I just feel so much more confident than I ever have right now.  It's unbelievable."  He told me that it's showing and that I need to keep being a leader because I'm taking some big steps as a player.  The biggest thing I need to do is keep pushing myself to be better every day.  I can always get better and being strong mentally--pushing myself to the limit every day--is what's going to help me reach the potential I know I have.  I feel so good on the ice right now.  In games, I feel totally in control, and I know I'm impacting the game in a big way when I'm on the ice, and in practice, I feel great too--I don't feel tired when I know I probably should be--but there are still some things I need to work on and focus on to become even better.  

I'm finding my rhythm.  Every day, I wake up at 6:45 to go to work, and from work I go straight to practice, then from practice, I go straight to the gym, then from the gym, I go straight to the dinner table.  You can imagine how hungry all this activity makes me.  But I love staying busy.  I absolutely love it because I know there are not a lot of kids in juniors who choose to or get the opportunity to stay busy like I am with this job.  And then I get some well-deserved sleep (sometimes.)  Sometimes, my roommate and I stay up and play cribbage until the late hours of the night...We have a year-long battle going on.  So far I'm losing 23-14.  I know...disgraceful.  But I talked to my parents the other night, and we were talking about how much of a 180 I've gone through in the past year.  Last year at this time, I was in Bismarck, uncomfortable and unhappy with how I was playing and how much I was playing and just my overall situation on the team.  This year, I'm having so much fun, I'm brimming with confidence, and I'm a leader on the team, which is a great opportunity for me.  It's a responsibility that I wouldn't have received if I was playing anywhere else.  Of course, I'm keeping my confidence in check, though.  I'm not the kind of kid who is cocky or who shows people my confidence by pretending I'm superior to everyone in the locker room.  My confidence is just in the way I play, the swagger that I carry on the ice--knowing that I'll make a pass or stand up and make a hit or win a battle in the corner for a puck.

I'm excited that I'm feeling so confident so early on in the season, but I know I have a lot of work left to do.  I'm really excited to see just how much better I can become in this long marathon of a season.  I'm starting to hit my stride now, but what will happen as the season goes on?  Stay tuned to find out.

Still Work to Do

We won both our games this weekend 4-1, and I can say that we dominated the other team.  We were relentless the first night, playing pretty close to a complete 60 minute game.  When we play to our systems, teams don't know what to do because we spend the majority of the game in their zone.  They tire out and can't get anything going at all.  Our goal this weekend was to play a 60 minute game because last weekend we really only played well for 10 minutes.  The defense especially played really well on Friday night, and I think that's what allowed us to dominate the game.  I played physically and impacted the game with my passing and ability to keep the puck in the offensive zone.  In fact, my coach said to me during the game that he didn't want me to play so physically because he needs me to stay healthy and these were only preseason games.

On Saturday night, we won again 4-1.  Seattle definitely played a more chippy game, trying to get under our skin because they realized that was the only way they would be able to beat us.  We were a faster, bigger, more skilled team and they started trash talking us, trying to take us off our game.  I felt like they were trash talking me every chance they got, which means they must've thought I was making an impact on the game.  At one point, I was standing in front of their bench before a face off, and one kid waved his stick in front of my face and poked me in the neck.  I just let it go and got back at them later.  I probably could've fought, but I realized it was only a preseason game and we were playing a team that was not nearly as good as us, and that's exactly what they wanted us to do:  play their kind of chippy game.  I didn't think I played particularly well on Saturday night, but I did play very well on penalty kill.  We had a few 5-on-3 penalty kills that we killed off and gave us a lot of momentum in the 3rd period.  I was aggressive and got my stick into passing lanes to break up plays.  Then, when we got on the power play we took advantage.  On a 5-on-3, I scored on a one-timer from the point. I blasted it past the goalie, then skated in front of Seattle's bench, stared them down, and didn't say a word.  I didn't have to.

Overall, we played well this weekend, but I know we can play better.  Good news is it's only preseason and our regular season starts next weekend.  I'm excited to see what we can do in this league.  Here are some photos from this weekend.  One is the view from the house I stayed at in McCall.  It was basically in the Cordillera of McCall, and there were some unbelievable houses back there.  It was very cool to be able to stay there.

Schedule's Out!

Our schedule is online!  Some games that jump out at me are the games in Boulder in February, our games against El Paso over Thanksgiving, and our games against Fresno.  Should be fun, and it all gets started tomorrow!  Preseason games up in McCall tomorrow night and Saturday night against the Seattle Totems, from the NORPAC, who we also played to a 2-2 tie last year at the National tournament.

Idaho Junior Steelheads - 2011/2012 Schedule 

http://www.idahojuniorsteelheads.com/leagues/schedules.cfm?clientid=4849&leagueid=17107

New Responsibilities

The other day, our coach pulled a few of the veterans aside and said that he was appointing us captains of the team.  We have some great leadership on the team this year, and I'm excited about these new responsibilities with an "A" on my jersey.  He told us that he expects captains to be an extension of himself, and if we think any of the responsibilities that go along with that are too much to handle, we need to tell him.  But I know being a captain is something I want to do wholeheartedly.  I think I'm the kind of person and the kind of player who will only become better in that role, whereas he said there are some players who get appointed captains of teams and then halfway through the season the coach has to take away the captaincy because it's too hard for the player to focus on his own game.  I'm really excited about this.  It's a big deal to be a captain on and off the ice, and I'm up for the challenge!

Already our young defense corps is in need of leadership.  Today, during practice our coach called all of us out; he basically told us that right now we suck as a unit--our forwards are being held back by our lack of ability to make a pass and handle a simple 1-on-1--and he said we need to be better.  Like I've said before, we have a lot of young defensemen who will take some time to learn, but they also need some good leadership.  And, as one of the only returning veteran defensemen, that responsibility falls squarely on me.

 I think I've had a good week of practice, but at times it's hard to motivate these young guys.  I think I've played my ass off the past week, trying to show the younger guys what they need to do, but honestly they hadn't really responded until today.  Getting called out like that is not fun.  And I hate losing to forwards in drills.  They've been beating the defensemen in almost every drill all this week.  Before practice, I told all the defensemen in our locker room that we need to have a better practice and play every drill like it's a battle between us and the forwards.  We need to compete harder.  In a 2-on-1 backcheck drill, where the coach is looking for the D to step up and play the body at the blue line, our D men were backing up and letting the forwards come into the zone.  So, our coach blew the whistle and let us know he's not happy with the defense right now.  Then, the drill continued, and I was the first one to go.  I stood up the play perfectly at the blue line, and I think something clicked right then.  After that, all of our defensemen were standing up and being physical.  I think getting called out by our coach lit a fire in some of our young guys, but I think it partly had to do with the way I responded as well.  There are definitely going to be a lot of opportunities for the returning defensemen and veterans on the team in general to stand up and lead by example in practice and in games, so our young guys can respond similarly when they see their leaders leading.  Anyway, I'm really excited to see what having an "A" on my jersey will do to me as a player.  I know it will make me better, but I can't wait to see how much better.  And, by the way, our coach said that our D looked much better after he called us out, so it's good to know we are already improving.

Brutal Win, But a Win Nonetheless

Today, we played our first game of the season against the Southern Oregon Spartans. We won 6-5, but I don't think it should have been that close. We were the better team for the most part of the game; we just threw grade A opportunities at the other team with stupid turnovers and silly mistakes. In the first period, we came out flying. By the time the buzzer sounded, we were up 4-0. Then we went into the locker room and must've thought the game was over because the next two periods were pretty ugly, definitely not the kind of hockey the Junior Steelheads are accustomed to playing. The game was back and forth from the second period on, obviously, as the final score ended up being 6-5. It was our first game together as a team, and there definitely were some bright spots. Bright spots don't mean anything, though; we want a bright game through and through. But that's what exhibition games are for anyways. We got a few of the kinks out, and I think this week we can now really focus on the things we need to focus on to be a better team and fix our mistakes. After seeing what kind of back and forth game is caused by our team not playing to our system, I think everyone will respond in practice and really focus on the fine points of the systems we run. Because they work. And when we execute properly, no one can play with us. But it takes time to learn and perfect the things that we are taught here. Anyway, we won tonight. It wasn't pretty, but we won and (here comes a cliche statement..) there's only one way to go from here: up.

Personally, I think I played lights out tonight. I played a great game. I was physical, I was getting shots through from the point, and I played aggressively but smart at the same time.  I had two assists, maybe even three!  After the game, our assistant coach called me and congratulated me on the great game I played even though the team might not have played very well all together. He told me he thought I was one of the best players on the ice, and he said I'm a completely different player than I was last year. I'm much more confident and just an all-around better hockey player. He said he's proud of the strides I've taken, and he's excited to see what happens to me in the next year. He said after this year, he thinks I'm going to be one helluva college hockey player. It was great to hear, but I know I have to keep working to get better and keep taking strides because I know I can be even better. And I'm hungry to be the best player I can be, so why not take advantage of this great coaching and do just that? I'm psyched! I want to play better each game. That's my goal. He also told me he wants me to take some of the young defensemen on the team under my wing because they need mentors and role models. They have all the tools to be great hockey players; they just need to start putting everything together, and he thinks I'm a perfect guy to help them do that.

 I'm really excited about the season finally starting. I was rearing to go before the game. I had shivers and the whole deal in the locker room before stepping on the ice for warm ups. I just knew I was going to play well today, and that's the kind of attitude I want to have before every game.

First Game Tomorrow. Finally!

It's been a while since my last real hockey game, and I'm super excited to get back into games every weekend! I had a great practice today--I was more physical than usual and I just felt good on the ice--so I'm feeling ready to go. Before practice we had a team video session, where we watched a little of our game against the St. Louis Junior Blues at nationals last year. That was definitely our best game of the year, and it was fun to relive it for a few minutes, but tomorrow we start a new season. I'm going to have a new role as a leader, and I am so ready. I think we have a chance to be even better than we were last year...we'll see though. It is only the second week of the season. After practice, our coach stressed the importance of starting the game off well tomorrow. We win the faceoff and hard rim the puck into their zone, and then we chase it and pound them physically on the first shift. It sets the tone for the rest of the game. That's what we need to do tomorrow. We did a good job of that last year, but again, it's a new season and a new team. Nevertheless, it is an important thing to do because the rest of the team usually responds with more good shifts to follow the first shift when people are flying right when the puck drops. Not only is it important to set the tone tomorrow on the first shift, but it's also important that we start the season off on the right foot. We have the potential to be a really good team, however, we take the test tomorrow. Our assistant coach has stressed to us that all during the week, we prepare and study to take the test, and then on the weekend, when the puck drops, we take the test and we have fun. I'm ready to have some fun tomorrow.

It's Been a Blur!

This year is already starting to go by fast! I can't believe it's already almost halfway through September. This short week has kind of thrown me off, too. It doesn't seem like it should be Friday tomorrow. But anyways, the practices are going well. We have a very skilled team. The level in practices has dropped off a little bit as we've started to get into systems work, but that's understandable. We play to a system. It's a proven system and everything we do works. From our breakout, to our forecheck, to our backcheck, to our defensive zone coverage, everything is drilled into our heads until it becomes second nature. And the new kids on the team are just learning, so it might take a little while for them to feel more comfortable doing systems drills. But we have our first game this Sunday in Boise against the Southern Oregon Spartans, a team from the NORPAC, another Tier III Junior A league based in the northwest. It should be interesting to see what kind of players we have. I mean, it's hard to really tell what kind of players you have in practice. A lot of times, underlying characteristics of a person come out in a game. I'm excited to see who shows up and who doesn't, and I'm excited to prove myself too! It should be interesting to see how we mesh as a team, and our coaches have made it clear that they expect us to play very well in our first game this weekend. I've been a little hesitant in practice these past two weeks. Not super hesitant, just a little bit. My coach told me he wants me to work on being a tougher player to play against, and it's something I've focused on, but I need to be better. I need to be a leader on the team in the physical play because I can be. And when people are playing the body in practice, it brings up the level of play. I'm really going to focus on being more physical in the next few weeks; my coaches have told me they need me to play tougher because we lost the toughest defenseman in the league this year, who was my D partner last year. There's a big hole left in our defensive unit, and they need someone to fill it. I know I can be more physical, but I really need to focus on it because that's not how I play naturally. I do like how I play when I play physically, though. I tend to play more confidently and aggressively. I've been doing OK in practice, but I know I can be better.

BSU Mania

I'm sitting here, watching the Boise State football game as I'm writing this post...I think everyone else in the whole city is also sitting in front of their TV's, watching the Broncos take on the Georgia Bulldogs. Needless to say, it's a big game. Every BSU game is a big game in Boise. But when BSU has a chance to take out an SEC opponent, the game takes on even bigger importance. It's been the talk of the town here in Boise on the radio, commercials, on billboards in downtown, and even at the Boise hot air balloon festival this morning (more to come on this later.) The BSU football team is a BIG deal here in Boise. Almost every car I see has a Broncos sticker. It's wild, but I guess that's what happens when there is no major professional sports team in a city. People rally behind their teams. At the moment, the score of the game is 28-7...should I jump on the bandwagon?? Ah, what the hell. I'm already a Denver Broncos fan, and the BSU Broncos are not that far off, even in team colors. Go Broncos!

Today, we had a day off from on-ice practice, but we went on a team hike. Before the hike, my billet family and I went to the Boise hot air balloon festival...we had to wake up at 5:15 to be there on time and beat the traffic. It was worth it! I've been to the balloon festival in Steamboat, but it was a long time ago, and I forgot how cool it is to be so close to the balloons as they're getting blown up and launched. It was a beautiful morning.

My favorite part of the morning was watching a certain balloon get blown up. This ballon was designed to look like the famous blue turf at the BSU home stadium. There were field numbers all the way around the big, blue balloon and a huge BSU logo on the side, with a bucking bronco. When it was completely inflated and ready to get launched, the packed park cheered very loudly for their Boise State Broncos. That's some BSU mania!

The hike we went on was great too. It was a long hike, but it was very pretty. We started at about 8:30 AM, hiked for 3 hours or so as a team, and went way up into the hills behind Boise. There were a lot of great views overlooking the whole city and its green trees--Boise is French for "City of Trees" by the way, if you didn't already know. It really is a beautiful city, and I realize how lucky I am that I get to live and play hockey in a city that I might never have discovered had it not been for my junior hockey career. Anyway, it was a great team bonding event, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when we head up to McCall for the first time to do some community service and participate in a community parade. We're really going to try as a team this year to get more involved in the community and gain some interest with people who don't know what the Idaho Junior Steelheads and junior hockey are all about. Should be fun!

Right Back Into It

So we've had on-ice practice for the past two days, and we haven't hesitated to get things going at all. We are right back into it. These last two practices have been very intense. It's been a lot of fun. It's good to get things going right away, and I think our team has responded really well to learning new drills and getting worked hard in practice. Our practices have had a high intensity, but people are also doing drills right and making tape-to-tape passes, which can be unusual this early on in the season. It's a good sign that we're able to do those things now.

The first day of practice was the hardest for me because I think I was still a little run down from the beep test the day before. Also, we did a lot of defense-oriented battle drills, and I think that made me feel even more tired. We did one of our coach's favorite drills for evaluating defensemen. It's called the North Dakota 1-on-1 drill, and it is hard, especially for defensemen because you have to skate backwards at the same speed a forward is skating forwards at full speed, and you can't touch the puck or the forward until a certain point, while maintaining a stick length gap or closer with the forward. I don't know if I did a good job explaining it, but it's essentially a drill that works on gap control, footwork, and composure for defenseman--three very important things for good defensemen to have. At one point during the drill, I felt really lightheaded, and that usually doesn't happen to me. But I battled through, and I think I had a good practice, considering that it was the first day of practice of the year. Everyone is understandably a little rusty, but it'll take some time to get the wheels going again.

Today, I felt a lot better on the ice already. And we had another hard practice. We did a lot of battle drills again, but they're fun because they require all of your concentration. If you let up for a second, you will get beat, and that's what it's like in games. I'm having a lot of fun being back out on the ice because I really like the drills we do. I feel like I could do some of the drills for hours and get better every time, with my active stick, my shot, my gap control, my footwork, or anything else. The drills we do here really push you to think about things while still being in an all-out battle. It's fun! But also tiring. It's fun getting your ass kicked on the ice, though. It feels good to work hard and get tired, but still be able to find another level to perform well in practice.

I will say that I'm noticing a difference this year. I'm not getting told about my mistakes as much as I was last year. That could mean two things: the coaches have given up on me and moved on to help younger kids, or I'm just a lot better than I was last year, and I'm actually doing some things right! I think it's the latter option. I know they haven't given up on me. I think I'm just a much better hockey player, and I know I'm still getting better. It's a good feeling.

After practice today, we had a team outing at a Boise Hawks game, which is a Class A professional baseball team in town. It was fun to be with the guys. And we actually got to do some of the in-between inning games that they have fans participate in...I was in the spud race from first to third base, and I got to be a french fry. It was pretty funny.

But it's been great to be busy with work, hockey, and family life with my new billets! I'm having a blast! I almost have no more time to blog anymore, so sorry if this post seems a little rushed. It's a combination of tiredness and rushing to get to bed so I can make it to work early tomorrow!

First Impressions

Well, we're back on the grind. Today was our first day of "practice." We had off-ice testing from 3 to 5 at Qwest Arena in downtown Boise, and we also had a team meeting where the coaches went through expectations and rules. I think we're going to have a good team. We have a lot of new faces, but I know for sure our coaches are going to put together a good team. They work hard to recruit good players with good character. It was great to see some of the returning vets and meet all the new players, and I think it's going to be really fun to be one of the leaders on the team. In the meeting before the testing, our coaches briefly stated our goals for the season. They said we had a great year last year with a good result at the national tournament, but we're looking to take another step forward this year, and it starts today. That statement and getting our brand new gear (CCM pants, gloves, and helmet) made me so excited to get on the ice tomorrow. I can't express how much I'm looking forward to this year. We got our schedule for September, and we have a few preseason games in Boise and McCall and then our regular season schedule starts in Park City, Utah later on in the month.

They also said there's only one rule for our team this year. They're not going to shove rules down our throats like some other teams do. The one rule is, "Do the right thing." I like it because it's an easy rule for me to follow.

In the actual off-ice testing, I did really well. I was the heaviest on the team, the tallest on the team, and I did the best by far in the beep test, a fitness test where you run 20 meters forward then have to make it back to the starting point before a beep. The beeps get increasingly faster as you go farther in the test. I made it to the 52nd level, so I figured I ran 2080 meters, which is about 1.29 miles, and that's hard when you're continuously increasing your speed with very little rest.

Anyway, I'm really excited for the season to start, to get to know all the new guys, and just to keep learning. It's going to be a great year.

"Hey Dad"

So, I thought I'd just share this funny thing that happened to me while I was skating today. I came off the ice for a drink of water and in the lobby of the rink, a little boy saw me and said, "Hey Dad." It was funny because a) He thought I was his dad, then quickly realized his mistake and b) Last year, my teammates in New Mexico called me Dad, so I actually responded to him calling me that. By the way, the kids in New Mexico called me Dad because of how I looked late at night with my glasses on during road trips, how they thought I was always reading, and always trying to go to bed early. Anyway, I thought it was funny.

Practice Starts in a Week, Goals for Upcoming Season

Official practices start one week from today! I can't wait to get back out there! I've probably said that in every post for a while, but I don't care. I'm excited! I want to keep getting better and get this year started because I have a lot of expectations for myself and for the team this year, and I'm tired of just thinking about it; I want to start doing!

My Team Goals:
1.) Go undefeated at home.
2.) Win our regular season division title.
3.) Repeat as league champions.
4.) Win nationals.

Now, after being on the team last year, I realize that all of these goals are well within reach, and, I think, for all of the returning vets it would be a disappointment if we don't accomplish them. I also realize that for our team to reach these goals, our leaders are going to have to lead, and lead well. I'm up for it. I want to get back to nationals, and I want to win it all this year. But it's not going to happen just because I want it to happen. We're going to have to work hard as a team to get it done.

My Individual Goals:
1.) Commit to a school by the end of December.
2.) Work my way up to the first power play and penalty kill units.
3.) Be a leader on and off the ice.
4.) Score 30 points or more.
5.) Be our team's best defenseman in games and in practice.
6.) Play tough every shift.
7.) Play smart every shift.
8.) Get better every day.
9.) Read as many books as I can. (You might laugh at this one, but it's a legitimate goal. I have to keep my brain active because I will be going to school at this time next year.)
10.) Have more fun than I did last year!

It's always good to make goals to hold yourself accountable during the year. These goals aren't set in stone, but I'm going to hold myself to really high standards this year. I want this to be an awesome year for me, and I'm so ready to meet all the challenges that this season holds and most importantly to have fun.

Hittin' It Hard

My roommate and I have really been hitting it hard the past few days in the gym and on the ice. We've gone to the gym every day this week and skated whenever we can with a few other guys on the team who are in town. It's been really awesome to get settled in, start working, and start getting focused on the upcoming season. We've gone to the gym really focused and ready to work lately. It's not like we go to the gym to talk or babewatch--although there is a little of that, not going to lie--but we go in and tire ourselves out and do meaningful exercises. Two days ago, we did an arm workout, and I told Justin during the workout that my arms didn't feel like they were a part of my body anymore. They felt like they were just floating away from my body because we had worked them so hard. Yesterday, we went to the gym and told ourselves that we were just going to go in and do a short workout, but once we got to the gym, our short workout quickly turned into a 2 hour and 15 minute workout. I can tell already that it's going to be a great year. It's going to be great to have a workout partner who will push me to do better and to work harder, and it will be really fun to live with someone who I like to hang out with and who I have fun with.

Another one of our workout partners who is actually leaving to play for the Corpus Christi Ice Rays in the NAHL in a few days, but who was my D partner here last year, said the other day during a workout, "Tomorrow, if you're not sore, you're a whore." (Sorry for the offensive word--I know there are families reading this--but if you keep reading, you will see the connection to what I'm about to say.) And I've been really sore all week, so I guess I'm doing something right. But I have a feeling that all this hard work we are doing now will have tremendous payout in a few months when we are tearing through this league, on our way to a national championship.