I am wired right now. It's 1:30 in the morning, and I just got back from our hockey game tonight (we had to play after the ECHL Steelheads because of scheduling conflicts, and our game didn't start until 10:30.) I'm sitting here in my underwear and dress socks--weird, I know--blogging because I don't think I could possibly go to sleep right now. I had so much fun on the ice tonight. And, yes, I can say it again: I had my best game of the year tonight. Something is happening to me as a player. I know I say it over and over, but I am getting better every time I step on the ice. I'm so much more confident, I have a much better understanding of the game in general, and I'm playing smart, solid hockey. I really had an awesome game tonight, and I think the team as a whole did. We won 8-1. We came out determined to be the better team and jumped on them from the start, taking a 3-0 lead in the first period. We kept pounding them the whole game, wearing them down, and we held them to only 12 shots the whole game. Just a great game by our team. We made very few mistakes. It was a fun game to play in. And I got my first goal on a shot from the point. It was the second goal of the game, and I was surprised it went in. I mean, I'm not known for my scoring ability; I wouldn't call myself a regular Pavel Datsyuk. I just tried to get the puck to the net, and it happened to go in.
After the game, Coach came up to me and said, "Helluva game tonight, Teddy." He said I made some perfect reads on plays, I played physical, and I moved the puck really well. He can also tell that I'm getting more confident and comfortable every game. I'm learning the systems, and it shows in my play. The coaches rated the defensemen on a scale of 1-5 after the game, and he told me I got a 5. I had my best game of the year, and I'm excited, to say the least. But one game doesn't mean anything. I have to refocus and come out ready to play my best game of the year tomorrow night. They won their first playoff game last year too, and they ended up losing the series in the third game. That's not going to happen this year.
Today, my dad flew in, and I showed him around Boise for a while and introduced him to my billets. Then, I just had a relaxing day and focused on the game. Pretty much all day, all I could think about was the game, and I came out ready to play. It was a cool feeling in the locker room before the game having the Steelheads crowd right above us. We could feel the people cheering above, stomping their feet. Admission to our game was free, and we had quite a few fans stay for the warmups and 1st period of our game. Then, they went home and went to bed. I don't blame them. Of course, in the biggest warmup of the year, (there were probably a few thousand leftover fans after the Steelheads game that watched our warmup) I took a digger. The ice was choppy, and I, very embarrassingly, fell in warmies... On the biggest stage of the year, I look like the idiot. But in the end, I had a really good game. It didn't screw with my confidence, which is good. I'm ready to refocus, though, for tomorrow's game. We have a lot of business left to take care of, and tomorrow we need to come out with a killer instinct.
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