First Day Back in Boise

I just got done with my second game of the weekend...It feels great to be back out on the ice. And, surprisingly, I'm not as rusty as I thought I'd be. Of course I am a little bit rusty in terms of decision-making and timing, but you can't expect those things to be perfect at the beginning of the season. In the first game, I played very intense and made some great passes from the defensive zone. I had an active stick, and I think I definitely made a big impact on the game even though it's hard playing defense with someone you've never played with before. My coach in the first game was the head coach at Saint Mary's University in Minnesota. He seems like a great guy, and he gave me some good teaching points when I came back to the bench after making a mistake. I had a few good shots and scored on one slap shot from the point. In the second game, my coach was an assistant coach at Michigan Tech University. Again, I made some great passes out of the defensive zone and played a really smart game, where I took short shifts to conserve some energy for the rest of the weekend. I'm excited about the way I'm playing, and it's pretty cool to have some big name scouts here for the weekend. After my game this morning, I listened to some seminars by the Saint Mary's coach and then one by the Northern Michigan University head coach, the Michigan Tech assistant, and a St. Cloud University assistant. They all had some good things to say about junior hockey and what it takes to play Division I and Division III hockey. For those of you who don't know, there is no Division II hockey because if they split it up into 3 divisions, neither Division II nor Division III would have enough teams to be able to field a national tournament.

In off-ice news, I'm all moved in with my family. I'm living with one of my best friends on the team and his family this year, and I can already tell it's going to be really fun. It seems like everyone--from the coaches, to the equipment managers, to the returning players--is excited to have me back this year, and I can't wait to start the season in a few weeks!!