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.