Well-Prepared

My roommate just recently talked to a friend from last year's team, who is now playing in his first year of collegiate hockey at the Division III level.  He said he's playing on a line with two players:  one who played in the NAHL and one who played in the USHL.  Those are the two junior leagues above us, a Tier 2 league and a Tier 1 league respectively.  It's pretty impressive that a kid from Tier 3 hockey can go in there and compete with and hang with those "better" kids.  That's a credit to the kind of preparation we get from our coaches.  I don't think there is a Tier 3 program in the country that prepares players for the next level as well as our coaches prepare us here.  And it might be taboo to say this, but I think we are prepared better than a lot of Tier 2 teams too.  We get coached.  And that's why I'm here.  I want to become better.  What my roommate told me is not only a credit to how well-prepared for the next level I will be after this year, but it's also a reminder of the kind of competition I'll be up against.  I'm excited for the challenge.  This year and next.  But I'm going to stay focused on this year for now.  

There are kids on our team who could easily be playing in the NAHL right now, and I think there are even a few who could be in the USHL if they had decided to move away from home earlier to be a hockey player.  Our assistant coach has told me before how hard it is to recruit to this level because no one wants to come play Tier 3 because it's Tier 3; its name alone has a negative connotation and you have to pay to play, but I've said it before:  I think our team is a team that's Tier 3 in name only.  We're run like a Tier 2 team in every other respect, and we're probably run a lot more professionally than most Tier 2 teams even.  So I guess what I'm getting at here is that I'm not really all that surprised that a kid from our team last year is holding his own with kids that have always been considered "better" than him.  Pretty soon I'm going to be that Tier 3 player who's holding his own because I'm confident in how well prepared I'll be after 1 1/2 years here in Idaho.