We just finished up a 6 game, 10 day road trip. I'm tired and ready to be back in Boise! Today we won 3 to 2 in another tight game, but again, it's valuable experience to be able to pull out tight games, and playing in these games will only help us gear up for playoffs, which are only 6 games away. I played well again today. I made some good plays and a few bad ones. But I never got scored on during this road trip, and I feel like I've taken a step in getting better. I know I can still play better, but I think my confidence is building and I'm getting ready to break out and start playing my best hockey here at the end of the year. I have to keep working hard, stay positive, and keep believing in myself and my abilities.

Last night was a close game. We won 5-4 in overtime. We didn't have our best game, and the other team came out really strong. We were down 2-0, but came back to win, which is a good sign. I played pretty well. I was hitting people and making good passes. I'd like to shoot the puck more, but I'm happy with how I played last night. Before the game, I told myself I wanted to play with confidence, play smart, and keep things simple. I think I did a good job for the most part, and it was a lot of fun to play in that close of a game. Tonight we have to control the game because a lot of times, the longer an opponent is in a close game, the more they believe they can win. And those games can be really dangerous. I'm going to focus on keeping my strong play going.

I know I'm still a very raw player, but, honestly, it's really frustrating when I don't make the right play or when I make mistakes that I can eliminate with better thinking and better footwork. And that's going to drive me to get better. I want to be the best I can be, and I think I can be a very good player if I keep learning and working. I believe I can play hockey at a very high level. I'm learning to be a hockey player, though, and I think being in a place where I'm playing a lot and getting coached a lot will only help me accomplish my future goals. By the way, there is no free internet at our hotel, so I'm writing all these posts through text messages, and I'm sorry if they seem out of order, but I can only fit so much in one text.

He said he thinks I'm doing well, that I make some really good plays and then some plays that are questionable. I'm not very consistent right now, which is understandable considering I've never played hockey at a higher level than high school hockey in Colorado before this year. He told me that I'm 19 years old, not a kid anymore, but he also realizes that in terms of being a hockey player, I'm still very undeveloped and I've come a long way considering that. I know I make some mistakes, but I'm going to work on my consistency in the next few weeks. Coach also told me all the mistakes I'm making are coachable, and I need to keep working on getting better because I have a lot of potential and a lot to learn.

I had a good week of practice this week. I can tell I'm really learning. Tomorrow, we head out for Long Beach, and I can say I'm ready to get out of Vegas. It's fun here, but buffet food, slot machines, and cigarette smoke get old fast. I'm excited for this weekend, though. Coach told me yesterday that my footwork has improved a lot in a month. He told me that once I get a few things figured out on one-on-ones, no one will be able to beat me. (Jack, that includes you.) I just need to work on letting the play come to me and keeping my feet moving when I make contact. Today he talked to me for a while, asked how I'm doing, and I said I think I'm learning a lot and improving.

One of my good friends just told me that he's been reading my blog a lot lately (shout out to Mike Jones) and thinks I need to stop worrying about every little thing and just have fun with it. I agree. It's good to be hard on yourself, so you can improve and work on things you need to work on. But I think I need to find a happy medium, and just play with confidence every day. There are a lot of ups and downs and so much uncertainty in this business that makes it hard to stay positive sometimes; I need to believe in myself, though, because I have a lot of good things going for me. I have to stay mentally strong and just keep working.

We just finished with practice for the day. I had a pretty good practice. I'm starting to figure things out and put everything together. I still have a lot to work on, but I can say in the month that I've been in Idaho, I've improved A LOT. Even today, Coach came up to me and told me my footwork has gotten so much better in one month, I just need to work on keeping my feet moving and always thinking. Tonight we're going to an ECHL game as a team: the Las Vegas Wranglers against the Stockton Thunder. Should be fun, and I'm looking forward to continuing to improve every time I step on the ice and having fun. It's supposed to be fun. Hard work, but fun. And sometimes I get away from that and bring myself down by being too hard on myself.