Keep Climbin' That Staircase

This weekend is our biggest series of the year. It's a series that could determine who gets home-ice advantage in the playoffs, and it will definitely be a confidence booster before the playoffs for one team. We need to come out and show that we are the better team, just pound them in every aspect of the game because we can. I still don't think the team has played to its full potential since I've been here, and I know I personally haven't played to my potential yet. Now would be a good time to start. We want to play our best, smartest hockey going into the playoffs. There are only 6 games left; it's coming down to the end, but we want to keep it going as long as we can.

Tomorrow we are driving up to McCall for two games against the Monsters, and then we will come back to Boise after Saturday night's game for a Sunday night matchup. It's going to be a fun weekend. I am so excited. I've been preparing myself for these games for 2 weeks now, and I'm just ready for the puck to drop tomorrow. Like I said earlier, it's time for me to step up and be the player I know I can be. I tend to either hold onto the puck just a split second too long or get rid of it too quick. I need to play with confidence and make smart decisions. That's all I need to do. I don't need to worry about scoring goals or getting points, I just need to do my job: get the puck to the forwards and manage the game, shoot the puck when I can. I feel like I'm ready to keep climbing this staircase this weekend.

It's been awesome being around a coach with so much knowledge and success. He draws from his experience to help us succeed, and I've really enjoyed learning as much as I can here, soaking in all I can. He knows what it takes to win, and he doesn't accept anything else. Today, a player from an ECHL championship team that he coached, came to talk to us briefly during our practice. He talked about what it takes for a good team to become a championship team. You don't have to be the most talented team, you just have to be the best team in terms of your will to win and what you'll do for your team to win. Our coach and this player shared stories about players getting cross-checked in the face during their playoff run and taking it without retaliating because they were so focused on one goal as a team. They came together as a team with one goal in mind and put the team in front of anything, even their dental bills. I don't remember every detail of the talk, but it was pretty inspiring to hear it. They came out every night and battled for each other and knew they would win. And they did win. There are a lot of lessons that we, as a team heading into playoffs, can take from that talk.

I'm excited for this weekend, and I'll keep you posted about what happens. Apparently our games are the talk of the town up in McCall.

Monster of a Weekend Ahead

The Monsters are coming to town this weekend. I've heard that Fresno is a chippy team, especially when they play us. I played their team in the NAHL when I was in New Mexico and saw some of that style of play, and then in the WSHL Showcase we played Fresno's WSHL team, but they weren't as chippy as usual because it was a showcase tournament. The last time the Junior Steelheads played the Monsters in Fresno when I wasn't here earlier this year, there were apparently a lot of fights and multiple people got jumped, which is when one player is pretty much forced into a fight. I like playing in those games, though, because I think I'm pretty unflappable out on the ice, at least in terms of other players getting under my skin. Getting under my own skin is another story; I'm working on my consistency and decision making though. I mean if I have to get angry, I will, but I think in these kinds of games, we all have to play smart and disciplined even if the other team is not. We can't have players getting kicked out or taking stupid penalties because these games mean a lot for home ice advantage in the playoffs, and our coaches have been emphasizing these points to us for the past two weeks now. Fresno will try to get under our skin, try to take us off our game. And so will a lot of teams once in the playoffs. But we have to stay strong, play our game, and, quite frankly, not take any shit from other teams.

Today, after practice, we spent the whole day handing out buy one, get one free coupons to businesses all around town for our game at the Qwest Center in downtown Boise on Sunday night. We are trying to pack the house for what should be a really awesome, fun game. Going around to businesses and talking to people like that is difficult and very exhausting. Sometimes you talk to people who aren't even slightly interested, and it puts you down a little. But then you talk to people who are really excited, and it makes it easier. From what I saw, though, most people that we handed coupons out to were really excited about them. Hopefully we get a big crowd, but we will see.

I can't wait for this weekend. And I'm excited to play my best hockey games of the year. I need to get better every game from here on out. Enough of this inconsistency. I want to be a rock out there. I know I can be. It's just time for me to do it.

Feelin' Lucky

I had a really good day today, even though it was an early one. I was going to wake up at 6:20 this morning to get ready to leave for our Special Olympics volunteering, but my alarm never went off, so I woke up at 7:02 and was out the door by 7:12. I haven't been up that early in a while, but it felt good, and I had a lot of fun refereeing floor hockey for the Special Olympics. It was definitely worth the early awakening. It was really awesome interacting with some of the athletes and just watching them compete. Right when I was leaving for practice at about 2 in the afternoon, I started talking to an older lady and her son after her son waved to me. He was probably about 40 or 50, deaf and couldn't speak, read, or write. But he seemed like he was the happiest person on earth. It was pretty powerful to me. She said when he was born, she thought he was going to be her linebacker son, but he got into an accident at a young age and lost all those abilities. She's taken care of him ever since. It was just a passing conversation, one that really makes me think about how lucky I am, though. Not everyone gets to do what I'm doing: play hockey every day. And not everyone gets to chase their dream like me. I'm lucky to be healthy and to have the family I have to support me. I think it meant a lot to everyone there that we had taken the time to volunteer. All the athletes were eager to talk to us and got wide-eyed when they asked us if we play for the Steelheads. It was a really fun day. It's always good to get out in the community.

And then after that, I got to go to hockey practice: the highlight of my day every day. I think I had a good week of practice this week. I'm just feeling more and more confident, and I think I'm starting to turn the corner. Like Coach said, "It looks like I'm a defenseman who actually knows what he's doing now." I'm scoring goals in practice, making tape-to-tape passes, and starting to have more fun and just play hockey like I can. It's a good feeling. And I hope it continues because this is the time in the season where I have to be at my best. I'm having fun, thinking in the present. I need to keep thinking in the moment because I think sometimes thinking about the future or the past really brings me down, unintentionally, but the extra thinking weighs me down and affects my play.

After practice, my roommate and I came back to the house to eat dinner and play some basketball in the nice weather we have here. It was fun, and then we headed out to the Steelheads game, which is the picture at the top of this post. They're the professional team in the ECHL here in Boise, and that's the rink we get to practice in and have one game a weekend in. It's a pretty amazing facility, and we're lucky to get to use it. The Steelheads games are really fun too; tonight I saw more fans than I've seen there yet in the month and a half I've been here. And the home team had a good showing tonight, winning 5-3. I love going to watch those games because I try to learn while I'm watching, and I think I do. Sometimes I just watch one player on the ice for his whole shift to see how he plays. I think it can really help my game to get to go to Steelheads' games and get to watch players play at such a high level.

Tomorrow, we have a day off, and I'm excited about it. I'm going to go to the gym and then just hang out with some of the guys in the afternoon. Next week is a big week for me. I want to keep playing well, keep having fun, and keep getting better because before I know it, this season will be over. Our games and practices are numbered, and I don't want to look back and regret not working harder when I could have; I want to look back and know that I gave everything to get better and help the team, and I feel like I have done that to this point.

Weekend Off, Time to Gear Up for Final Stretch

This weekend we have an off weekend. There are some kids on the team taking the ACT, which I'm glad I don't have to worry about anymore. It's fun to help them out with some of their problems when they're practicing, though. I've had 4 or 5 kids tell me they want me to take the ACT for them, kind of jokingly, because they all know I did really well on it. I'm going to use this weekend to get some rest because the next 6 games are huge for us, and after that we're in the playoffs. I've already played 16 games here and three game weekends get pretty tiring. I'm not complaining though. I've sat enough games this year. Now, I've played 23 games, more than I've played in each of the past 4 years, and I'm loving it and learning and getting better every time I step on the ice.

After practice today, the owner of our team told me that my skating is getting better. He can tell. It's good to know that people are noticing the effort I'm putting into getting better, and I think it shows a lot about me that I'm getting so much better so fast. Again, I stayed after practice, and instead of skating in circles and shooting pucks, like a lot of kids do, I did some drills that are going to help me progress. I can easily say that I'm a much improved player from the start of this year—I won't say I'm a completely different player, but it's hard to describe how much better I've gotten—and I think in the past month, I've taken some big steps in becoming a better hockey player. I've shown my strengths and my weaknesses have become more evident, which is a good thing because I know what I need to work on, and I have worked on and will continue to work on the things I need to. I'm really excited about these upcoming games and of course the playoffs because I know I can make a difference. I'm ready to keep climbing these steps to get better.

Tomorrow the guys on the team not taking the ACT are going to be refs for a Special Olympics floor hockey tournament before our afternoon practice, and then tomorrow night there is a Steelheads game we are going to as a team. It should be a good weekend. We have to stay focused, though, because in one week Fresno, our biggest in-division rival is coming into town, and we want to bury them.

Hard Work Will Pay Off

We skated at the end of practice today. It was a hard day. Yesterday, we had a pretty easy day. We scrimmaged 4-on-4 after such a long road trip, and today it was back to work. Coach told me yesterday that I'm looking quicker out there, but I still have times where I just let my guard down. I need to be more mentally tough on the ice and battle every shift. He wants me to work on making plays. I tend to get the puck in the neutral zone and just throw it back into the offensive zone, when I should make a D-to-D pass, so we can keep possession. It's a smart, safe play to get the puck deep, and I should do it sometimes, but he said it's not a play a good defenseman would make.

We did some hard drills today, and then we had a hard skate. It's good to skate, especially since we have a week and a half until our next game, and especially for someone like me, who can work on quickness and endurance during the skate. After the skate, I stayed on the ice and worked on my quickness and footwork even more. I think I will get even better if I work on things when I'm already tired. It will only make me better, more mentally tough and ready to push through tiredness in games because there are bound to be shifts late in games where I will have to battle to get the puck out of the zone, battle for every inch when my legs don't want to move anymore. Speaking of tiredness, I'm pretty tired right now, so I'm going to bed, but I felt like I should post for my avid readers out there. Sorry to disappoint, but not every post can be as inspirational as some of them...

Step by Step

I've been playing well lately. But I still know I can play better. Coach told me after the last game that I played well, that he thinks I've taken a step, and I will continue to move forward in the next few weeks. We only have 6 games left before playoffs. I have to soak in everything I can before then and continue to get better every time I step on the ice, and focus on getting better for myself and for the team. Coach told me for the team to be successful in playoffs, he needs me to play better. He said I've been playing well, and he also knows that I can play better, but I have to be intense mentally and never take a shift or a play off. I think I need to get tougher as well. I'm 6'4", 220. I don't think anyone should be able to push me around or get around me. I want to be a shut down defenseman, but also be a quarterback and make plays to get us out of the zone. I think I have the tools to be an all-around defenseman, but I still make some stupid mistakes in the course of a game. I know everyone makes mistakes. No one ever has a perfect game, but I want to have a perfect effort, and sometimes I miss plays that I know I should make.

I'm watching the Avs game right now, and I see them making some of the same mistakes I do; it makes me feel better even though I know it's at a much higher level. Coach told me the other day that he's seen kids like me throughout his coaching career, who continue to grow and get better long after other kids have reached their potential at age 15 or 16. I'm still growing into my body and learning what it takes to be a hockey player. It was good to hear. And I know I want to be perfect; I'm a perfectionist. But I have to realize this is a process, and I'm really only at the beginning, only 21 games into my hockey career. This is my first year of focusing on hockey alone; I think I'm the only one on this team who came out of high school hockey, who never played AAA or tiered Midget hockey, who played soccer, ran track, did musicals, water skied, and snow skied when it wasn't hockey season. People still look at me with weird looks on their faces when they find out I never played AAA. I might not be perfect right now, but I think I will only get better with time because I'm smart enough and athletic enough to be a stalwart defenseman if I put my mind to it. I need to start playing with some pride, some toughness, and mostly just have fun. Because when you get past all the uncertainty and stress, it's really all about having fun. I even imagined I was playing in Vail at Dobson this past weekend. Sometimes it helps to picture the other team in Lewis-Palmer jerseys (one of Battle Mountain's biggest rivals) because those were the games I felt the most comfortable in, and I think those were the games I played at my best. It's time for me to take a step here and really show what kind of player I can be.

We stopped and watched 4th quarter of the Super Bowl about 50 miles outside of Vegas, which was really fun. It was awesome to see the Packers come up big on the biggest stage there is, and it's always a lot of fun to people watch in Vegas, especially during the Super Bowl. There are some characters out there to say the least. You gotta love seeing a new team win the Super Bowl. And there are some inspirational stories about some of the Packers that I can definitely learn a lot from: Donald Driver, Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, who was a walk on at USC and didn't start for 4 years. Now he's a Super Bowl winning player, and one of the marquee players in the NFL! Crazy things can happen when you persist and work hard and believe in yourself.