Yesterday we had a good day of practice, and then we drove around to outer towns handing out fliers for our games this weekend. Hopefully we draw a big crowd. After that we had a team dinner/meet and greet at the local country club. Unfortunately, last night I suffered another excruciating loss in Monopoly, but I will bounce back tonight. We just got done with practice for the day today. I thought I played well, and I'm already starting to focus hard on the game tomorrow. I want to keep playing better and keep making a difference in these games. Every game from here on out is our biggest game of the year. Today we're going to a local middle school to promote our games, so it should be fun. I think we get to play floor hockey with them too.

I'm up in McCall, staying at the Fun House, the house where all the coaches and 6 players stay since there aren't enough billets volunteering up here for the week. It's a lot of fun so far. We had a team meal at the Toll Station, a local pizza and pasta place, where we talked about the plan for the rest of the week. We have practice tomorrow and Thursday and then we're going to pass out fliers and go to some local events to try and get a lot of people to come to our games this weekend. We came back to the Fun House and played cards and now we're watching TV. Unfortunately, I lost in a game of Hearts after a strong start, but it was still a fun game with a few guys and Coach. Sometimes the cards don't go your way I guess. Should be a fun week here.

Off to McCall Today for the 2nd Round

We're driving up to McCall today to get ready for our second round playoff series against Phoenix. I'm excited. We get to spend a week up in McCall, gearing up for this weekend, and I think it will only help us get better prepared and it will help us come together as a team. It's almost like a road trip, but we also will technically be playing at home. This week, we're going to some events up in McCall to try to get as many people from the town to come to our games this weekend. It's really awesome to play up there when the rink is packed with 700 or so people. But right now it's snowing down in Boise, which means it is dumping up in McCall and could make the road a little more treacherous than normal. We aren't taking the bus up there, so we're going to caravan up there in all our cars together.

I'm really excited for this week. The stakes are even higher than they were last week. With two more wins, we qualify for the national tournament in Rochester, Minnesota, and we would also play for the league championship. I'm ready to keep getting better and prepare myself to play against Phoenix this week. There's nothing better than playoff hockey. So far, I've played very well in our two playoff games, and I want to keep that trend going this weekend. Should be fun. I will keep you posted about what's going on, but right now I have to go pack for this week.

2 Down, 4 to Go

We won 6-2 tonight, but the game was a lot closer, I think, than the score dictates. We played OK as a team. I don't think we played nearly as well as we can, but a win's a win, and a win in playoffs is always much better than the alternative. San Diego came out pretty hard tonight as their season was on the line, but I think we definitely could've had more of a killer instinct. I think sometimes, though, good teams play down to a lesser team's level, and that might've happened at some points of the game tonight. We got the win, though, and now we're through to the next round against the Phoenix Polar Bears. We were all happy about the win, but there wasn't much celebrating in the locker room after the game. We're on a mission to get 6 wins. 6 wins, and we win the league. We are all focused on that goal; winning one playoff series is nice, but we want more.

Tonight, I didn't have as sharp of a game as I did last night, but I still played solid. I made some mistakes, but overall, I think I played well. I scored again, which was a good feeling. In the 3rd period, the puck came to me in the slot, and I ripped it top corner. It was a good goal and put us up 5-2. I'm excited about the win, but I know we still have a lot of work to do this year.

1 Win Down...

I am wired right now. It's 1:30 in the morning, and I just got back from our hockey game tonight (we had to play after the ECHL Steelheads because of scheduling conflicts, and our game didn't start until 10:30.) I'm sitting here in my underwear and dress socks--weird, I know--blogging because I don't think I could possibly go to sleep right now. I had so much fun on the ice tonight. And, yes, I can say it again: I had my best game of the year tonight. Something is happening to me as a player. I know I say it over and over, but I am getting better every time I step on the ice. I'm so much more confident, I have a much better understanding of the game in general, and I'm playing smart, solid hockey. I really had an awesome game tonight, and I think the team as a whole did. We won 8-1. We came out determined to be the better team and jumped on them from the start, taking a 3-0 lead in the first period. We kept pounding them the whole game, wearing them down, and we held them to only 12 shots the whole game. Just a great game by our team. We made very few mistakes. It was a fun game to play in. And I got my first goal on a shot from the point. It was the second goal of the game, and I was surprised it went in. I mean, I'm not known for my scoring ability; I wouldn't call myself a regular Pavel Datsyuk. I just tried to get the puck to the net, and it happened to go in.

After the game, Coach came up to me and said, "Helluva game tonight, Teddy." He said I made some perfect reads on plays, I played physical, and I moved the puck really well. He can also tell that I'm getting more confident and comfortable every game. I'm learning the systems, and it shows in my play. The coaches rated the defensemen on a scale of 1-5 after the game, and he told me I got a 5. I had my best game of the year, and I'm excited, to say the least. But one game doesn't mean anything. I have to refocus and come out ready to play my best game of the year tomorrow night. They won their first playoff game last year too, and they ended up losing the series in the third game. That's not going to happen this year.

Today, my dad flew in, and I showed him around Boise for a while and introduced him to my billets. Then, I just had a relaxing day and focused on the game. Pretty much all day, all I could think about was the game, and I came out ready to play. It was a cool feeling in the locker room before the game having the Steelheads crowd right above us. We could feel the people cheering above, stomping their feet. Admission to our game was free, and we had quite a few fans stay for the warmups and 1st period of our game. Then, they went home and went to bed. I don't blame them. Of course, in the biggest warmup of the year, (there were probably a few thousand leftover fans after the Steelheads game that watched our warmup) I took a digger. The ice was choppy, and I, very embarrassingly, fell in warmies... On the biggest stage of the year, I look like the idiot. But in the end, I had a really good game. It didn't screw with my confidence, which is good. I'm ready to refocus, though, for tomorrow's game. We have a lot of business left to take care of, and tomorrow we need to come out with a killer instinct.

One More Day

I find it hard to concentrate on anything other than this weekend right now. I've tried. But all I can think about are the games this weekend. This week has flown by, faster even than other weeks; the practices have been fast-paced, short, and a lot of fun. I'm ready to go. I feel like I've improved even in the last week, and I don't want practices to end. We have to come out determined to win because this is the point of the season where you win or you go home. And I don't want to go home yet. I'm just starting to find my groove. We keep hearing about last year's first round playoff loss to a team that wasn't as good as the Idaho Junior Steelheads. I don't want that to happen again this year, and I think the loss is still fresh in people's minds who were on the team last year. We have to come out and play our best hockey, play with an edge and show that we are a better team because right now, according to records, we're not. Every team has a 0-0 record in the playoffs right now. The regular season accomplishments don't matter.

One more day of practice before our game tomorrow night. I'm excited to get on the ice today, and I can hardly wait for the game tomorrow. I'm ready to play at my best.

Great Day On the Ice

This whole week our focus has been to practice hard, leave everything on the ice to prepare ourselves for this weekend. We've been going hard in every drill, and we've been doing a lot of battle drills. We all understand that this is a point in the season where one mistake can send a team home. I think today, we had the best practice as a team since I've been here. It was a lot of fun. Guys were flying, and we were all completely focused. Personally, I just feel myself getting better every day, and I think I had a really good practice. I know a lot of people say they want to get better every day and say they can feel themselves getting better every day, but I don't think everyone who says those things is actually improving. I know I am. I can feel it. Yesterday, in the one-on-one drill we've been doing a lot, no one beat me, and my gap control was perfect. Today, we did the paint drill, where we work on defensive coverage and staying with your man, and I did really well. Coach came up to me after and said he wishes he filmed me when I first got here and compared it to what he saw today. He said it's unbelievable how much I've improved. All these things are good to hear, especially from a coach who doesn't dish out positive feedback very often. And it's just making me more confident at the right time of the year. I feel confident that I can make a big difference here coming up in the playoffs, and I'm so excited to see what happens. This is a fun time of the year. The stakes are high, and we have to play our best every night. I'm ready to continue having a really good week of practice, and I'm ready to lay it on the line for the team this weekend.