I thought I'd inform my blog readers that our team is not allowed to use phones anymore for the rest of the weekend so as not to be a distraction. You will have to check the nationals website to see how we're doing. First game tomorrow at noon! Here we go!

We're in Rochester now. Today's our last practice of the season...gotta make it a good one because tomorrow our games start!

And now we're leaving Lincoln. We had a good 2 days of practice. The energy was high and everyone is excited to get this thing rolling on Friday. We practiced where the Lincoln Stars play, and it was really cool to see their facilities. I guess they draw huge crowds. Yesterday we got to the hotel about 11:30 and slept until practice. I hit the pillow and was out for a few hours because I didn't sleep very well on the bus, as usual. I was suprised I didn't have bus legs yesterday, but I thought I practiced pretty well both days. I'm so excited for this weekend. Last night we had a fun night at the hotel, playing cribbage and hanging out. Now we're on our way to Rochester, and we have practice tomorrow and start our games Friday. Can't wait!

We're on our way to Lincoln.

Off to Nationals Tomorrow!

We're leaving for the national tournament tomorrow. After practice we're driving to Lincoln, Nebraska through the night to practice for a few days, and then we head to Rochester, Minnesota on Wednesday night. I'm so EXCITED!!!

"You Have All Three"

Today, I had a really good practice. We did a drill where the defensemen have to break out against pressure and read the forecheck of the forwards. My defense partner and I did it almost perfectly. That was the highlight of my practice, and I think I played well otherwise too. But Coach came up to me after practice and asked how he thinks I'm doing. I told him I thought I'm doing really well, still improving, and I told him how I thought I did on that drill. He agreed with me, and then he said something about how reading the forecheck like that is second nature to great defensemen like Nik Lidstrom; he makes the smart play and the right play every time. Then, I told Coach how I've been focusing on being more physical because it's something I have to focus on. He told me that every coach is looking for a big kid, who has an edge, and a brain. And he said I have all three. I'm really excited about the progress I've made since coming here, and it's been an amazing experience to learn the game like I have, in such a short time. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I'm not floundering like I was in the beginning of this year. I'm flourishing. I'm getting better every day, and it's so exciting to me.

Final Stretch

Here we go. This week is probably the biggest week of my life hockey-wise. I'm ready to have a great week of practice, and now I really need to bear down and focus on next weekend. It's easy to let my mind drift to thoughts about home and summer, but I can't think about that right now. We have three games next weekend, and that's all I need to think about. Nothing else. We have a chance to do something special at nationals, but if we don't show up in our 3 pool play games, our trip to Rochester could be over faster than we would like. We had yesterday off, and now we're back to practicing today. We leave tomorrow for Rochester because we want to get there a day or so early, so we don't have bus legs the day of our first game. This week is going to go by fast; of course there is a lot of pressure, but I just need to play my game and play like I'm playing any other game. I don't want to let my nerves get the best of me. I'll keep you posted about how this week goes...