Fresno almost brought out the brooms on us this weekend. We almost got swept in our 3 game series in Fresno. On Saturday night we lost again 4-1. The game was much closer than the score indicates; it was a hard fought battle, but they ended up capitalizing on our mistakes and we couldn't find the back of the net. Sunday morning, though, we were determined to come out with a win. No way were we going to drive all the way to Fresno and go home without a win. After the game on Saturday night, our coaches decided to have individual meetings with all the players to try and get a fire going. There are some kids on our team who--no matter what--play with no emotion. That's not a good thing in the sport of hockey. You have to be emotional to play hockey. You have to play this game with an edge. That's something I've learned. In my meeting, the coaches told me they think I'm a different player ever since I decided to drop the gloves. They think I'm playing much more confidently and growing as a leader. But they still want me to be more vocal in the locker room. Our assistant coach went so far as to say that he thought in the 2nd period of the game on Saturday night, I played the best he's ever seen me play. I felt good, but I really didn't feel like that was the best I've ever played. I was playing very physically, though. No one could get into our zone if they decided to come down my side of the blue line.
After the game on Saturday, our backs were against the wall. I've never been in that situation before where you need to get a win or be completely embarrassed in a 3 game sweep. It was pretty intense. We all knew what we had to do, though. We made a commitment as a team to work to exhaustion every shift and to be fired up emotionally throughout the entire game. It worked. We came out flying. Unfortunately, we got homered a little bit with the officiating, but that'll happen on the road. It's a good sign that we fought through adversity together and killed off most of our penalties. It seemed like we were killing penalties the whole game. It was a back and forth battle. We were up 2-0, then suddenly down 3-2. It looked like we were going to lose again. I scored our third goal to tie it up in the 3rd period from the slot, and then another one of our assistant captains scored about 3 minutes later to put us up for good.
I think I played a helluva weekend of hockey. I played 3 games all out. I left nothing in the tank every game. Our equipment manager told me he thinks I played 35-40 minutes in all 3 games, and that's a lot of ice time. I'm proud of the way I played and the way I led this team even when things weren't looking so good for us this weekend. We desperately needed a win on Sunday and found a way to get it done. It would have been nice to do better against our archrivals, but considering the level of opponent we've played all season up to this point, I think we did well. It will be good for us in the long run to know that we're not the best team out there right now, that we still have a lot of work to do if we want to do something special this season. This weekend was an eye-opener for a lot of our young guys, and it was a step forward for me. By no means did I play a perfect weekend; I made a few mistakes that could have cost us goals, but I will learn from them and continue to get better. I did, however, play well enough on Sunday morning to earn the game's first star. When I heard someone tell me that in the locker room after the game, I said, "Since when does a player on the visiting team get the first star in Fresno?" I'll take it. But I'll also take this weekend as a lesson: we need to get better as a team. And we will. I like our team's character.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Legend
In junior hockey, there's this game that almost every team plays called tag. Brings you back to the good old childhood days, but just imagine playing with 25 grown hockey players. Basically, a veteran player has to start the game, and home base is the bus. Everyone has to touch the bus to be safe; we usually play after team meals or when we stop at gas stations on road trips. It gets pretty intense, especially when you throw in the fact that the last person to be "it" has to sing a song in front of the whole team on the bus over the loudspeaker. I have yet to have to do that, but today I came close.
I was the last one on the team who had not touched the bus, so I was screwed. The person who was it was sure he was going to tag me, but I was determined to not get tagged. I took a hot lap around the restaurant we were eating at, and then ran around one side of a hedge to use it as protection. Next thing I know, I decided to jump over the hedge to get to the bus safely and not get tagged. It was a legendary leap. No one was expecting me to make it to the bus without getting tagged. People on the team compared me to a gazelle and asked if I ran hurdles in track. One kid told me that this game of tag will live on in Idaho Junior Steelheads history forever. I've forever engraved my name in IJS tag history.
Now, onto the game against Fresno. It's a must-win game tonight, so it should be fun. I'm feeling ready to play.
I was the last one on the team who had not touched the bus, so I was screwed. The person who was it was sure he was going to tag me, but I was determined to not get tagged. I took a hot lap around the restaurant we were eating at, and then ran around one side of a hedge to use it as protection. Next thing I know, I decided to jump over the hedge to get to the bus safely and not get tagged. It was a legendary leap. No one was expecting me to make it to the bus without getting tagged. People on the team compared me to a gazelle and asked if I ran hurdles in track. One kid told me that this game of tag will live on in Idaho Junior Steelheads history forever. I've forever engraved my name in IJS tag history.
Now, onto the game against Fresno. It's a must-win game tonight, so it should be fun. I'm feeling ready to play.
Well, we lost last night 6-5. We didn't play very well. We didn't do the things it takes to win a hockey game. Our team made a lot of terrible turnovers, we weren't committed to a forecheck, and our defense got beat 1-on-1 out of the corners and in the open ice. After the game, our coach told us we had no business winning the game. He said we basically played the equivalent of pond hockey where we traded chances with the other team and did not commit to our systems. Still, we were in the game, which is a good sign. We were winning 5-4 with 6 minutes left. We couldn't close it out, though. It was a very frustrating game in which we made a lot of turnovers and took a lot of penalties. We definitely didn't play our best, and I think if we come out and play our best tomorrow, they won't know how to handle us.
I think I played hard tonight. I could've played better but it was really the first time we've played against hard competition, and it took a little while to get used to the speed of the game.
I think I started to play really well in the 2nd and 3rd periods as my legs got going. I don't know if it was nerves or what, but our whole team did not play very well in the first period. I ended up getting an assist at the end of the 2nd and scored our 5th goal of the game to go up 5-4. After our game, we stayed to watch the NAHL game after us between Kenai River and Fresno. It was fun to compare myself to some of the kids out there who are playing at a higher level. Bottom line, though, is we have to play better today. We still have 2 games left to make a statement. We have to come out today and play like we know we're the better team because I believe we are.
I think I played hard tonight. I could've played better but it was really the first time we've played against hard competition, and it took a little while to get used to the speed of the game.
I think I started to play really well in the 2nd and 3rd periods as my legs got going. I don't know if it was nerves or what, but our whole team did not play very well in the first period. I ended up getting an assist at the end of the 2nd and scored our 5th goal of the game to go up 5-4. After our game, we stayed to watch the NAHL game after us between Kenai River and Fresno. It was fun to compare myself to some of the kids out there who are playing at a higher level. Bottom line, though, is we have to play better today. We still have 2 games left to make a statement. We have to come out today and play like we know we're the better team because I believe we are.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Off to Fresno
Tomorrow we'll be on our way to one of America's finest cities: Fresno, California. (I say that very sarcastically.) But I'm excited for the hockey. 3 game series with the Fresno Monsters and our first long roadie as a team. It's gonna be fun!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Defense is a Test of Character
Today, I sat out of practice because my knee has been bothering me. I think it will be good for it to have a few days off, and hopefully it will feel better with this rest. I'm still going to go get it checked out next week just to make sure, but nothing's going to hold me out of this weekend. This weekend is our biggest test to date, one of the most important series of the year, and I'm playing.
During practice, our coaches stressed defensive zone coverage in drills. We did some of my favorite drills, so it was a bummer that I was sitting out, but I still listened in to everything the coaches had to say. After the paint drill--a drill that emphasizes low defensive zone coverage in the corners--our coach said, "I can tell a lot about your character from the way you play defense. Defense isn't fun. Everyone wants to go score goals. But you need to have just as much emphasis on your defensive game as your offensive game if you want to move onto the next level." On this team, I know my role. As our team owner tells me, "I'm not paid to go out and score goals." In reality, I'm not paid at all! But I'm "paid" to go out there and stop the other team from scoring goals. And I like to think I've developed into one of the best defenders on our team. It's not easy playing defense, making plays that don't get on the score sheet--that always makes it more fun when I do make my way onto the score sheet, which is happening more and more often--but doing those unselfish things, like blocking shots, finishing every check, and playing relentless team defense is what wins games.
We have to get better defensively as a team, and we will get better. We don't really have a choice because our coaches will literally drill certain drills into our heads until we are better defensively if it comes down to it. I'm confident in our team, though. We have some young kids who are really improving and working hard to earn their spots on this team. And that's great. Competition is always a good thing. The players with little character can't hide when our team is constantly battling in practice, like our coach preaches. He says, "Some weeks the best competition you're going to get is here in practice, so we have to embrace the small battles we have between players. Use them to get better. Don't get mad at each other."
During practice, our coaches stressed defensive zone coverage in drills. We did some of my favorite drills, so it was a bummer that I was sitting out, but I still listened in to everything the coaches had to say. After the paint drill--a drill that emphasizes low defensive zone coverage in the corners--our coach said, "I can tell a lot about your character from the way you play defense. Defense isn't fun. Everyone wants to go score goals. But you need to have just as much emphasis on your defensive game as your offensive game if you want to move onto the next level." On this team, I know my role. As our team owner tells me, "I'm not paid to go out and score goals." In reality, I'm not paid at all! But I'm "paid" to go out there and stop the other team from scoring goals. And I like to think I've developed into one of the best defenders on our team. It's not easy playing defense, making plays that don't get on the score sheet--that always makes it more fun when I do make my way onto the score sheet, which is happening more and more often--but doing those unselfish things, like blocking shots, finishing every check, and playing relentless team defense is what wins games.
We have to get better defensively as a team, and we will get better. We don't really have a choice because our coaches will literally drill certain drills into our heads until we are better defensively if it comes down to it. I'm confident in our team, though. We have some young kids who are really improving and working hard to earn their spots on this team. And that's great. Competition is always a good thing. The players with little character can't hide when our team is constantly battling in practice, like our coach preaches. He says, "Some weeks the best competition you're going to get is here in practice, so we have to embrace the small battles we have between players. Use them to get better. Don't get mad at each other."
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