Two, I was going to seriously consider what I wanted to do after hockey. I was lucky I played when I did because I wouldn’t have had a chance in today’s game. I looked at my skill set and thought my best chance was to show a willingness to fight and stand up for teammates - so that’s what I did. In my opinion those players all had one thing they were great at: Some were great on draws, others were great penalty killers and some were willing to fight anyone. I looked at guys in the league who played a similar role to what I thought I could play and tried to figure out what differentiated them from guys like me who weren’t getting a chance. One, I was going to do everything in my power to reach the NHL. Knowing I was going into the final year of my entry-level deal, I set two goals for myself. While playing in Finland - which, in the end, was quite an experience both on and off the ice - I had a good amount of time to think about my future. Instead, I ended up on another continent. I had thought that this was going to be the year I made my first appearance on NHL ice. It’s a city in Finland, which is where I played for the professional team, Porin Ässät. Those thoughts quickly changed, though, because I then moved to a place called Pori. Next year will be better and I’ll make my dream of playing in the NHL a reality. I remember thinking, It’s only my first year, I learned a lot and need to grind a little bit. Now, Boise’s a great city, but it wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned for my first year of professional hockey. But I also got sent down to the East Coast Hockey League to play for the Idaho Steelheads. I spent the majority of my first year playing for the Iowa Stars, Dallas’s AHL affiliate. Well, my time in the minors didn’t go exactly as planned. Maybe I was young and naïve, but I didn’t think it would take me too long. There was no doubt that I had some flaws in my game that I needed to fix before I was ready for the NHL (most notably, my speed). I was going to have to spend some time in the minors. And in ’05 I signed a three-year, entry-level contract with them.īut before I could get too excited, I knew that I was going to have to pay my dues. In ’03 - two years after I joined the Colts - the Dallas Stars drafted me. As 2001 progressed, I proved that I was capable of competing with the best talent in the league. I was starting to think that my dream of making it to the NHL was a realistic one. But in my mind, I didn’t have to worry too much about school. I was only one play or injury away from my journey to the NHL getting cut short. Deep down, I knew I should be spending more time on education. Rather, pursuing an NHL career was at the heart of everything I did. While in the OHL, I finished high school and started taking some university courses. I took my father’s advice, but only to an extent. He knew the importance of having something to move on to. I appreciated his input because my father’s hockey career ended when he was 28. During my time in the OHL, he would implore me to focus on my schooling, knowing full well that hockey would be over someday, whether I wanted it to or not. What you are going to do when hockey comes to an end is the last thing on your mind. When you’re in the OHL at 16, 17 or 18 years old, you’re living away from home and finishing up high school.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |