Glad to be home

To say that we are disappointed with how our road trip to Texas went would be an understatement. We were prepared and knew that the games were going to be tough but unfortunately came back empty handed. We didn't execute the game plan and let a couple minutes of bad hockey lose us the two games. I always hate losing, especially when you have a week to think about it. I have been in a salty mood the past couple of days just thinking about it. It was good to have practice this morning so we could finally turn the page and move our thinking toward this weekend. We have played well in Wilkes-Barre so far this year and then we have two home games before the Christmas break. Our goal this week is to refocus and get back to Bear's hockey. It seems like the injuries in Washington are starting to get to a more normal level so there is the possibility of getting some more players back, but you never know. Also some potential great news is that Dean Arsene is skating again 100% in practice and if all goes well will try to get into a game this weekend. You probably have heard that Kip Brennan has signed with the team too. He was at practice this morning, but he couldn't get on the ice until he cleared waivers, which he did. I have never played with Kip, only against him, and can attest that he is one of the toughest men in this or any league. I look forward to seeing what he can do this year (hopefully some more of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsom40270ss wow) Anyway, I have to finish up my Xmas shopping it is crazy that it is almost here!

11 in a row!

For those of you who have been living under a rock or in a coma for the last 3 weeks, the 3-0 victory over Norfolk on Sunday gave us 11 wins in a row. No team in the long history of the Hershey Bears has won 11 regular season games in row before. It may sound like a cliche but this streak definitely would not have been possible without the whole team contributing and then some. We have lost a lot of players to Washington and our own injuries and the players that have come up to fill those rolls have done a fantastic job. People were saying before the season that there was a lot of organizational depth here this year, but few would have expected this much. In my opinion there are a lot of great players in the East Coast League that can and will be great players in the AHL, all they need is someone to give them an opportunity to prove it. The players that have been called up for us the past couple of weeks are making the most of this opportunity and trust me people will notice.
It also is impressive how the guys that have been placed in more prominent roles due to the injuries have elevated their games. Greg Amadio is one example of this. I have not played with Greg for very long but I can guess that he is pretty much at the top of his game. He has been our best player for the last 3 weeks and embodies the selfless, physical style of play that has allowed us to win. I saw him dive in front of a shot and block it with his head, his HEAD! The man is an animal and I am so glad that he is on our team. P-Mac (Patrick McNeill) has also been playing with a lot more confidence and poise.
As good as the past 3 weeks have been we need to put it behind us and worry about Thursday night in San Antone. Now some people may think that we should be able to sleep walk over the Rampage but I assure you this will not be the case. There are no nights off in this league. Anyone can beat anyone on any given night and you need to bring 100% to be successful. San Antone had been struggling a week ago but they have won 3 in a row now, two of which were against Manitoba, the best team in the West. Coach Boudreau always said that winning streaks usually follow losing streaks so we will need to keep playing with the same grit and determination that we have been if we want to keep winning. I have no doubt that the tone in practice tomorrow will be serious and focused, Coach Woods will not let us be satisfied.
Moving in a completly different direction, I can't believe that it is almost Christmas! The season has gone by so quickly it seems. Things do seem to slow down though after the holidays and when we get into the dog days of the season in January and February. It will be nice to get some warm weather down in Texas before then!

p.s. I just wanted to thank everybody that has ordered from my wife's website BellaMink.com! She has been very busy the past couple of weeks and appreciates your business!

Catch Up Time..

It's been almost a month since my last post and a lot has happened over that time. We went through a little bit of a slump in early November and lately we seem to be pulling out of it. We got away from the doing the little things right that enabled us to have all the early season success. The struggle has definitely made us a stronger team today. The important thing for us, and any team for that matter, is to not get too high with the highs or too low with the lows. Maintaining an even keel and continuing to improve are important to having success in the regular season and the payoffs. After coming off 3 straight victories last weekend I am excited to see how we will fare at Philly tomorrow and home against Bridgeport on Saturday. We owe Bridgeport some payback after the loss we took at their place last week and it will be a great game between two good teams.
As most of you probably know our General Manager, Doug Yingst had an accident a short while back. I can report that he is doing fine and is back to work at the Giant Center this week. It is impressive how tough and determined he is to be at work and leading this team in the right direction. Most of us would probably still be on the couch at home if we were in the same position he is in. It definitely does not go unnoticed by the players or Bears staff and is an inspiration.
A couple of other notes on things I want to touch on that I have missed the last month. Congrats to John Walton for having the strength and will power to tackle a marathon. That is something I am pretty sure I could never do. I saw him this morning and he is determined to get it done and I am sure that he will. I want to plug Tim Leone's new book that he is writing with Bruce Boudreau. It won't be out until next year but it is definitely going to be on my bookshelf when it comes out. I will try and post more often, the last couple weeks have been hectic, first with all the travel, then we had family visit on top of all of the games. Also my wife has started her own hand made jewelry business and she had been very busy so far and the feedback has been wonderful. I have been helping her out with her website and if you are interested you can check it out at BellaMink.com. Talk to you next week!

Week 2

Week 2 continued the roll that we started out on. We played in Philly on Friday and the game seemed to take forever. There were a ton of penalties called and there was just no flow to the game. Despite being shorthanded for an entire period we managed to outshoot the Phantoms and come away with a win. Watching Dean Arsene get the Gordie Howe and the GWG is one of my highlights of this young season. Having gone through the same surgery Dean has and dealing with all the BS that comes with it I was happy to see him back to his old self again.

The home opener on Saturday was a lot of fun and a very intense game. Even though we won by a good margin the game didn't feel like a 7-1 victory. Syracuse is a good team that is very well coached and they never quit. I am sure that when we head up to their barn later this season it is going to be another intense game and much closer on the score board. G-Mac set the tone right off taking on Meatball Mirasty in a lonnnnnngggggg bout. It made me tired just watching the two of them go. It got the boys pretty fired up and it carried over to the score sheet. It was great to be back at the Giant Center playing for the good guys this time and the crowd was loud and raucous as always.

Sunday saw us suffer the first defeat of the year. Unfortunately we weren't able to go 80-0, I guess we just have to try for 79-1. Seriously though the Penguins were ready for us and wanted to exact some revenge for us beating them in their home opener. We dug ourselves a hole early, pulled out of it, then dug another one at the end of the second. We simply didn't have enough gas in the tank to rally again in third. It is only one loss and we will use it as a learning experience moving forward. We get to play those guys 8 more times so I am sure that we will get them when they are on the back end of a 3 in 3. This weekend we have two more home games before heading off on the road for our first 4 in 5. Binghamton has had a great start so far and will be a good test on Saturday. Hopefully we can put together a solid 60 minutes and come out on top.

A good start

Looking back on the first week of the season I can definitely say that we are off to a good start. Having 4 games on the road to start is a good test for any team and coming home 3 for 3 is all you can ask for as a player. Playing the season opener in Wilkes-Barre, when they are raising their Eastern Conference Championship banner from the year before was a nerve racking experience. First off home openers are a pain because you have to warm up and then sit in the locker room for 30 minutes while all the pregame festivities take place. When we were in the room we just kept telling each other to stay focused and mentally prepared. Coiners goal 96 seconds in was by far the most important of the game. It quieted the crowd and gave us a lot of confidence. We carried this confidence over to the power play and it was the main reason why we won the game.

Playing with Aucoin and Giroux has been great so far and I am privileged to be on their line. They are both tremendous players that have great vision of the ice and we have some good chemistry going so far. Hopefully we can continue to create scoring chances both 5 on 5 and on the power play. If we play to our potential I think we all will have very good years and be playing until June, which is the only thing that matters.

The thing that has impressed me the most so far with our team has been how the entire team contributes every night. Every player came to play all 3 nights and it was this depth and commitment from all 20 guys on the ice that got us the 6 points. The Rook line, made up of two Frenchies and a Finn, was fun to watch and they played like seasoned pros. The LBJ line of Laing, Beagle, and Joudrey gave us three great starts and provided momentum for the team with big shifts when we needed them most. Then you have Wilson, Bourquie and Gordo together. Three players that could score 30 goals each. The defence was solid and I was impressed with how well that they came out of the zone and made the ever important first pass. As long as we continue to get contributions from all 4 lines our team will be tough to beat. Inevitably the lineup will change and we have plenty of good players waiting for their turn to help out the team any way that they can. It is going to be an exciting year and so far we are off to a good start.

One Crazy Week

Tonight was the Season Ticket Holder pick up night along with the Booster Club introduction dinner. I would say that it was a great end to a long week but there are two preseason games left to play Friday and Saturday! It was really nice to see all the fans and I can't tell you how many people welcomed me back to Hershey. Not that I forgot but it was a reminder of how special this community is and how close the fans are with this team. I am truly lucky to be able to play hockey in an area that cares so much for its team.
Besides "Welcome back" the phrase I heard the most was "How come you haven't updated your blog?" and I do have a legitimate excuse! The last week has been really hectic for me! Last Friday I was sent down from Washington and the time started flying by. I drove to Hershey that day for a meeting Friday night. Saturday morning I had practice at Hershey Park Arena (I love that place!) then I was in the car and driving back to Vermont to get all my stuff. (Furniture, clothes, video games, kitchen & bath stuff, and my dog!) It tool my wife and I 9 1/2 hours to get there. We woke Sunday morning and picked up a 17' Uhaul with a vehicle transport trailer so we could save gas and mileage on the way back. After 3 hours of loading up the van we drove to Binghamton, NY to stay with Cristina's parents. It took us 9 1/2 hours just to get there! (It normally takes 5 1/2) We had a GPS that we borrowed from Cristina's parents and it said we averaged 41.6 mph! It was different driving on the highway and having cars and trucks blow past you at 70. It was a lot less stressful, I think I should try driving slower from now on. Monday morning we woke up and finished the drive to Hershey and it took 5 more hours. We signed our lease and got the keys to our apartment and started to move everything in. It took us about 5 hours to get everything up the flight of stairs and the Mayor himself was kind enough to come over and give us a hand with the heavy stuff. ( I good sign that he is feeling MUCH better and is ready for a 100 game season!). Tuesday & Wednesday mornings brought more practice then the afternoons were spent unpacking all of our stuff. We are about 95% done now. Today we had practice again and then the season ticket event I wrote about a few minutes ago. It is now 10pm and I am focusing on tomorrow night when I play against Wilkes-Barre. Usually Veteran players don't play back to back preseason games but I hope to get into both this weekend so that I can get my timing back. I have only played 1 game in the last 5 3/4 months and the season is starting on Wednesday. Without getting into too much detail tonight I just would like everyone to know that after practicing a couple days with the guys here I am VERY excited to see what this team is capable of. I have a feeling that it is going to be a great year!

Training Camp Begins

This morning the 08/09 hockey season officially began. Day one consists of a lot of paperwork and protocol and some strength testing in the gym. Everyone was split into 3 teams and told to arrive at separate times, in order to keep the lines down. For the players that were not here last week physicals were done first thing. They are required in order to make sure that you are healthy and fit enough to start the season. After the physicals there were pictures and video to take that they use in the team media and up on the scoreboard during and after games. It feels weird when they tell you how to stand and where to look but it looks cool once they add in background and all the effects. Then it was down to the weight room to go through the 8 strength and flexibility testing stations. They test things like height, weight, body fat, vertical, flexibility, core, upper and lower body strength. Once that was done all players fill out their tax and immigration paperwork. All together it took about 5 hours, and they provided an excellent lunch at the end for everyone involved. Tomorrow we get started with a practice. If it is anything like the first day that the rookies had last week it will be very difficult.

For those of you who have not seen the Caps new practice facility it is first class all the way. Two rinks give plenty of room and one of the rinks has enough seating for a couple hundred to watch a game. The locker room set up is the nicest I have ever seen and is perfectly set up.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch the Caps rookies play the Flyers rookies and it was quite a game for the Caps. They played very well and were relentless on the puck for the entire game. Their speed and aggressive play forced the Flyers to take a number of penalties and the power play was clicking. All 3 goaltenders were excellent and the line of Bouchard, Pinizotto, and Perrault were fun to watch and dominant. It was nice to watch an actual game with systems and most importantly contact. Adding contact is what makes it a hockey game and it looked very different from the shinny hockey that I have been playing since last April.

Tonight we have a team dinner at 6pm to go over the club's rules and expectations for the year. There is a lot of enthusiasm and positive energy coming from everybody right now and I am excited to finally get started!

The Mayor Cometh

This morning I had just left the gym and was heading home for lunch when my phone rang and guess who it was, the Mayor. Yes, the one and only Dean Arsene phoned me as he was driving through Iowa towards Hershey, PA. He expected his ETA to be sometime tomorrow afternoon so the parade should be sometime Friday morning. Unfortunately I will be unable to attend, but I am sure that the tickertape and crowd support will be nothing short of breathtaking. Hopefully I will be able to tune into John Walton's call of the event, perhaps on Penn Live's internet stream. I won't get into details of the conversation with Dean but needless to say we are both excited that the summer is finally over and that we get to be productive members of society again. (If you can call playing hockey productive!) I hope Deano doesn't tire himself out for training camp this weekend kissing too many hands or shaking too many babies...

End of Summer

It has been a while since my last post. Mostly due to the fact that I am trying to tie up all the loose ends that are out there before I leave for the winter. My training intensity has also picked up considerably. A couple of people have written me and asked what the average summer day is like for me. It starts at about 7:45am with me getting up and making breakfast for myself. I need to eat an hour before I train in order to allow everything to settle in. I am at the gym at 9:00am and I am there for about two hours training. What I do in the gym depends on at what point in the summer I am at. Periodization is big these days in making sure you continue to improve without peaking too early or too late. Generally though my workouts consist of weight training, agility training, and conditioning. I like to bike early in the summer and not skate at all until mid-June. The pro season is long and taking a couple months off from skating allows my body to heal up and prepare for the next season. Once June rolls around I start skating lightly, maybe once or twice a week and this increases in intensity until I am skating 5-6 days a week in September. After I work out in the morning I eat lunch and rest for a couple hours until I get on the ice in the mid afternoon, usually around 3 or 4pm. After a good skate I have dinner, relax with my wife and dog and get ready to do it again the next day.

The next couple of weeks will be really hectic for me so I won't be posting much, if at all. Once training camp starts I will have time in the afternoons to fill you in on how camp is going and the types of things that we are doing. My goal is to keep this blog updated constantly throughout the season to keep everyone that is interested informed. Enjoy the next couple of weeks because summer is quickly ending and hockey season will be here before we know it!

The Big Swede

Today I had the privilege of skating with a good friend of mine that some of you may know, Martin Wilde. I played with Marty at UVM for 3 years and in Hershey when we won the championship in '06. I also had the displeasure of having to play against him for several years when he was with Providence. For the people that haven't had a chance to meet Marty he is truly a great guy. After the Championship year in Hershey he went overseas to play in Cortina, Italy. His team won the championship that year as well and Martin decided to retire and pursue a career in business.

He also has started his own company called V:King. V:King is a Swedish lawn game that Wilde has played his whole life and it is really popular in Sweden. I have played the game several times and it is a blast! His company is manufacturing and distributing the game over here in the States. You can check it out at playVking.com.

After a year off he was coaxed out of retirement by Cortina and he will be playing there this season with another friend of mine and former bear Mike Souza. Marty also told me today that Cortina signed Louis Robitaille for the year. I haven't spoke to Louis but I want to wish him, Mike and Marty the best of luck for the upcoming season.

USA! USA! USA!

Nothing gets me feeling more patriotic than watching the Olympics every couple of years. This years games have been pretty exciting if you are an American. The emergence of China as an athletic and world power has given the USA an adversary that has been largely missing since the fall of Communism in Russia. Every day I find myself checking the Medal Counts and hoping we can hold them off.

Being an athlete myself I get pretty fired up watching these athletes compete. They dedicate their entire lives for a few moments of competition that will decide who is the best in the world. Only one can be the champion and all but three will leave empty handed. You can't help but be inspired by the hard work and dedication. I never thought I would jump out of my seat for a swimming event but that is what happened when Lezak had the swim of his life to beat out the trash talking Frenchies in the 4x100 relay. It's stories like these that make the games so entertaining. Watching Phelps dominate his events and chase history has been very entertaining as well. He is a freak of nature and an elite competitor. I am looking forward to the track and field events and seeing the USA Men's Basketball team reclaim the USA's spot as the best in the world. GO USA!

AHL Schedule Released

Today the American Hockey League released the schedule for the upcoming 08/09 season. This is pretty much the last major news of the summer. It always takes forever for the AHL to release its schedule due to the fact that they have to wait for the NBA to finalize theirs first. Having played for 7 years in the AHL I must say that this years schedule for the Bears is the best I have ever seen.

The first thing that I look for when I look at a schedule are extended road trips and large groups of games away. The longest that the Bears go on the road this year is 5 games in a row. I can remember at least one road trip for every season that I have played that is at least 7 or 8 games. The largest concentration of road games happens to be in the first 16 games of the season, where the Bears play 11 on the road. Considering this happens in the first 16 games of the year the team will be fresh and have plenty of energy to battle early on. Nothing is harder than going on an extended road trip in February or March where every point becomes so important. That being said it is going to be important to be focused early so that too deep a hole isn’t dug.

The second thing that I look at are the number of 3 in 3's and 4 in 5's. (For those that don't know this means 3 games in 3 nights and 4 games in 5 nights.) Due to the smaller markets of the AHL in order for teams to maximize profits they must load up games on the weekends. What the players end up experiencing is sometimes the equivalent of a hockey marathon. I have heard from players in the NHL that their schedule can be pretty grueling as well, playing every couple of days you never get a whole week to recover. It definitely would be different, hopefully this year I will be able to experience it first hand! But from the hockey that I have played 4 in 5's can destroy a teams energy levels especially if there are multiple sets of them. Last year in Worcester we had back to back to back 4 in 5's in March and it pretty much buried us for the season. The amount of emotional and physical energy they require is hard to describe. You just give everything you have for every shift and worry about tomorrow's game when you get there. Most of the time when teams have a rough road schedule or lots of games at once it catches up to them a week or so down the line. Hershey this year has seven 3 in 3's and six 4 in 5's. I haven't checked but I am willing to bet this is in the bottom 20% of the league.

Looking a little deeper into the schedule reveals a couple interesting spots. I noticed that Philly is on the schedule 6 times in the month of November, 6 times! If I were trying to decide which games to buy tickets for early on in the season I would definitely get ones for games 4, 5 and 6 in November. When teams play each other that many times in a short period blood starts to boil and it becomes more like the best kind of hockey, playoff hockey. November 14th, 15th and 21st look like they could get pretty intense and, er, um physical, for those of you that are into that sort of hockey. The road trip to Texas is always fun, especially when there are not a ton of games jammed around them. The New Year's swing through New England is a good time to have it as well.

From top to bottom the Bear's schedule is very well balanced. The halfway point from a number of days perspective is January 8th, and the Bears play their 40th game on the 10th. The 1/4 pole is November 23rd with the 20th game played the 22nd. Likewise the 3/4 pole is February 25th and the 60th game is on the 27th. 12 of the first 20 games are on the road. 9 0f the next 20, 9 of the 20 after that, and finally 10 of the final 20 games. This is very well balanced.

In the grand scheme of things the way the schedule is laid out makes very little difference. I have never heard of a team winning a championship and someone saying, “Oh, it’s because they had an easy schedule.” It matters more how your team gels, how they handle adversity, and how lucky they get. Once the puck drops on the season it is one play, one shift, one period, one game at a time. Every point counts and no one will know whose season was the best until it is too late. The champion will be crowned and with the benefit of hindsight people can analyze and over analyze their teams respective seasons. No professional hockey schedule is "easy", including the Bear's for 08/09. There will be ups and downs and times where it feels like there are not enough games and times that it will feel like too many. There are 29 teams that each play 80 games over the course of 187 days. All to just earn the right to be at zero wins and zero losses on April 13th and have a chance to have a season they will never forget. But hey, it is August and we all need something to feed our hockey hungry minds!!!

August Already!?!?!

Hello again everyone! It has been a while since my last post due to the fact that my computer is still messed up. I won't get into it but it should be fixed by next weekend. I decided to hop onto my friends computer and check my email. I was surprised to find so many emails and comments from everyone on/about my blog. Once again I want to thank everyone for visiting my site and your kind words/comments. I have a lot of emails so it will take me a while to get through all of them. I will try to address as many questions as I can. Once my computer is up and running again I will be more active. My goal is to have at least two posts per week, maybe more.

In many ways I cannot wait for the summer to be over and the season to start. This year is going to be a great one and I get goosebumps anticipating what is in store. In other ways I love the summer and wish it would last a lot longer. I feel like we just got back to Vermont and got settled and now we will be getting ready to leave in 6 weeks! When people ask me what the worst part about being a pro hockey player is I always tell them that there are two things that really stink. Number one being the injuries and number two being the constant moving.

Injuries are by far the hardest part of the game that I have had to deal with. I can't speak for all players but if you ask them they will probably tell you the same. The pain from the injury is not the worst part. The worst part is the rehab process and watching and waiting to get back in the lineup. When you are hurt you feel worthless and weak. I get very antsy and impatient when I am injured. You have to be careful though because coming back too soon can set you back even further. Well, that's enough about injuries, hopefully I won't have to address them ever again. I have already knocked on wood 4 times while writing this!

While it may seem fun and adventurous constantly moving around is a real pain. Imagine if you had to pack up everything you owned, load up a truck, drive to a new place, find a house/apartment, unload a truck, then unpack everything you own, TWICE A YEAR! I don't know how the guys that I play with that have kids do it. Well actually I do know how, they have wonderful, caring, and supportive wives. Behind every great professional athlete with a family, there is an even greater wife that makes a lot of sacrifices for her husband to be able to do what he does. Uprooting yourself and your family before and after every season is no easy task. When you just start to get into a routine and get comfortable it's time to move.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about being paid to play a sport that I love. I would do this for the rest of my life if I could. People have just asked me what the hard parts of the job are so I am telling you. By no means am I looking for any sympathy. I hope that this gives you a little more insight into what we do and how things look from my point of view. For now make sure you get out and enjoy the rest of the summer, it is AUGUST ALREADY!!!

Nightmare on Elmore Street...

Some bad news... Last night we had a pretty violent lightning storm. I can't recall having experienced one that severe before. As I was laying on my couch playing Wii a large bolt hit probably a mile from my house. I glanced over at my wife, who was on her computer and said "Dear, you may want to unplug your computer in case something happens." No more than two minutes after I said this a HUGE bolt struck maybe 200 yards from our house. The whole house shook, my dog jumped 3 feet in the air (so did I, but don't tell anyone) and the power went out. Five seconds later it came back on. I immediately unplugged all of my electronics. Thankfully all of them were plugged into surge protectors. The storm past and I thought all was well. Until about an hour ago when I went over to my computer to sign on and check my email, the new blog etc. and I got that infamous blue screen... uh oh. I looked under my desk and saw that I had left my computer plugged in last night, unprotected. I wasn't concerned the night before thinking that as long as it was turned off I was ok, WRONG. So to make a long story not quite so long my hard drive is FRIED. This afternoon I will be travelling to Burlington to get a new one. Yes I live in the sticks so if I want to buy anything besides gas and groceries I have to drive an hour. So while I am pulling my digital life back together I will be using my wife's computer to stay updated. If you don't hear from me for a couple of days, you know why.

Oh yeah, it is a nightmare on Elmore Street because that is the name on the street that we live on!

p.s. Thank you to everyone that has read and commented on my new blog!