Thoughts From A Player

A lot of times during the summer when I visit buddies I grew up with in my hometown Billerica, MA the guys ask me why I'm still playing; why am I still "living the dream". What's funny to me is I never have a straight answer for them without laughing first. The sport of hockey is instilled in me and like you hear from many people, it's part of me. I honestly can't remember my life without hockey in it so for me it isn't even a question to keep playing or not. The longer I've played the game the more sacrifices I've had to make to be successful and there have been some tough decisions made. What has really helped me is that at a very young age I learned that it wasn't going to be all smooth sailing throughout my hockey career.

It's easy for a kid at 15 years old to quit hockey when he gets cut from a team that he really wanted to make, maybe all his friends are on the team and he doesn't want to be looked at as the kid who is stuck on the B team. I failed a couple times in high school I wasn't a regular varsity contributor until my junior year and it was a really hard pill to swallow, but with the support of my parents Shawn and Michelle I pushed through it and learned about adversity.

I think those early lessons of failure in this game are what keeps me so motivated these days, just knowing that with some extra work anything is possible. But that extra work entails what is referred to as the "IT" factor. A ton of guys have it and most of them use it and the guys who use it are usually the most successful. So I guess looking back to the question I am so often asked about why I'm still playing is because I have fun working hard for small pay, knowing that someone, somewhere might see me and I'll get my chance to shine at a higher level. Guys in the low minors (the EPHL, SPHL, CHL and ECHL) all play the game because they love to play and never know when they might get their big break.