Hockey Ladder

Growing up I played for the same organization for the better part of 6 years, we had the same same coaches and the same core group of guys for every year. In the winter we were known as the '84 Merrimack Valley Cardinals, we played in the best amateur league in New England at the time against the top talent from all over, at least two guys from every team went on to play Division 1 and some have gone on to play pro. In the summer we were known as the '84 New England Generals and traveled all over the East playing in AAA tourneys. We played against guys like Marc Andre Fleury, Rick Nash, Eric Stall, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and numerous other guys who went on to the NHL.

Our head coach always talked about the "Hockey Ladder" saying that when we started in mites there was a large base of players and each year we moved up the ladder more and more players fell off. He said by the time one or two if any of us reached the top of the ladder no one else in the locker room would be playing hockey anymore. It wasn't an insult to anyone, it was simply the truth. Pee-wees and Bantams saw guys fall off, then midgets and high school came and more and more guys quit. Finally in juniors you looked around the rosters and only saw 3 or 4 of your former teammates. Now from looking at that old rosters of the core guys, not the fill in guys for a tournament here and there, there are only two guys still playing. Myself and my good buddy Paul D'Agostino, who after two years in Division 1 Hockey East decided to turn pro and is now playing university hockey up in Canada. Looking around the league and the players I only see maybe 5 or 10 guys still playing hockey at a pro or collegiate level.

It was something that we never really thought of as kids, that someday everyone would jump off that ladder and leave only a few guys left. It's crazy to think Dags and myself are the two guys still playing at high levels. I remember the knee hockey and street hockey games between the two of us always dreaming of playing pro hockey. And we may not be in the NHL, but we still have received paychecks for playing a kids game. To think of all the guys who were better than us at 12 and again at 15 who aren't playing anywhere now brings back alot of memories and makes us feel like we actually accomplished something. Whether this is our last season or we play another 5 years, I know we'll walk away happy knowing we went as far as we could and were lucky enough to play professional hockey (the dream of every kid).

Season is Almost Here

Waking up this morning around 7:30am, I could feel the chill in the room for the first time this fall. Walking outside I was smacked in the face with cold rain drops, it was the type of morning that makes everyone want to stay in bed forever. The first time that cold, damp air hits you; you realize that the nice sunny days of the hot summer are behind us and the hockey season is here. Waking up in Boston, the titletown of America, sports fans expect teams to win. The Red Sox aren't in the World Series, the Patriots are struggling without Tom Brady and I'm not much of an NBA follower so I don't really care that the Celtics won it all last year. So the attention for me has turned to the Bruins, they're full of young talent and should go deep into the playoffs. They lost the last two nights in a row in shootouts against the Penguins and the Sabres. I could have gone to their home opener against Pittsburgh two nights ago but the tickets were offered too late. Nothing is better than going into Boston for a Bruins or Sox game, both teams play right in the city and the crowd around the arena and ballpark on game nights is electric.

In other news, the U-18 midget team is finally back on the right track. We won the both games we played this past weekend against two very solid teams. Saturday night we beat the District 10 Bulldogs, who won our league and went to nationals last season, 6-3. On Sunday we defeated the Cape Cod Whalers 3-1, the Whale won our league and went to nationals two seasons ago. Hopefully things will continue on the up and up this weekend and we should crawl back up the national rankings this week.

All things considered everything is going pretty good. I'm still searching for a new car, but have some leads. With Battle Creek starting up in about 2 weeks the excitement is building. It's fun to get back into the swing of things, I can't believe I'm being looked at as a "veteran" now. Seems like just the other day I went to my first pro camp as the wide eyed rookie who didn't know what to expect. I went to camp thinking I had it all under control, but it took a couple of years to learn what pro hockey was all about. There's a mental preparation that comes with the game that you have to see to understand. Being able to bring it everyday at a high level is tough, but something you learn from the vets, it's just nice to think I'm finally one of the vets now.

The Future

After a couple weeks of searching around and talking to some teams, I have found myself a new home for the upcoming season. Again. It's funny to think that before a season even starts this is my third team of the year. The Battle Creek Revolution of the All American Hockey Association is my newest adventure. I'm really hoping that this is the real deal and everything works out with the Revolution, their coach Matt Wiedenhoeft is extremely upbeat and optimistic about the season. I actually should thank Brendan Tedstone for putting Matt in touch with me after everything fell apart with the Copper City Chiefs, Teddy gave me a very good recommendation and got the ball rolling as far as negotiations between myself and Battle Creek.

According to wikipedia.org, Battle Creek, Michigan is known as the "cereal city" due to the fact that the Kellogg world headquarters were founded there back in 1906. It looks like a decent size city located in southern Michigan. From what I've heard and what it looks like on the message boards, the people around the area cannot wait for the team to come to town and get everything underway. After everything that I've been thru the past couple weeks I'm just happy to find a new home for my career. And November 3rd cannot come soon enough to put everything behind me and get the season going.

I was thinking the other day and was trying to figure out how many places and how many miles I've put under my belt in my 3 years of pro hockey to date. From my old home in Dunstable, MA to Danbury, CT (Danbury Trashers) in '05. Then a trip from Dunstable, MA to Broomfield, CO (Rocky Mountain Rage) to Knoxville, TN (Knoxville Ice Bears) back to Dunstable in '06. Then numerous trips from Dunstable to Danbury to play in the NEHL in '06/'07 and from Danbury to Findlay, OH . Then from Reading, MA to Amarillo, TX (Amarillo Gorillas) back to Reading, by way of a bus, to kickstart the '07/'08 season. Reading to Knoxville again this time for the regular season, Knoxville to Jacksonville, FL back to Knox then back to Reading all within a week timeframe. And to cap off the '07/'08 season from Reading down to Oaks, PA (Valley Forge Freedom). I did the math on mapquest and came up with the number of 13,123 miles in just 3 years of pro hockey.

It's been a heck of a trip so far and to be honest I'm excited about putting more miles underneath me this season. Hopefully with a few call ups and more miles added to a new car that I will be getting this week.

What Drives You?

Everyday people strive to become better at what they do, whatever it is people want to be better at it. The people at the highest level of their profession got there somehow and it wasn't thru hoping to get there or wishing they were better than the competition. Thinking about this at the gym last week while riding the bike I looked around at everyone who works out at the Bally's in Woburn that I frequent. These people are everyday common people, construction workers to doctors; lawyers to probation officers. What drives them? Is it the next big promotion at work that drives them to get up every morning? Or maybe they want a shiny new car or build a new house. I'm pretty sure almost everyone in this country wants something bigger or better than what they already have. It's how we're conditioned to think, we're lucky enough to have the things we have, but we always want more.

I can't say that I've never settled for something, because I know that I have and I regret the few things that I settled for when I was younger. The list is long and I can't help but think that people 20,30 and 40 years older than me have lists a mile long, some people have made adjustments and that is why they keep pushing thru where they're at in their lives and driving towards the next big thing. But I'm still wondering what drives people. I know what drives me, my dream is what drives me. My dream to keep playing professional hockey.

Injuries, Rehab and Teamless....

What's up everyone? It's been a hectic 8 days for me, but first I want to send out a thank you again on behalf of myself and Joe Lyle to all of you who have wished us a speedy recovery. I've made giant strides since the accident physically, even though I am still without a car (which is driving me CRAZY). Since last Monday I have seen my chiropractor six times and I think he might be a magician, he has restored full range of motion in my neck and about 90% of it in my lower back. We haven't taken new x-rays yet, I assume we'll take those later this week or early next week to see how my spine is doing in the re-alignment process. Last Friday I was given the O.K. to start working out and skating again at about 50% and to be honest with you I jumped all over the chance. Most of the time when October comes, as a player you're so sick of the gym that you have to drag your butt into the facility, but for me I knew last Tuesday how lucky I was to just be walking and wanted to start rehabbing right away. Unfortunately I had to let nature and Dr. Leahy take its course on my injuries, so as soon as I got the green light Friday morning I headed right to the gym and was on the ice later that night.

It was weird being so hesitant on the ice and in the gym, all summer I was going 100% everyday and now just lifting half the weight I was 10 days ago is a bit of a struggle. I was hesitant because I'm a little scared to re-injure anything and be stuck on the shelf even longer. But as long as I am going at the pace I was told to go at everything should be ok. Luckily I went to see Dr. Leahy over at Everett Chiropractic right after the accident and didn't build up any scar tissue in my back, which would have taken twice as long to recover from. I am nowhere near 100% yet but everyday I feel better and am making strides to a full recovery.

As for Joe, he just started seeing a chiropractor back home in Rutland, VT and is looking at a 4-6 week recovery time frame. We talk just about everyday and thank god he is feeling better everyday also. His spot in Brooklyn with the Aces is secure and he was told by their head coach to take the time he needs to recover and everything will be all set for him when he is ready. He says it everytime we're on the phone how lucky we are to even be able to walk let alone get to play professional hockey again.

As for the hockey part, everyone has heard the news about the Copper City Chiefs folding and all that good stuff surrounding the EPHL. The recent news leaves me teamless in October for the first time in my career. I have talked to a couple teams around different leagues and I am currently weighing my options to see what would be the best fit for me as a player. I really don't know which way I am leaning yet and hopefully I will have everything figured out in the next couple days so I can let all of you know where I will be starting the season.

In other news, I have spent the past two falls coaching a midget team made up of the best prep school players in the area, the Neponset Valley River Rats U18 team. We play in the Mass Tier 1 Select League and every year compete for a spot at the National Championships. This year we have a very strong team and have a very good chance to win the state championship and head to Nationals in April. We have numerous kids already committed to colleges like BC, Michigan, BU and others being looked at by big name schools. Currently we are 9-3-1 overall and 5-0-1 in our league. As of last Friday we were ranked 6th in the country, but our boys went 0-1-1 this weekend so that will hurt our ranking. It's great to coach young kids with so much talent and it wouldn't be totally unexpected if we have 3 or 4 guys drafted in the upcoming NHL draft.

Again thanks for all the support and keep checking back for more updates later in the week.

For anyone in the Mass area if you ever need a good chiropractor I strongly suggest going over the Everett Chiropractic and Dr. Brian Leahy. He is simply put unreal and knows exactly what to do. Here is their website www.wewatchyourback.com