Living the Dream

"Lookin back now, well it makes me laugh...

2010-06-14T15:01:00.002-04:00

We were growin' our hair, we were cuttin' class." lyrics from Kenny Chesney's "Keg in the Closet" song. I haven't sat down to blog in months, since I quit playing hockey. Since then a lot has changed. I took a big boy job with Cardinal Sports, met an awesome girl who I've been with for 6 months, and have a puppy now. I play here and there in Burlington, MA with a group of buddies from high school in a men's league. When I came home from Detroit I barely skated for 4 months, I ran skills clinics for the River Rats younger teams but rarely played in games. The summer league started in May and I still wasn't sure if I was going to have fun playing or not. But playing now for just laughs with the boys, is the most fun I've had in years.

I haven't been away from the game of hockey at all. Working with Cardinal really is a dream job. I've managed to stay in the game, network to get to know a ton of awesome people and I'm helping guys move on to the next level of their dream. It's a good feeling when one of your clients commits to a school where you know he's going to play and succeed. I've opened myself up to the point that when I walk into a rink people know who I am and want to talk to me about players.

I was watching "Kenny Chesney, The Summer in 3D" and at the end Chesney talks about how he is taking a break from performing and being on the road. He talks about how he started in little podunk towns and small bars for no money. Then he kept working and kept growing to become the biggest country music star in the world. It makes you think back to the days of playing Mite hockey and climbing the ladder. Playing your first pro game and scoring your first goal. All the way to the end of it, when you walk off that ice for the last time as a professional hockey player. You realize that you made your dream come true and you can close that chapter to move on to the next one.

My next chapter includes this new job and whatever else it brings with it. Hopefully it has many new and wonderful experiences.

And just like that...

2009-11-23T18:01:00.002-05:00

And just like that it's all over. As many of you know I went out to play for the Detroit Hitmen in the AAHL last week, arriving to town Wednesday morning. I flew from Boston and got into the Detroit airport at 10am, after a short drive to the arena I met my new teammates and was on the ice for practice by 11:30am. After practice I had a voicemail on my phone from Cardinal Sports Management offering me a full time job back home in Boston as head advisor for New England. Cardinal offers hockey players a service that will help the player move up the ranks from high school to prep school to juniors and college. It's a dream job for anyone who has ever been in the hockey world. A full time job as a scout and advisor, getting to go to the rink everyday and still be in the game of hockey. However, I had just gotten to Detroit and met the team. How could I tell them I was leaving after just one day?

After talking to my parents and some friends back home I called Matt Wiedenhoeft, who has become a close friend of mine over the past year and also my coach in Battle Creek and Detroit. I told him what the job, how it was a salary plus commission based job and that I didn't know what to do. He immediately told me that as a friend he was telling me to take the job, even though he knew how much I would help the team. So after a sleepless night and a practice Thursday morning I called Cardinal to accept the offer. Then I realized that this past weekend would be the last 3 games of my career.

We bussed down to Battle Creek Friday afternoon to play the Revolution that night. It was an awkward feeling walking back into The Rink as a visitor and not walking right into the Revs locker room. The feeling grew as warm ups began and I started seeing several familiar faces in the crowd. During the game it was business as usual, unfortunately we lost in a shootout, but I was credited with 2 assists in the game. We were spending the night in Battle Creek at the same hotel we stayed at during training camp last season and some of the girls I have become friend with came out for a few drinks after the game. I told them that this was my last weekend of hockey and we talked about last year and all the great memories from BC. Intern Kate, Haili, Leah and Misti thank you for being there to see me and have a great time.

The next day we traveled to Chicago to take on the Blaze and more familiar faces were waiting in their dressing room. Kevin Demers and Nigel Hawryliw from last years Battle Creek team are on the Blaze as is Joe Pace, who I played with in Amarillo a couple seasons ago in the Central Hockey League. We lost that game 8-6 after going up 3-1 and 4-3. It sucked because I missed the whole 3rd period with a broken steel on my skate and wasn't able to help out in the 3rd period.

After the game we stayed in town at Hotel Indigo and the next morning it was off to get my skate fixed then onto Chi-Town to play the Shooters. I loved playing there last year because of the olympic size ice sheet that gives you so much more time and space. Unfortunately we didn't come to play and ended up losing 9-2. But I did what I had set out to do and that was to play my ass off and leave nothing in the tank after my last professional game. And even though we lost I actually had fun out there again. I was so tired before the game with it being our 3rd in 3 nights that I didn't know if I was going to be able to have anything in my legs, but I played on pure adrenaline and didn't feel a thing. I played thru a slight separation in my left should that happened in the 2nd period. But there was no way I was telling anyone on the bench that I felt my shoulder pop out and pop back in when I hit a guy behind the net. I left it all out there. And I need to thank my teammates, especially Ryan Webb who told me to stay out on the ice for the last 2:31 of the game. When the final buzzer sounded I picked up the game puck and slowly, very slowly made my way to the locker room. I had a hard time holding it together in the locker room knowing it was the last time I would take off my jersey and skates in my career.

But thru it all I've had an amazing time and met some great people over the past 5 years of this journey. I want to thank Weezy for the past 2 years and guys like Charles Harvey and Brett Aimone who were teammates for the past 3 seasons. Other guys like Nigel and Joe Lyle. Scott McDougall, who got me into the coaching world and now the scouting world. All my buddies from back home in Billerica who have been there since clinic at the Hallenborg all the way thru our Super 8 run in 2002. And most importantly my mother, father and sister; without them I would never have made it this far and I can never thank them enough.

So it's been fun...Thank you all for reading and stay in touch.

It's been a hell of a ride!!!

Hutch-9

2009 Neponset Valley River Rats U18

2009-11-16T23:33:00.003-05:00

Well we went into the state playoffs with a 19-1-2 overall record and a 10-0-2 league record. We were ranked as high as #2 in the country in certain national polls. We have 6 players committed to Division 1 Colleges and 12 other players all fielding offers from D1 schools, at least 8 of them will join our 6 committed players soon. Our head coach accepted an offer to be an assistant coach at Division 1 Sacred Heart University starting tomorrow morning. We won the Massachusetts Hockey Labor Day Tournament. To say the season was a success would be a huge understatement. But we ended the season 20-3-2, going only 1-2 in the playoffs and not making the state final game. It just wasn't in the cards

It's disappointing not to win the big game or even make it to the big game. From the start of the season everyone in the state thought we would be playing again in April in the National tournament. But through it all, I got to coach 20 great hockey players and more importantly great kids. I saw the determination, the courage and passion these guys play with. They're not getting paid to play the game, their parents are actually paying for them to play. They show up every week, leaving their prep schools and some were driving 3 hours both ways to come play in front of 10-15 scouts a night, some games in the middle of nowhere Massachusetts. All for the chance to get that phone call and hear the offer of a Division 1 school offering them a scholarship to play hockey and get a free education.

It really put things in perspective for me. These kids play for the love of the game. They play because they want to have fun. They come to the rink with their buddies, share some laughs and play a game. When it's over they go their separate ways and remain friends forever. After we lost our last game of the season Saturday night I walked into the locker room to find some kids crying, some in disbelief and some just sitting there with blank looks on their faces. I was emotional talking to the team for the last time ever. I held it together long enough to say my words, shake everyone's hand and say goodbye. Some of those kids have been with our organization for 3 or 4 years and never went to nationals. And I've built friendships with those guys who have been there for so long. I played on a summer hockey team with Ryan Coffey who was a 4 year vet of the Rats, the kid was my linemate. I texted him Sunday morning to thank him for everything he has done for the Rats and he wrote back saying "I just love playing man, I love competing and I never wanna stop doing that. That's why I respect you and you are the best coach I have ever had." To hear a kid say something like that choked me up. To know that I have made a difference in these kids lives is an unbelievable feeling.

I was telling my dad how hard the guys competed and he said "So they were perfect." Which completely threw me for a loop since we lost. He reminded me of the Friday Night Lights line "Play with love in your hearts for the game and your teammates and you'll be perfect." How true is that line?

So now that I'm done with the sentimental talk I'll move on. Earlier I mentioned my buddy and head coach Scott will be coaching at Sacred Heart this season. What I didn't mention is that I have been named the new head coach of the U18 River Rats for next fall. When I was brought on as an assistant 3 years ago I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I coached to have fun with the guys and slowly grew into this role. I can't wait to be the head guy next fall and already promised Scott that if I do make it to Nationals next year I'll have a spot waiting for him at the celebration party.

So there it is, the final write up for the '09 Rats. Good luck to all of you boys who read this blog. I can't wait to watch you guys play in college and beyond. I wouldn't be surprised to see more than one of you in the NHL someday.

And it's onto Detroit for me on Wednesday morning to join the Hitmen. I can't wait to be part of the team and turn things around for them. Hopefully I'll be writing a blog in April about the AAHL champion Detroit Hitmen.

OH!! And how stupid am I to forget to mention that the Neponset Valley River Rats U16 midget team did what their elders could not. On Sunday morning in Foxboro the Rats were led by 15 year old goalie Jon Gillies to a state championship and punched their tickets to Chicago in April for the U16 National tournament!!! Great job boys! Hopefully some of you will be helping me win a state championship and national championship a year from now. Congrats to all of you and 1st year head coach, as well as a former player of mine Frank O'Connor!

The Roller Coaster Continues...

2009-11-08T20:08:00.002-05:00

Well it's been over a month since my last entry, so I'm sure I've lost a couple readers. But the write ups will be coming much more frequently as I will have plenty to write about for the rest of the season. I have decided to play again this season and will be suiting up for the Detroit Hitmen in the All American Hockey League. It's the same league I played in last year for Battle Creek and I will be playing for the same coach I played for last season as well. Matt Wiedenhoeft is behind the bench of the Hitmen and I am excited to get out there and start up the season. At the very latest I will in a Hitmen uniform by November 20th. I can't wait to get out there and play for Weezy again, as I have previously stated I loved playing for him last year and I'm sure this year will be no different.

The Hitmen have had a rough start to the season going 0-5-0, but are making changes to turn things around and be a winning hockey club by Christmas. When I arrive in Detroit I will be reunited with Charles Harvey and Brett Aimone, who I have played with the past 2 seasons both in Battle Creek and Valley Forge. I'll also see Brad Bohlinger again who was in Battle Creek for a bit with me last year also.

But before I get ahead of myself telling you how awesome it'll be in Detroit I cannot forget to mention how great of a season the Neponset Valley River Rats U18 team is having. At last update we were 12-0-1 and taking the country by storm. We finished our regular season this afternoon with a record of 19-1-2. By far the best season we have ever had. Myself and head coach Scott McDougall are very happy with what we have gotten out of this group. We've been tough on them this season, but only because we know what we can get out of them every night. Next weekend we will enter our state playoffs with a 10-0-2 record in the league and play a round robin style tournament against the top 4 teams in the Mass Select League. The finals are Sunday and the winner goes to Nationals in April. There's not much more to be said about that... Everyone in the league wants to go to Nationals, we've been the favorite since August 30th.

We'll see what we can get out of them next Friday-Sunday. And I'll be sure to keep you posted. Also for those of you on twitter you can follow me at http://twitter.com/JonHutcheon

-Hutch-

Updates....

2009-10-07T22:41:00.002-04:00

Well since the last time I wrote plenty has happened. Most importantly the River Rats are still rolling thru the league with a record of 12-0-1. We've had 4 league games the past 2 weekends and remain undefeated, that mark will be put to the test this Sunday against my former Midget team the Central Mass Outlaws. Last weekend (my birthday weekend) the boys put on two very impressive displays beating the Valley Jr. Warriors 6-1 on Saturday and then giving me a nice birthday present by beating the Dual State Huskies 14-0. For those who need to re-read that it does say 14. This past weekend we played a very solid District 10 Bulldogs team that challenged us and we scraped by with a 5-4 win, we will most likely be seeing them again in the state playoffs. And then disposed of the South Shore Dynamos at home on Sunday 7-3. We keep telling the boys that they have to come out to play hard every game, teams in the area know we are ranked in the top 5 in the country and are really gunning for us.

This has been the best start for us since I started coaching 3 years ago and in the previous seasons we have had 4 draft picks and about 20 kids go to Division 1 colleges, so you can imagine how talented this group is. As coaches we want the kids to succeed and move onto the colleges of their choice, but at the same time a trip to Nationals would be nice. And a National Championship would be even better, both for the team and for us as coaches in the hockey world.

As all of you know I signed with the Evansville IceMen back in August. What you don't know is that I have asked for my release and will be officially released October 17th, one week into training camp. It's been a rocky road to get to this point and I was very excited to be an IceMan this season and play in front of the fans and be a part of that family. But hockey is a business and myself and the organization never saw eye to eye on the contract negotiations that were ongoing. So as a 4th year guy I knew I had to get out of there. What's next for me is a mystery even to myself.

For the first time in 5 years I won't be at a professional hockey training camp to start the season and it is a very weird feeling. At this point in my career I am trying to figure out if I want to continue to play or if the time has come to hang em up and move on. Hockey has always been fun and a game for me and I want to make sure it stays that way. I won't play just for the status of being a hockey player or any other reason, other than it is fun and what I want to do.

I have been working hockey clinics lately with the River Rat organization with their Mites-Bantam teams and I love getting out there with the young guys and teaching them. At that age the score doesn't matter, no one cares what your plus/minus was and no one is going to call you into the GM's office to talk about your contract and that you're not living up to your money. It is a game and that is what hockey is supposed to be. From Mites all the way up to the professional ranks.

So if I do decide to play this year it will be because I want to have fun, have a smile on my face and obviously win a championship.

Til next time....

Hutch

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-09T21:24:00.002-04:00

So while everyone was throwing and attending end of the summer parties, I was in a rink all weekend. The 2009-10 Neponset Valley River Rats Tier 1 Midget AAA season has begun. It started last Monday with practices and continued thru this Monday. We have a whole new team this year with only 4 guys back from last season. Myself and my buddy Scott McDougall brought in the best hockey players born in 1991-1993 we could find and we found some great talent. Guys on our team are committed to Wisconsin, Princeton, Brown and Union; with more guys who will be committing soon.

We had 2 good practices then played a league game Wednesday and a scrimmage game Thursday. Wednesday we beat the Western Mass Blades 12-0 at home. Then we played the South Shore Kings of the Eastern Junior Hockey League on Thursday at home and beat them 4-3. The Kings are a junior A team that are being looked at as the best team in their league. It was a great game to coach and we came back from a 3-1 deficit halfway thru the game. After those 2 games we were onto the Tier 1 Faceoff in Marlboro, MA. We beat the Phantom Fireworks 6-0 in a mercy rule shortened game Friday, they had been moved up a division due to a team backing out last minute and their goalie played great. On Friday we played the Boston Little Bruins, who knocked us out of the tournament in the semi finals last year. We beat them 4-2 and it felt good to get a little revenge. That night we had to play the Cape Cod Whalers in a tournament/league game so it was a very important game. After being up the entire game and taking it to them all night we blew a 3-0 lead within the last 5 minutes of the game and ended up tying 3-3. It was a tough one to swallow, but luckily we bounced back on Sunday. We started off with a 4-2 win over the Western NY Selects and finished round robin play with a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Colonials. Finishing 4-0-1 record in the tourney ranked us first in our bracket and gave us a semi final matchup against the always strong Mid-Fairfield Black team.

Two years ago in the tournament Mid-Fairfield gave us one of our worst losses by mercy ruling us 7-1. It was something we made sure to tell the boys about before the game and as fate would have it we won the game by the same 7-1 score ending the game by mercy rule. The win set up a rematch against the Whalers and we wanted to win badly. We have never won the tournament, winning it would set us up nicely for a number 1 ranking in the country and also avenge our previous tie.

It's funny I've played in alot of big games and I've never been very nervous. But when you're coaching and can't get out there to control the play and all you can do is tell guys when to change up or offer advice it's a totally different feeling. You can do everything you can to get the guys ready, but then it's up to them. The first period we were all over them but couldn't score and were down 2-0 after the 1st. We were able to get 1 in the 2nd and hold them off the board to end the 2nd period down 2-1. Then the 3rd period was all us. We scored a short handed goal to tie it up with about 13 minutes left and then took it to them hard. We finally scored the eventual game winner on a bomb from defenseman Kyle Quick with about 5 minutes left and were able to hold on for the win.

So as it stands now we are 8-0-1 with a couple weeks off so guys can move into prep school and deal with school activities the first few weekends. I'll be sure to keep you updated when the national rankings come out.

Concerts and Championships

2009-08-26T00:39:00.002-04:00

Well I promised to give you a write up about Countryfest 2 weeks ago and never got around to it. In the mean time I also found my way to the Bruce Springsteen concert this past Saturday. Two Saturdays, 6 bands and artists; pretty good couple of Saturdays if you ask me. At Countryfest I missed Lady Antebellum because I was in the parking lot with a few hockey guys that I hadn't seen in a while, but I heard I didn't miss too much. Either way I wish I had gotten the chance to see them. Miranda Lambert and Montgomery Gentry put on good shows also with tons of energy and good songs. Miranda doesn't know it yet, but she's my future ex wife for sure! Sugarland was on before Kenny and for a minute there I thought they had stolen the show. I had heard they were incredible live, but those words don't do them any justice. They had Gillette Stadium rocking and I swear the ground was shaking during some songs. Jennifer Nettles has an amazingly powerful voice and a killer body to go with it.

But then came the big one, Kenny Chesney. He opened the show by coming up thru the ground on a swing seat at the 50 yard line singing "Live Those Songs Again" and rode the seat all the way to the endzone where the stage was, the guy knows how to put on a great show. This was my second time seeing him and he was better this time than the first. Just the energy he puts into his shows is unmatched. I've seen alot of the big country bands and artists over the past few years (Gretchen Wilson, Dierks Bentley, Big and Rich x2, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts x3, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, and Taylor Swift) but no one comes close to Kenny. He has this amazing talent of having 70,000 people going crazy with his country rock, then in the matter of seconds he slows it down to some love and reflection songs and has 70,000 feel like an intimate 700, then he's back at it finishing the show rocking out with songs about Boston and everything that reminds you about growing up. It was truly amazing.

Then this past Saturday I had the pleasure of heading to Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA to see the Boss. At first I was hesitant to go, but then I remembered songs like "Dancin' in the Dark, Glory Days and Born in the USA. I knew I had to go. My dad was telling me stories that he was one of the greats of his time and now I know why. He was great live and played for almost 3 hours. He rocked it every minute he was on stage.

But now to the big topic. Championship. I was thinking about it on my way to the gym tonight and realized that the first few years of my professional career that the months leading up to training camp I just wanted to make the team and have a good year personally. But now, turning 25 next month, I don't know how many more years are left in my career and I want to win a championship. I want to lead Evansville to a Champions Cup, get a ring, have a huge party, be on the ice with 20 brothers celebrating in front of 2000 people at Swonder Arena. Only a select few players each year can say they were tops in their league. And that is my goal this year. Set the personal goals aside, obviously I still have personal goals, but now my personal goals lead to a team goal. Being the last one standing in April or May. Win our last game.

-Hutch-

Country Fest!!!

2009-08-14T18:29:00.002-04:00

The best weekend in New England is upon us, tomorrow 70,000 country fans will embark on Gillette stadium for Kenny Chesney's Country Fest. It's one of the best times of the summer, this year the concert sold out in 15 minutes. Can you imagine that many tickets selling that quickly? That's insane. I'll be one of the fans in attendance and be partying in the parking lot before it starts. Country music is huge among the hockey players in this area and we also are some of the best partiers so you know it'll be a great time.

Kenny Chesney will be the last on stage, but before that will be Miranda Lambert, Sugarland, Montgomery Gentry and Lady Antebellum. It's an all day event and like I said will be an absolute blast. I will try to upload some pictures onto the blog on Sunday and will write a blog with all the highlights of the event when I do that.

Hutch

Summer winding down

2009-08-12T23:34:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone, it's been such a long time since I have gotten on here to write. It's not that I don't have time or don't want to, it's just been that I haven't had much to talk about. For the past 8 weeks it's been pretty much the same thing Monday thru Thursday on the ice 3 hours a day and getting ready for this season. It's been a long summer of wondering where I would be playing and that wondering has come to an end. I signed with the Evansville Icemen of the AAHL yesterday afternoon. I'm extremely excited to get there and start the season. I remember playing there last season in front of sold out crowds whether it was a Friday night or Sunday afternoon. The fans are really into the team, they have great ownership and they just hired a great coach. Right now it seems like the best fit for me and I couldn't be happier. Going down there with me will be my roommates from last season Brett Riley and Mario Passarelli. Those two along with Ryan Huggett and Steve Koich are out here in Boston for the rest of the summer to skate and train together until we all leave.

Away from hockey it's been a great summer so far hanging out with the boys, heading to the beach and going out on the weekends. I went down to Martha's Vineyard a couple weekends ago for a summer tourney with a some buddies. The tournament had 10 teams with guys from around Mass that play in college and pro leagues. It was one of the best times I've ever had and the hockey was good as well. Some highlights were riding around on mopeds we rented, swimming in the ocean at 2am and of course dancing and making fools of ourselves all night. Picture 12 hockey players trying to dance to rap music, no matter how graceful we are on the ice it doesn't usually transfer onto the dance floor.

Well that's it for now. I'm sure I'll be writing much more often as the season approaches and straight thru the season as well. I want to say hello to any Evansville fans that may be reading this for the first time and feel free to email me any questions!

Hutch

Superstitions, Summer and a New Hobby

2009-06-05T21:44:00.002-04:00

What's up everyone. It's been another long time since I've been on and some people have been wondering when a new post will be up. Along with that question I have gotten some emails from readers asking me questions about superstitions, whether I have any and what I like to do on gamedays. So I'll start with the superstitions question; I think you can ask any hockey player out there if they have superstitions and everyone will have the same outcome. "I don't think of the as superstitions, more so just a routine." Personally, I call it a routine because I think sometimes if you get so wrapped up in your superstitions you lose track of the bigger picture, the game. For me game days start the same way, wake up and have a good breakfast then go to pregame skate if we have one. Get the blood going, get a feel for the puck and loosen the legs. After lunch and a nap I head to the rink about 2.5 hours before the game starts. At the rink I'm always loose, I'll tape my sticks, get a good stretch and then just hang out til it's time to get ready for warmups. I know some guys who have to do certain things at certain times and get mentally ready for a game, but that doesn't work for me. It's all about doing what you need to do personally to get ready for a game.

With the calendar turning to June this past week the summer workouts have picked up and some teams are starting to show interest for next season. It's still really early in the contract period so I'm trying not to think about it too much or else I'll go crazy. Some guys are getting back from college and I'll be hanging out with them in the weeks to come. My summer gets pretty busy on June 22nd when my summer job of shooting pucks on goalies starts. Some of the best goalies around are on the ice throughout the day and we shoot for anywhere from 2-4 hours Monday thru Thursday, if you were to count the amount of pucks we shoot a day it would probably add up to about 1000 pucks a week. It's a fun job, it keeps me on the ice with quality goalies and great guys.

My newest hobby as of late has been betting on horse racing. My old roommate Joe Lyle got me into it and it's pretty fun. It gives you a good adrenaline rush everytime you watch your horse go to the gate. The good thing about it is it has kept me out of trouble and I'm not going out nearly as much as I went out last summer. With the 3rd leg of the Triple Crown going off tomorrrow I'm staying in tonight doing some last minute homework for the Belmont Stakes tomorrow night. Personally I like Summer Bird to at least show, if not better and you have to like Mine That Bird after jockey Calvin Borel guaranteed victory earlier this week.

Also what a great series the Stanley Cup Finals has turned into. I picked Pittsburgh in 6 at the start of the series and it's looking pretty good so far for the Pens. Crosby and Malkin have been unreal this post season, but the guy I like right now is Kris Letang who is having a great series. Not to take anything away from Abdelkader's 2 goals in the first two games of the series, not bad for the rookie from Michigan State.

Hutch

Why Do You???

2009-05-19T22:43:00.002-04:00

Recently I was reading the May, 4, 2009 Sports Illustrated and as I was flipping thru the magazine I came across an article about surfer Kelly Slater. I'm not a surfer, nor do I follow Kelly Slater but something caught my eye and I started to read the article. It talks about how great of a surfer he is and how he has been a world champion 6 times in his career. But after a little bit of time away from the waves, Kelly wanted to return. He wanted more. "Why do you do what you do? Why do you dress that way? Why do you do that job? Why are you married? Why are you alone? Why do you compete? Why can't you let go? No, c'mon...why, really?" That was part of the article and it got me thinking on how I would answer those questions.

I won't bore you with answers to why I dress the way I do, why I'm alone or why I can't let go. But I do what I do because it's fun and natural to me. I work for at most 14 hours a week during the season and get paid for playing a game. Not many people can say that they are living a dream. But I think the biggest question to answer is "Why do you compete?"... I think competing is something that everyone does everyday of our lives. Some compete against co-workers or classmates, others like us compete against teammates and other players. But in the off season, you can't compete against teammates or other teams.

So who do we compete against in the summer? Thousands of free agents are out there calling their agents or doing the dirty work on their own to line up a contract for next season. At the same time we're all in the gym, at the track, and on the ice all summer to make sure we're ready come training camp. You have to motivate yourself though, you don't have a roommate waking you up in the morning to head to practice or staying on you to go to that optional lift in the afternoon. I choose to compete against myself everyday. Each week I want to lift more than I did the week before and run or bike a little further. So far I'm halfway thru week 7 of the summer workouts and have so far to go, but it's worth it.

The summer is a time of fun, but can also be stressful for a free agent. You get to see all your buddies and head to the beach, but at the same time you wonder where next season will take you and when you'll sign your contract. You wonder who it will be with, where it will be, how much it will be for. So for all the excitement this nice weather brings, it also brings some drama into our often stress free lives.

NHL Playoffs

2009-04-15T11:03:00.002-04:00

Is there a better day a year than today? No I don't mean Tax day in the USA, I'm talking about the first day of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The possibilities are endless for all 16 teams who start the second and most important season of the year. Will there be any Cinderella stories this year? Will an underachieving team through the regular season come to life now? What about a team who limped their way into the post season, will they bounce back and find their true form?

In the East:
#1 Boston Bruins vs #8 Montreal Canadiens
In a repeat match-up from last years first round the roles are reversed. Last year Montreal came in as the #2 seed and heavy favorites after going undefeated against the B's last season. This year Boston went 5-0-1 against Montreal and are the big favorites not only in this series, but in the Eastern Conference. I think (albeit a biased opinion) the Bruins will take the series in 5 or 6 games.

#2 Washington Capitals vs #7 New York Rangers
I got my wish of not having to play the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs. Washington's offense is much more potent than NYR having scored 62 more goals in the regular season. With Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin leading the way up front and Mike Green patrolling the blue line I think there is only one way the Rangers will win this series; Jose Theodore lays an egg and Henrik Lundqvist plays out of his mind at the other end for the entire series.

#3 New Jersey Devils vs #6 Carolina Hurricanes
This series will be a great one to watch in my eyes. Both teams have great leadership in the dressing room and have been deep in the playoffs recently. Will the Devils find their game that had them in contention for the #1 overall seed for most of the season? If they do then I think they can win the series in 5 games. But what if the Devils play like they did the last 15 games or so? Where they appeared to shut it down and limp into the playoffs, if that happens then look for Carolina to take it in 6.

#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs #5 Philadelphia Flyers
Oh boy did the Flyers drop the ball on the last day of the regular season or what? All they needed was to hang on for one more game and they would have had home ice for the series. Instead they allow the Penguins to come into their building, win the game and take home ice from them. The Pens are one of the hottest teams in the league right now going 18-3-4 in their last 25 games. With Malkin and Crosby leading the way, I think the Penguins are a very dangerous team to play now.

And In the West:
#1 San Jose Sharks vs #8 Anaheim Ducks
The Sharks, winner's of the President's Trophy this season, are so deep everywhere you look this season. It's tough to go against them in this first round battle. Although if anyone can knock them off it is the Ducks. With guys like Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan leading the way they're a very dangerous team to play against. Factor in Joe Thornton's inability to be a big time player in the playoffs in years past and an upset may be brewing. But don't bet on it. I think San Jose will squeak past the Ducks in 6.

#2 Detroit Red Wings vs #7 Columbus Blue Jackets
The obvious favorite for most people would be the Red Wings, however the Blue Jackets played the Wings tight all season. The Blue Jackets freshed face playoff outlook may not know the Goliath they are up against. Steve Mason was one of the best goalies in the league as a rookie and I think it will take it to another level in his first ever playoff series. But how can you really argue against the defending Cup champs and all the talent they have? I think Detroit will take the series in 7 games.

#3 Vancouver Canucks vs #6 St. Louis Blues
Two of the hottest 2nd half teams in the league play each other in the first round and I bet 6 other Western Conference teams are happy they don't have to see either one of them first thing in the playoffs. The Blues have the NHL's best 2nd half record at 25-9-7, while the Canucks were 23-7-2 in their last 32 games. Talk about a great playoff match-up. I don't know who will walk away with this one, I think it's going to go all 7 games. If Roberto Luongo can play up to his expectations he's a very tough goalie to beat, but don't forget about Chris Mason in net for the Blues who has been unbelievable as of late to help the Blues with their late season playoff run.

#4 Chicago Blackhawks vs #5 Calgary Flames
This is another series that will be a great one to watch. I keep going back and forth on who I think will win. Calgary has the playoff experience, but they also had a bad end to the season. Jarome Iginla hasn't been as dominate as he has been in seasons past and Olli Jokinen has been a non factor since he was traded there. On the other side Chicago has virtually no playoff experience, but may be able to ride Nikolai Khabibulin thru this series. Also Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane can be incredible together along with a great supporting cast, they may be able to blow past the Flames.

So there you have it folks! The first round of the playoffs starts tonight. The anticipation is better than Christmas Eve when you wonder what you may unwrap the next morning.

You're Gunna Miss This

2009-04-05T23:13:00.003-04:00

There's a country song that is titled "You're Gunna Miss This" by Trace Adkins, part of the chorus says "You're gunna miss this, you're gunna want this back, you're gunna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast, cuz these are some good times so take a good look around you may not know it now but you're gunna miss this." When I hear that song I think about the way my life is; when you're in your twenties and just having a good time. Tonight I was watching tv and getting game updates via text message from the Chi-Town/Battle Creek 5th game in the AAHA championship series. The song came on tv and I was thinking about all the good memories I had out in B.C. this season and even though Battle Creek didn't win the game I'm still proud of all those guys and what they accomplished this season. I also have to say congratulations to the Shooters, particularly Nigel Hawryliw who won his 2nd professional ring tonight, Alex Motley who was a teammate/roommate of mine last season and Brian Jacque who is a Massachusetts boy and has been dying to get his name in the blog since training camp this year. Both Jaco and Mots are celebrating their first championships tonight.

With tonight being the end of the All American Hockey Association's season I can put an end to the scoreboard watching to see how the Revs are doing. Now I can focus on the '09-'10 season. I don't have a clue where I'll be playing yet, but have a few leads. Maybe I'll be back in the AAHA or somewhere overseas or in a "AA" league here in the United States. As far as I'm concerned tomorrow is the first day of the new season. So once again congrats to the Shooters, but also congrats to everyone involved in the Battle Creek Revolution organization.

I'm going to go on record here and make some predictions for the Frozen Four that takes place next weekend in Washington, DC. I would make a prediction about the NCAA Basketball Final Four, but I didn't watch a minute of it this year so who cares. I think the Miami Red Hawks will beat Bemidji State and faceoff in the finals against Boston University, who should beat UVM in an Hockey East semi-final. BU I think will be too strong for Miami and should win the whole thing. BU is just too strong of a team to be knocked off at this point, they are built like a professional hockey team.

In other big hockey news my hometown Boston Bruins clinched the top spot in the Eastern Conference yesterday with a 1-0 win over the New York Rangers. The game could be an early preview to a first round playoff match-up as the Rangers are tied for 8th place right now with the Florida Panthers. As a Bruins fan I'd rather see them play the Panthers, I think NYR is a very dangerous team with tons of playoff saavy players like Scott Gomez, Markus Nasland, Chris Drury and Wade Redden. Plus they have uber pest Sean Avery, who I love to watch play when he can keep his mouth shut.

AAHA fans stay in touch with me this off season thru emails and reading the blog.

Thanks for everything this season to everyone in Battle Creek. Weezy, Nigel, Demers, Wader, Huggs, Bart Really, the whole team, Kaitlin, Haili, Doc Joe, Joe K and everyone else that I'm forgetting.

Spring is here.....Kinda

2009-03-23T00:04:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone, it's been a long month and I should have been writing more but I guess I got a little lazy here. Spring is in the air here in Boston, but you never know when that will change and it'll be 30 degrees again for a couple days. Minor league hockey playoffs are starting up and in the AAHA Battle Creek swept Evansville 2 games to none and Chi-Town swept Chicago also 2-0. So the Revs will faceoff against the Shooters in a best of 5 series starting this coming Friday. In the EPHL, Brooklyn will play Jersey in the first ever championship series. The rest of the leagues are winding down their regular season and I will blog about those also as the playoffs begin.

Here in Boston I started working out about a month ago to get ready for where ever next season takes me. It's tough following the scores on the computer and not be playing in the games, but things happen. Good luck to the fellas on the Revolution and also to Nigel Hawryliw, who is playing for Chi-Town. I also have to say hi to Kaitlin and Haili, 2 former Revolution interns, who wore a "We Miss Hutch" t-shirt to the game last night and sent me a picture of it. I got a good laugh out of it and I'm sure others did as well.

The end of March also brings tryouts for the Neponset Valley River Rats organization. I've been down in Foxboro all week evaluating different age levels and trying to put together the U-18 midget team with my buddy and head coach Scott McDougall. Putting a team together is never easy, especially at the lower age groups. Trying to find the right piece to the puzzle can be agonizing for coaches and it doesn't help knowing that you're going to break some kids hearts when you tell them there is no room on the team for him. It's funny to look in the stands and see the parents all watching their sons with nervous faces hoping their boy is the next Sidney Crosby or Mike Green.

Speaking of NHL players, how great are the playoff races this year? Every night it seems like the playoff picture changes. The Eastern Conference is starting to shape up and in my opinion I think Florida will beat out Montreal for the 8th and final playoff spot. Boston had a big win this afternoon to pull away from New Jersey and have a somewhat comfortable 5 point lead for 1st place in the conference, the win also clinched the Northeast Division. The Western Conference could be a blog in itself. Just 5 points separate 7th place Edmonton from 12th place Dallas, with Nashville, Anaheim, Minnesota and St. Louis sandwiched in between them. I'll write a blog on that race in the middle of the week when I do a little more research on the teams.

So long for now

Hutch 9

Little Bit of Everything

2009-02-23T14:32:00.003-05:00

The past 6 months have been a roller coaster of ups and downs that if I didn't live it, I wouldn't believe it. Starting with a 9 car accident on my birthday and ending with a torn ligament in the middle of my best statistical season of my career. Sandwiched in between all of that was a trade from Danbury (EPHL) to Rome (EPHL), Rome folding shortly after my car accident, trying to find a new team only a couple weeks before the start of the season and rehabbing my back from the car accident that had numerous muscle strains and tears along with vertebraes that were out of alignment. The future of my hockey career was looking bleak.

Brendan Tedstone , Danbury's G.M., gave me the phone number for the Battle Creek Revolution (AAHA) and I gave it a shot and made the phone call. Within a day I heard back from Nigel Hawryliw, their player/assistant coach and the ball was rolling to sign a contract. A couple days later I talked to the head coach, Matt Wiedenhoeft and we negotiated a contract. Everything was right again in my hockey life. After some growing pains with BCR we were becoming a team and playing well. We got new owners, started winning games and after 7 games and only 5 points, I hit my stride thru my last 11 games I had 15 points.

Then I went to throw a hit and bounced off the guy a funny. I tried to catch myself, but hit the boards awkwardly and thought I just hyper-extended my elbow. In between periods our trainer checked it out and thought it would be ok, my first shift back I took a shot and felt a pop in my elbow. I knew it was something bad and went right to the locker room. It was determined I had a grade 2 tear to my ulnar collateral ligament and would be out 6-8 weeks. The remainder of the regular season. In the middle of all this the team was going thru some changes and myself, Wiedenhoeft and Nigel were all pushed out to make way for a new coach and some more room on the salary cap. I still check up on the Revs after weekends to see how they do and they are currently sitting in 2nd place with 3 or 4 games to go. I stay in touch with some of the boys and both interns Haili and Kate (the best interns in the league) and wish them luck heading into the playoffs. Nigel is playing in Chi-Town right now and still leading the league in points. He became one of my closest friends on the team out there and we talk once a week. As for Weezy, he played a couple games for the Chicago Blaze and he is hoping to be coaching again next season. He's a great coach, who is a players coach all the way and I had a great time playing for him.

As for me, my elbow finally feels close to 100% and I have been working out for the past couple weeks to stay in shape in case a team needs a guy for the end of the season. I also spent a week or so searching for a new agent, that could help me out overseas. I got lucky in that aspect, doing this site in a weird way helped me find my new agent. After my last post at the beginning of this month I was contacted by Andruw Bourgeois, who is starting a new website called Pro Hockey Insight and asked me if I would be interested in submitting blogs for the site. After some emailing back and forth I told Andruw I would write for the new website. Then told him how I was looking for a new agent, it turns out he is an agent and works with an NHLPA certified agent with contacts all over the world and he told me he would help me out next season. So I'm killing two birds with one stone, taking the next step in my writing career and also found a new agent who can help me with what I need for next season.

With everything going on I will definitely be writing more often now. So feel free to email me and comment on the blogs.

-Hutch 9-

Changes

2009-02-02T00:25:00.003-05:00

It's been a few weeks and I'm sure the faithful readers of my blog have seen that I am no longer on the roster of the Battle Creek Revolution. A few things added up to that equation, I tore a ligament in my elbow against Evansville a few weeks ago and tried playing thru it and made it worse. Other than that B.C. was making some changes and going in a different direction and for one reason or another I wasn't in their plans. There's nothing I can do about it and wish them all the best for the rest of their season

I had a great time in my 3 months with Battle Creek and met tons of great people. From the front office staff, the interns, the teammates and the fans; they made it one of my best experiences ever in my pro career. I still stay in touch with some of the guys and I know that I always will. We had some awesome times both at the rink and away from it. Memories that will last a lifetime. From the parties and the inside jokes, right down to somehow becoming a secret WWF fan and watching Monday Night RAW alone last week at home, I had a great time out there and wish it didn't end. I have nothing but good things to say about the team, the city and the league and really hope everything goes well in the future.

As for what I'm doing now, it's a whole lot of nothing. I'm trying to get healthy so I can finish the season out somewhere either in the EPHL or back out in the AAHA. But I've tried skating a couple times and my elbow hasn't responded well yet so it isn't looking good. It really sucks for this to happen right in the middle of the best season of my career, but that's the way it goes and I have to live with it.

Keep checking back in and I'll keep you updated on the injury and my playing career. It's been a season full of roller coasters and hopefully it isn't over yet.

-Hutch 9-

Bring on the Blaze!

2009-01-15T19:31:00.002-05:00

This weekend we have three huge games against the newly acquired Chicago Blaze. The Blaze came together very quickly to save our league and play in place of the Detroit Dragons. Honestly we're lucky that the Blaze were able to pull everything together so quickly and save our league, without the hard work of AAHA people and Blaze ownership who knows what would have happened. We had a very solid week of practice and finished today with a great practice to lead into our pre game skate tomorrow and 3 game series.

I participated very lightly Tuesday and Wednesday in just sweats for skating drills, but did not participate in contact drills. Today I was fully dressed to test out the elbow in my first full practice since Friday night when I slightly tore a ligament in the elbow against the much improved IceMen. The lines were clicking today and I was back on my regular "red" line with Mike Podelnyk and Charles Harvey. Both power play units are looking good and our defense is solid as usual. Both goalies (who last weekend sported Chuck Liddell like mohawks and dyed hair) were on today making several great saves throughout the practice.

We don't know what to expect out of Chicago tomorrow. We got their roster today and most of them have pro experience and I've played with a couple of the players. They look like they have a solid roster and will fit in nicely in this league. Our biggest goal is to not give them their first ever league win in our barn.

So head out to The Rink this weekend, tomorrow and Saturday puck drops at 7:30pm with a Sunday afternoon matinee start at 1pm. Tomorrow night there will also be a Detroit Red Wings ticket give a way to the craziest Revolution fan in the building, so come be loud and have a chance to go watch the Wings play at the Joe!

Hutch

Good Weekend

2009-01-12T14:08:00.002-05:00

After starting 2009 without a win in 3 games we knew we had to turn things around. We had a good week of practice, the boys were having fun at the rink again. Going into the weekend with two home games against Evansville our confidence was pretty high. We have had good luck this season against the Ice Men and wanted to keep it going by getting back on track and back to .500 again.

After our morning skate on Friday we hit some more adversity though. Captain Mark Allen and enforcer Kevin Demers made it official that they were leaving the team for personal reasons. It's tough to lose teammates thru the year, especially this deep into the season. But we were able to pull things together quickly and came out on top with a 6-4 win over a much improved Evansville squad. They brought in 3 guys from Detroit and teamed up with the guys we sent them over Christmas break they've really gotten better. The red line of myself, Mike Podelnyk and Dan Kohanchuk played real well for the first two periods, scoring 3 goals. I say for the first two periods because the red line was without me for the 3rd period after I partially tore a ligament in my left elbow late in the 2nd period.

There really isn't a timeline on how long I'll be out for with this injury. It is my lower hand on my stick so everytime I shoot the torque in my elbow will be really painful, but I might be able to tape it and try to play thru the pain. I'll be off the ice for the next couple of days to try to heal it as quickly as possible so I don't miss too many games. The biggest thing is making sure I don't do more damage to it and miss the rest of the season.

We won again on Saturday against Evansville 11-0. We came out and were all over them all night. We didn't play great in the 1st period but gradually picked it up as the night went on. Nigel Hawryliw led the charges with another hat trick and Justin Grevious picked up the first ever shut out in AAHA history.

This upcoming we face off against the newly formed Chicago Blaze for a 3 game set at home Friday-Sunday. We don't know a thing about them or who is on their team so it's a big mystery. Come by and check out the games if you are in the area.

Ringing in the New Year

2009-01-02T22:10:00.002-05:00

2009 is here. Happy New Year and hopefully you haven't broken your resolutions already. We rang in the new year with a 9-1 win over the Evansville IceMen at home after another eventful day at The Rink. The game was supposed to start at 2pm, but would it really be any fun if something didn't go wrong? Evansville's bus broke down on the way and set them back about 3 hours before they got a new one to pick them up and they didn't arrive until 3:30pm. About 250 Revolution faithful stuck around the cold rink, waiting for them to show up. I think the newly acquired beer stand was something that helped them stay.

When things finally got underway we took it to them pretty good from beginning to end. New guys Justin Nattress, Dan Kohanchuk and Battle Creek native Ryan Huggett all helped in the win. Natty and tough guy Mason Cossette both scored their first ever professional goals. Hugger got into his first pro fight at the end of them game, part of a line brawl that broke out with 5 seconds left in the game that even included the goalies. Our goalie Justin Grevious won his fight pretty convincingly and also picked up his first pro assist. The remaining fans definately loved the fight at the end of the game and hopefully will come back to our home games next weekend against Evansville.

After the game guys went off on their own to celebrate the new year, some went over to Kalamazoo to watch the KWings play Muskegon in the IHL. Others went to Kalamazoo to hang out and the rest of us brought in the new year at a small bar up the road from our house.

We couldn't party too hard because we were back at it again yesterday afternoon against Chi-Town in Dyer, Indiana. We loaded up the vans and I was excited to play because they have an Olympic size ice surface, which I have always loved to play on. But, on the way to the game our coach was informed from the league that I was suspended for the game due to my fight with 4:37 left to play in the 3rd period. I got hit from behind, got up and protected myself, but somehow got an instigator penalty. The instigator in the last 5 minutes of a game carries an automatic one game suspension.

It sucked to watch the boys yesterday from the stands and not be able to help. Watching the game with our captain Mark Allen (leg contusion) wasn't easy, knowing that two leaders of the team couldn't do anything was tough to swallow. We lost the game 7-4. Kevin Demers and Cossette tried to jumpstart the boys with a few fights, but it didn't work. We came to life too late and it wasn't enough.

We're back in Chi-Town tomorrow and Sunday, again we will short benched. Allen, Demers and Kohanchuk all have to return to Canada due to visa issues this weekend and we should have them back by next week.

Plenty to Talk About...

2008-12-30T00:48:00.002-05:00

Finally back and getting back into our normal routine after a week off for Christmas and we're 2 and 0 without even having to play a game yet! Some issues kept Detroit from coming to play us this past weekend and we were able to come away with two wins due to forfeit, bringing us back to the .500 mark. We've been told everything is fine now and the league will continue without a hitch for the rest of the season.

Last week was nice to be able to get away from the rink and now think about hockey. We play hockey because love it, but it's good to get a break every now and then especially with all the happenings going on lately. During our break we made a trade with Evansville and acquired Dan Kohanchuk for Jesse Farley, Aaron Naphan, and Paul Hannah. Danny's a good player and a welcome addition to the team, a good Canadian boy. Naph, Paulie, and Jesse will be missed around here but the move is allowing them to get more playing time and hopefully further their careers as well.

Now that we're back it's all business as we prepare for Evansville and Chi-Town this week on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Then we go back to Chi-Town Saturday and Sunday, a nice 4 games in 6 nights will be tough after a break, but also will be good to get our timing back. It will also be good to finally see a team other than Detroit, playing the last 5 games in a row was getting old. But it was good also as it is brewing up as a bit of a rivalry, not just on the ice but in the stands and on the message boards as well.

Speaking of the message boards it's always nice to check in and read up on what the fans have to say. Some of it is good, some bad and some just out of this world. I respect it though I like reading what our fans are saying. It's always a good conversation piece amongst the boys to see who the people like and dislike. We love our supporters and we also love the people bash us because either way they are the ones paying to watch us play and paying our salaries.

Over break I was featured in an article on ProHockeyNews.com written by Don Money. It takes you through a bit of my background and highlights my blog. If you have time and haven't already read it here is the link, http://www.prohockeynews.com/hockey/publish/aaha/Hutcheon_living_the_dream_in_blog.shtml go ahead and check it out. Also for you first timers who read the article already and this may be your first time on the blog I'd like to say thank you for checking it out and welcome to the blog.

Until next time, Happy Holidays.

Detroit Series

2008-12-17T18:15:00.003-05:00

AAHA Player of the Month
Best Body in the League
Ugliest Player on the Team

As you know we play Detroit 8 times this month and it's getting a little ridiculous. It feels like the movie Groundhog Day right now; we played them twice this past weekend, twice the weekend before that and we played them today. And we have to play them this Saturday at home and again the following Saturday at home. Today we played in Detroit at 11am, it was supposed to be school day for Detroit local schools except someone might have forgotten to tell the schools. No kids showed up. Nothing surprises me anymore. Back when I started this blog I wrote that I know I haven't seen it all....with everything I'm seeing this season that statement could not be more true.

So we loaded up the vans this morning at 6:15am for our departure from "The Rink" in B.C. and were on the way to face our beloved rivals. We're just sick of playing each other and it's starting to show on the ice. Emotions are beginning to run high and you can tell there is a true rivalry brewing. We came out flat in the first period and were down 3-0 by the end of the first. Missing Mark and Nigel hurts us, but we also lost Brett Riley and Kyryll Katrich after the first period and that left us really short on the bench.

Charles Harvey played really well for us today scoring 4 goals, netting a natural hat trick in the 2nd period. Our power play is starting to slowly show signs of improvement, but we haven't been a complete team all season. Whether it's injuries or sickness or not playing a complete 60 minutes, we haven't shown our full potential yet. And when we do pull it all together we're going to be a great team. Young guys are starting to realize their roles on the team and playing more of a pro style game. I think after Christmas you'll see a big turn around from our team.

This Friday will be our team Xmas shindig, I think the boys are headed out to Richland Lanes for bowling and some fun. I'm sure there will be plenty of stories to tell from that night, like who wears the ugliest Christmas sweater and whatnot. While we're on the ugly note, it has been determined that the ugliest player on the team award goes to Nigel Hawryliw. The panel of judges was madeup of girls around the area and other girls who know Nigel, including my girl and some of her friends. Nigel made the mistake of sending out some headshots to the ladies and things were not ruled in his favor.

More updates to come this weekend.

Weekend from Hell

2008-12-15T03:59:00.001-05:00

After taking 3 of 4 points from Detroit last weekend we were on a nice little roll finally. This past weekend was another tough one with 3 games in 3 nights, 2 of which were on the road and playing Detroit twice again. Friday night we made the trek to play the Evansville Ice Men, who play 1 mile away from the middle of no where. 7 hours in a 15 passenger van doesn't make for the most comfortable travel, but welcome to single A hockey. We got to Evansville early to eat dinner and decided on a Chili's, anyone who has been with twenty hockey players for an extended period of time knows there are always pranks going on. At Chili's we had our first shoe check of the year, little guy Brett Riley was able to squeeze his 5'7" frame underneath the table and load up 1st year guy Kevin Demers' shoe full of ketchup. The ensuing clinks off the glasses came and the audible worried groans turned into laughter when Demers realized he was the sucker of this one.

We had heard all week that Evansville was loading up on new guys to play us, but when we got there not much had changed other than the fact that they traded their best defenseman to Chi-Town. We were all over them for the whole and cruised to an 8-1 win and we were back in the vans to make the long journey home. We had to play at 1pm at home against the Dragons on Saturday afternoon. 17 guys split between 2 vans and hockey equipment doesn't make for comfortable sleeping arrangements. We tried to sleep but I think most guys only managed 3 hours of sleep at most. We got home at about 7:30am I slept until 10:30 and was back in the dressing room around 11:15 for the 1 o'clock start. Playing hockey sleep deprived is not an easy task and our play proved it. We hung around with Detroit for a little while, but we lost both Nigel Hawryliw and Mark Allen indefinately to concussions in the 2nd period. It unravelled in the 3rd and we lost 6-2. The only good thing about Saturday was that our work day was done at 4pm and we had plenty of time to rest before going to Detroit on Sunday night to finish out our long weekend.

There was talk on the message boards about "Bounty" night in Detroit, that some fans were placing bounties on some of our players heads. Guys like Brett Aimone, Demers, Mason Cossette and Wes Baughman were targeted. In my opinion, there is no room for these kinds of shenanigans in hockey. It gives the sport a bad name and there is no need for it. That's all I'll say on that subject. Anyways, well rested and ready to go we came out flying and gave it to Detroit all night in their home barn. Even without Mark and Nigel we were able to put up 8 goals for the second time this weekend and come away with an 8-5 win. Newcomer Charles Harvey stepped up to the plate with a 3 point night and both Brett Riley and myself had 4 point nights to lead the team to a big win and hand the Dragons their first loss at home.

We're now slowly climbing the standings and are in the right direction. We play again in Detroit this Wednesday and then play them at home on Saturday before getting a few days off for Christmas.

Huge Weekend

2008-12-08T01:26:00.002-05:00

Heading into the month of December we were 2-4-0 on the season, not exactly where we envisioned ourselves when training camp broke almost a month ago. This month we play the 1st place Detroit Dragons 8 times and that series started this weekend with 2 games at home. Our team has really been coming together lately and we are starting to show signs that we will emerge as a championship contender in this league. The young guys are starting to learn how to play the pro style effectively and that is huge for us considering we have 14 1st year professionals. I've played on teams with 5 or 6 but 14 is a huge number.

Friday night we beat the Dragons 9-2 in a game where it seemed like we could do no wrong. Three seconds into the game Mason Cossette, a 21 year old from Texas, fought Jason Simon of the Dragons. Simon has years of pro experience, he is a tough guy and plays that role to a T, he also has played in the NHL when he was younger. Mason has been out of the line up since our opening night loss in Detroit and was itching to get back into a game for 3 weeks now. Mason won the fight pretty convincingly and broke Simon's nose in the process, 12 seconds after the fight we scored. Talk about good early momentum. We popped home 3 more goals in the opening stanza and were up 4-0. Our momentum carried into the 2nd and we scored 3 more goals making it 7-0 after 2 before Detroit scored 30 seconds into the 3rd period. Our first line of Mike Podelnyk, Nigel Hawrilyiw and Mark Allen were absolutely dominant. My line of Steve Koich, Brett Riley and myself factored in for 3 goals also. It was the best game we played all season by far.

Last night we went back to the rink to find out that Detroit had brought in a new goalie and only had 12 skaters to dress. I don't know if we thought it would be another landslide or what but we broke down in our defensive zone and our forecheck wasn't pretty either, but we managed to walk out of the building with an 8-7 overtime loss. Taking 3 out of 4 possible points on the weekend and making a statement to the league that we will be there in the end.

Earlier tonight I was watching a video with Nigel about the Muskegon Fury's league championship run in 2004. We saw how hard those guys battled through the playoffs to win the United Hockey League and what they went thru. The sacrifices, the injuries, the bad days, the good days. The peaks and valleys, as their head coach put it in the locker room after they won it all. It made us realize why we play hockey, being hundreds of miles away from home, missing your family, your girlfriend, your buddies that you grew up with. It is all worth it to win that coveted championship at the end of the long journey. It's why we play the game. When it comes down to it we are a team of brothers, 18 guys, who 2 months ago didn't know each other have now come together to form a team. We go to battle every night together and in the end we all want to be there together raising the trophy as league champions.

Too Long

2008-11-25T22:34:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I sat down to write the blog, mostly because I'm either at the rink, sleeping, or with the boys. A lot has happened the past two weeks, a brief recap would include opening the season 1-4-0, being named assistant captain, parties with the fellas, roadtrips to Detroit and Evansville, scoring the first ever professional goal in the "Cereal City", and an injury bug that has bitten 9 players on our 18 man roster. So where should I begin? Bad news first, opening up with only one win is a pain in the ass that none of us were expecting, but we are improving and having 9 guys hurt hasn't helped. But now the good news, it was an honor to be named an assistant captain of this years team and pretty cool to score the first professional goal at home last Friday (I scored 2 in that game for anyone who missed the boxscore.)

The past couple weeks we've been able to settle into a nice routine of morning practices with an afternoon nap and the freedom to do anything at night. Between the two houses there is usually always something to do on any night, whether it's going into Kalamazoo, playing NHL 09 on xbox 360 at the other house, or watching Aimone and Nigel cuddle with each other while watching the WWE. Bottom line is this is a fun team to be on and everyone has been getting along. We've watched some first year guys jump in the lake to get out of raking and house duties on more than one occasion and had a guy get caught his game broken up by 3 girls in the same night. Trust me the entertainment is good enough to be a hit reality tv show.

Now we just need to steal a page from the Boston Bruins and start winning some games and things will be perfect.

I'll try to keep a better running tab of the days events more often on here. Feel free to post or ask questions.

Season Opener

2008-11-13T17:38:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow night we open up our regular season on the road against Detroit at 7:30pm. It's been a good week out here in Battle Creek, on Monday we moved into our new house right on the lake. It's a great 3 bedroom house with 2 floors and plenty of space, for the time being we have 7 guys staying here 2 of the guys will move into another new house hopefully next week. It was nice to be able to move my clothes out of the car and into my own room. No more living in a cramped hotel room and not being able to fully unpack. A couple of guys on the team are building the locker room and making improvements so it will be done for our home opener next weekend.

Everything is really coming together out here and our accomodations are very good for a single A team. We've hung out as a team away from the rink a couple times and have taken the time to get to know each other as a team. It's funny a little more than a week ago we had 38 players trying out for this team and now we're down to 19. There were so many guys here that I didn't know everyone in the dressing room. Now that we have our team I've gotten to know everything and I think we have a very strong team.

We'll see how this weekend goes and hopefully we will come out on top in both nights.

Training Camp Wrap Up

2008-11-10T01:35:00.002-05:00

That's a wrap, as it is said in Hollywood. Sorry for not writing the past couple days, but they have been wild ones. We finally ended camp tonight with an 8-3 loss in Detroit, going 0-4 in the preseason. Thank god they don't count yet. The 8-3 score is a bit of a misconception, we came out flat and were down 4-0 just 4 minutes into the game, 6-1 after 1. Maybe it was being on the road, maybe the 4 games in 4 nights wore some guys down. For me it was my 3rd game in as many nights, we lost to Chi-Town and Detroit at home Friday and Saturday. I played D on Friday and Saturday, but tonight I was up front centering the first line. We ended up scoring 2 of our 3 goals and played really well together so hopefully we'll stay together to start the season.

We had a great crowd of over 400 on Friday and just over 300 Saturday at home, not bad for a small barn. Training camp is tough because you're trying to get to know all the guys, but you know some are going to be released. It sucks to see them go, but it is a business. I won't lie, it is very nice knowing that it is over and now we know the hard work starts. Everyday our coach gets calls from guys looking for a place to play and we have to prove we don't need them.

Looking at the possible roster we should be very strong this season. Even though we started out 0-4, we have a ton of upside in the dressing room. A lot of first year pro players who need to learn the pro game and once they do will be very dangerous. We should be deep defensively and extremely solid up front. Once we start practicing as a team and get used to one another we'll be on our way.

It's late and I'm heading to bed. Until next time have fun out there.

Training Camp Updates

2008-11-06T09:57:00.002-05:00

Long couple of days out here in training camp, but I have a nice day off today as most of the rookies are playing against the Chi-Town Shooters in Dyer, Indiana. After the skate Monday morning, we had a scrimmage Team Blue vs. Team Black that was dominated by Blue, which didn't sit well with me considering I'm on the black squad. The beginning of the game there was a lot of adrenaline and guys running around with jitters and not really playing hockey. I think the second half slowed down a bit with guys starting to stand out a little bit. There was a light crowd on hand to check out the first day, as well as some media people from the Battle Creek Enquirer. We were on our own for dinner on Monday so after a little rest time at the hotel, myself and Aimone went out to Old Country Buffet for a meal.

We were back on the ice yesterday morning, again with the two teams divided up with Blue on the ice at 9 and Black on at 10. We did most of the same flow drills, break outs and regroups ended by a shootout for the goalies and to see who we can count on in a shootout this season. We had lunch delivered to us at the rink again by Fazoli's, this time it was sandwiches. And it was back on the ice at 1:30 again for another 2 hour scrimmage. This time the boys in black got the "W" as Team Blue was missing team captain Mark Allen, due to a slight groin pull. Yesterday was a tough one for me, in the scrimmage my back started tightening up and having some spasms. I hit the hot tub right when I got home last night and hit the hay early and luckily I'm feeling a little better today.

As mentioned before most of the rookies are playing Chi-Town today, in the very first BC Revolution game. Last night at dinner you could see the nervous looks on guys faces before their first ever pro hockey game. I remember my first one a couple years ago against Oklahoma City Blazers in a packed house in OK City. It's a nervous, but fun time as a young guy being able to realize a dream.

As for me today, I'll be enjoying an off day and lounging for most of it. I'll head out in a little bit to try to sell some tickets for tomorrow's preseason home opener. But other than that I'll just be taking it easy. So feel free to email or comment with any questions you may have.

Day 1

2008-11-04T12:08:00.003-05:00

Hello from my hotel room in Battle Creek, just got back from our first on ice session and have a quick minute to get an update on here before our scrimmage. The team has been split up into 2 teams for now, half went on at 9am the second group went on at 10am. It was pretty basic for a first day practice, a lot of movement and flow drills trying to get the legs under us. We had a good meal delivered to us from Fazoli's, an Italian restaurant, for lunch at the rink.

All 37 guys in camp will be on the ice at 1:30 for a intra-squad scrimmage. If you're in the area come check it out. I'm roomed up with Brett Aimone, who I played with in Valley Forge last season. It's good to have someone you know in camp and better to room with them, you're just more comfortable around. Last night we went to a Meijer, which is like Wal-Mart back home, and then jumped on the bike and into the hot tub to make sure we had our legs under us today.

Time to head back over to our new digs at "The Rink" for the scrimmage. Check back later tonight I'll try to have more updates.

It's Here

2008-11-02T10:03:00.002-05:00

First off I want to thank everyone on the message boards and people who have sent me emails for wishing me good luck and get well wishes. I try to respond to them as much as possible so if I have forgotten you, I apologize. So I'm finally close to being 100% and will be ready to go by opening night.

Bottom line is the season officially starts tomorrow out in Battle Creek, we have a meeting at 5pm to open up camp. I don't know what to expect to be honest with you, I'm very excited to start playing again and I'm anxious to see how the body responds. Hopefully everything will check out alright and I won't have any problems. The long journey starts later tonight, it will take about 14 hours to get from Boston to Battle Creek. I don't know how far I'll get tonight driving, I'm hoping to get a good 8 or 9 hours of the trip behind me.

A lot of times in this world I take things for granted, complain about long bus trips or playing in the low minors. It takes a lot to deal with the adversity we as players go thru, but our lives are still pretty good; we get paid to play a game, our housing is paid for, we get meal deals around the city and we get equipment for free. All in all it's a pretty good deal. I'm a country music fan so every song tells a story, some are happy and fun but others tell stories of struggle. Driving home the other night I saw a man living out of his car next to a laundrymat. I read a story in a magazine about a guy in a car wreck who crushed his pelvis, his heart was moved to the right side of his chest, both lungs collapsed, lost 60% of his blood, died 8 times on the operating table and lost 100 pounds...Three years later after learning how to walk and blink again he finished the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Those are problems, that's having a rough life. It put everything back into perspective for me, whether this is my last season before I move onto the rest of my life or just a stepping stone to the next couple of seasons I might as well have fun doing it. Some people aren't so lucky.

Stay tuned over the next couple days I will have daily updates from training camp.

Hockey Ladder

2008-10-28T13:29:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-22T11:33:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-18T17:05:00.002-04:00

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?

2008-10-13T18:54:00.001-04:00

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....

2008-10-07T13:58:00.003-04:00

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

Pictures of my car added

2008-09-30T17:44:00.001-04:00

The pictures are at the very bottom of this page go ahead and check them out

Accident Update

2008-09-30T16:30:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone...I read the comments left on my blog and also some of the message boards around the web and want to thank everyone for their well wishes over the past couple of days. The past couple of days have been foggy and hectic from what I remember. Filing insurance claims and seeing doctors sucks that's for sure but at least I got some answers on my injuries and Joe's as well. The next 3 weeks are going to painful for both of us as we try to recover in time for training camp, as I mentioned before he will be playing for Brooklyn this season. I saw a chiropractor yesterday, he took some x-rays of my back and put me through a battery of tests and the x-rays showed alot of damage was done to my neck and lower back. My neck no longer has a flex in it, which you're supposed to have, instead the vertebrae are just in a straight line. The same can be said for the vertebrae in my lower back, no more flex just a straight line. On top of that the spine at the lower back and top of my neck has shifted over to the right and is completely out of alignment, so that needs to be fixed also. If that wasn't bad enough I have some torn muscles in my abs and lower back area. All of that to go along with a mild concussion, which makes putting together simple sentences a task sometimes. Joe is in a little better condition, but has some disc problems in his lower back that he will need to be re-examined for in a couple of days when the inflammation has gone down.

I got some treatment yesterday from my chiropractor and again this morning to start the re-alignment process. It's going to be a long, painful process to correct everything. Luckily, he is one of the best in New England and deals with alot of hockey players in the area so he knows what he is doing and can fix me quickly (we hope). The damage to my neck and back are so bad that he has me seeing him 6 days a week for the next 3 weeks to try to adjust everything just to get me back to somewhere around 75% for training camp. All the work on my neck and back is being done to correct it in time for camp and we're just hoping and praying the concussion will be healed in time for me to pass our physicals the first day of camp.

My dad took me over to get all of my personal belongings out of what used to be my car this morning. The stuff I was worried most about was my hockey equipment that had been smashed up in the trunk. My helmet is completely mangled, there's some damage to my shinpads and skates as well. But getting a chance to see the car in daylight was nothing short of horrifying. The front seat back are broke and the metal in the seats are twisted, the trunk is literally in the back seat, the gas pump is detached from the car, the muffler is in pieces, the rear bumper is smashed and mangled underneath the car. And that's just the back side of the car. The front grill was pushed in about 8 inches, the bumper is cracked, the hood is folded up like you fold a blanket. It's scary to look at, I took some pictures on my phone and will try to upload them onto the computer so you guys can see what it looks like now.

Walking away from the towing yard I was overcome with emotions and thoughts and I know my old man was too. I just couldn't believe I walked away from this accident. I mean to see metal crushed up the way my car is crushed makes me wonder how in the world I'm sitting here typing to all of you and not laying in a hospital bed. My chiropractor said someone who wasn't built with the back and neck muscles I have built up in the gym would have broken their neck and possibly their back. Those are words that are scary to hear when you're 24 and have the world in front of you.

I will keep all of you updated over the next few days and weeks as to what is going on with my recovery and Joe's as well. Feel free to email me and ask questions...

And again thank you for all the well wishes

Happy Birthday???

2008-09-28T13:02:00.002-04:00

So I went into Boston last night with Joe Lyle, my roommate from last season and my buddy Scott McDougall along with some other people to celebrate my 24th. Everything was great we had an awesome time and it was good to let loose and have some fun with everything being so hectic lately. On the drive home I had the scariest experience of my life without a doubt. Driving home with Joe in my passenger seat and Scott a few cars behind us we were in the middle lane, it was raining pretty hard so I was in one of the slow lanes. Out of nowhere I see a car about 200 feet ahead of us in the middle of the road facing the wrong way. I tried to swerve out of the way, avoided 2 cars pulled my E brake but couldn't avoid a 3rd car, hit him then within a split second saw headlights coming flying at us. I yelled to Joe to get ready for another hit and BAM! A lady hammers us from behind. At that point I looked around, my head was foggy from hitting the roof of my car, adrenaline flowing but still very woozy from the accident. Joe was able to help me get out of my car and over the the side of the road and I find a 5 car mess that turned a 4 lane highway into 1. When all of the sudden we hear more screaming tires and more crashes, 4 more cars joined the pile up and Scott was one of them.

Within minutes one of Greatr Boston's busiest highways was closed, traffic backed up for miles with ambulances, police cars and fire engines all over. After a few minutes of not knowing what to do I was strapped to a backboard and taken away in an ambulance with Joe right next to me. Scott was lucky to walk away with alot less damage to his car. My car looks like an accordian, the front end is all smashed up and my trunk is in the backseat. We were rushed into the hospital and taken right away, they were running tests on my head, back and kidneys they weren't sure if there was any internal damage and wanted to make sure. It was the scariest night of my life. The doctor in the ER said me and Lyle shouldn't have been able to walk away from a wreck like that, but because we play hockey and are in good shape our cores were able to absorb most of the blow.

So here I am three weeks before training camp with a very badly injured back and concussion symptoms. An entire summer of hard work and sacrifice was almost completely lost in a matter of seconds. Now I'm just hoping I'll be able to skate when camp opens. I'll be doing everything I can to get back to full health and be ready to storm into Danbury opening night on November 1.

The Big News Continued

2008-09-27T15:29:00.002-04:00

So I took some heat on a message board that I frequent about being traded to Copper City. In no way did I mean for it to sound that I didn't want to be a part of Danbury, if I didn't want to be there I wouldn't have gone to the EPHL press release back in March and I wouldn't have driven down in June for the pick a seat party and I certainly would never have signed there. To be completely honest I was extremely excited about going back to Danbury, my first pro camp was with the Trashers back in '05 but a bad knee kept me from passing physicals. I played 4 or 5 games there 2 seasons ago in the NEHL and I love the arena and the fans and everything else, with New York City less than an hour away it's a great place to play. However, professional hockey is a business and trades happen so it really doesn't matter how much I was looking forward to playing in Danbury this season because the trade happened and there's nothing I can do about it.

I know section 102 is going to give it to me good on opening night November 1st and that's alright I expected it anyway. But 102 is what makes Danbury what it is, it's a fun place to play and I can't wait to get back there.

The Big News

2008-09-26T14:14:00.002-04:00

Ok so it's taken more than a day like I had originally expected, but the press release hasn't been released yet so I don't know if I should spill the beans yet or not. Last week there was a trade between Danbury and Copper City that sent Brett Riley from the Hatters to the Chiefs for future considerations. What wasn't released was the fact that I was part of that deal as well. There were some issues at the time of the press release that didn't have everything ironed out between myself and the Chiefs, but now I can proudly say I am under contract and very eager to start the season in Rome, NY.

Going to Rome should hopefully be a good move for me as a player and I think I can continue my path to success and move up the hockey ladder. At this point in my career at the single A level it's all about developing and to develop I just need to play. I don't care where or for who, as long as I'm on the ice and playing I'm happy. I don't know a thing about Rome, NY except that it is near Syracuse, which makes it nice to know I won't be in the middle of no where.

The season is right around the corner and I've never been busier. The past couple days I have been doing some side work with my roommate from this past season in Valley Forge, Joe Lyle. As partners in crime we've been taking on the maintenance world for a family owned restaurant chain called Bickford's. It's good work and it's fun working with Joe, who will be playing in Brooklyn this season for the Aces. Most of the time the past couple days we don't have a clue what we're supposed to be doing but much like in the MAHL we've gotten by. Yesterday we became impromptu plumbers fixing a leak, while Wednesday we became mechanics trying to fix one of the company box trucks. But now that I think about it we weren't very good mechanics since we were pushing the box truck on the highway with the company van, but we got the truck back to the restaurant it needed to be at.

It's funny looking around at some of the rosters this season there will be plenty of familiar faces from last season in Valley. Lyle and a couple guys will be in Brooklyn, my old linemate Bill Haas will be in Danbury, I think 2 or 3 guys will be in Jersey and my other roommate will be in Exeter. It's always fun to play against guys you have a bond with, where not only points in the standings are on the line but pride is as well.

With a little over 3 weeks to go I'm counting down the days to October 22 and I'm excited to get going. Stay tuned!

Getting Back at It

2008-09-22T15:06:00.004-04:00

The NHL season is finally underway with training camps around the league opening this past weekend, which means the offseason is finally coming to a close. It's been a long summer this year and it feels great to know the season is right around the corner. Knowing that the season is approaching fast I knew it was time to get back on the ice and start working on my skills and conditioning again for the next 3 or 4 weeks until training camp opens.

This past summer from the middle of June to the end of August I was on the ice twice a day Monday thru Thursday plus working out and it has been the best offseason of my career. I was getting paid to shoot pucks on high end college goalies every morning then working out in the afternoon and going back to the rink every Monday and Wednesday to shoot on the areas top pro goalies and top division 1 tenders. It wasn't only shooting pucks, the goalie coaches myself and the other shooters were working for usually incorporated drills for us as well most days, especially against the pro guys.

When those skates ended I wanted to take some time off to just relax and enjoy the end of the summer. I took about 3 weeks off the ice where I didn't do any skill work or anything too heavy, focused on endurance in the gym and on the track and got my legs back underneath me. It felt great to be away from the rink for a little bit and take in the nice August weather. But I knew sooner or later the mini-vacation would end and I'd have to get back on the ice and back to work.

This morning I got back at it on the ice in Nashua, NH with 2 of my buddies, one has 5 years experience in the AHL and the other has played in the ECHL and is going to his first AHL camp this coming Sunday. There were supposed to be a lot more local pro guys there but for some reason it ended up being just us 3 wheeling around the empty arena working on passing, edge control and the dreaded conditioning. We skated for a little more than hour and it felt great to shake the rust off and get out there with the guys.

For the next few weeks that's what I'll be doing with my life every morning and I will have updates from the skates as more guys start showing up and the skates get more intense. Also stay tuned either later tonight or tomorrow for some BIG news!

Tales from the Road

2008-09-09T13:24:00.003-04:00

Hey guys along with bringing into the minds of pro hockey players I figured a lot of people wonder what it's like to be on the road for half of the season. Sometimes in nice sleeper buses where 4 rookies get crammed in the far back lounge area because the vets took up all the beds or maybe sleeping on a coach bus all night because the team didn't make reservations at a hotel for an away game that we traveled overnight to. Either way when you're on the road it's those bus trips that really pull a team together from watching movies to playing all types of card games, some I've never even heard of. You can win someones entire weekly paycheck or lose your own very quickly in a some poker games, I've watched a 6'5" fighter cram his way into the overhead carry on compartment and spent New Year's Eve on a bus coming home from Jamestown, NY with 14 other guys.

Trips can get long and boring and sometimes leave you questioning your sanity as you sleep on the floor of a coach bus on the way home from Tulsa, OK all the way back to Denver, CO. But when it comes down to it every guy on the bus would rather be crammed up in an uncomfortable seat for anywhere from 5 to 18 hours instead of sitting behind a computer at a 9-5 job. This past season I rode on 3 team buses, logging miles from Amarillo, TX to Oklahoma City, OK and from Knoxville, TN to Jacksonville, FL and countless miles across Pennsylvania with the Valley Forge Freedom from Oaks, PA to Jamestown, NY to Indiana, PA down to Pittsburgh and out to Wooster, OH all the way back to Oaks, PA. I lived in a 2 bedroom small apartment in Amarillo and a 3 bedroom luxury apartment in Knoxville, to finish in a very nice 3 bedroom place in Valley Forge with up to 7 or 8 roommates at times because of roster moves and guys coming and going all on the same day.

I'd love to be able to sit here and say I've seen it all but I can guarantee you that I'll see more things this season when the season starts in Danbury. It's just the way it goes, as soon as you say you can't possibly imagine anything crazier happening , something does. You haven't lived life until you've been sleeping in the back of a bus only to wake up to see Teddy's ass right in your face, and the only reason you wake up is because you hear his devilish laugh. Yes learning how to live on a bus can be tough but at the same time you look back and realize that it is the time of your life. We're getting paid to play pranks on each other, play cards and watch movies on long bus trips home from a huge shootout game winner in a barn with only 200 people in the stands because it was a Sunday afternoon in the middle of Pittsburgh and the Steelers were playing at home.

Ya I can honestly say nothing beats what I'm doing for a living right now. Check back soon to find out how I made a comfortable bed on the floor near the bathroom on our bus in Valley Forge.

Thoughts From A Player

2008-09-06T23:00:00.003-04:00

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.

Who I Am

2008-09-06T20:23:00.002-04:00

So anyone who is reading this is probably wondering just who the hell I am and why I'm blogging about minor league hockey. For starters my name is Jon Hutcheon and in case you haven't guessed by now I play professional hockey in the minors. I grew up in Massachusetts and hockey has always been a part of my life, so it was only a natural progression for me as a player to play high school then junior A then a bit in college and finally try my luck in the world of professional hockey. The point of this blog isn't to brag about what I'm doing or where I'm playing, it's simply to inform the many people out there who want to know what goes on behind the scenes and in the minds of young players trying to go as far as they can in the greatest game on earth.

A few months back I signed with the Danbury Mad Hatters of the new single A Eastern Professional Hockey League. At 23 years old it's not exactly where I expected myself at this point in my professional career, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned and besides it wouldn't be much fun if everyone's fairy tale came true. A couple injuries and a numbers crunch have kept me on the outside looking in at the Central Hockey League, but I'm confident that this season I'll prove myself as a strong AA player.

So now that you know where I play I'll let you know some more details. Like I said I'm 23 years old (I turn 24 on September 27th, so I expect some birthday wishes in a few weeks) and I live in Reading, MA. Over the summer it's business as usual with a couple skates and day and workout session mixed in between and of course a lot of partying with the hockey buddies who come home for the summer.

Feel free to email me any questions and I look forward to keeping everyone updated as the season draws near and get underway!