Little Bit of Everything

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

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-