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-
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Country Fest!!!
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
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
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Summer winding down
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
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
Friday, June 5, 2009
Superstitions, Summer and a New Hobby
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
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
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Why Do You???
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.
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.
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