State Championship

      On Sunday, March 13th, my hockey team was in the State Championship at the United Center. It was a day full of excitement and dreams come true. We got a chance very few get to and that is to play on the ice where some of the greatest hockey players have ever played. It was also a game to determine the Illinois High School State Champion. GBN and New Trier were the only two teams left in the state. It was a hard fought battle that new Trier won in the third period. Although we didn't win, the day was one to remember. I don't think I will ever forget the day I got to play at the United Center in front of over 10,000 people. Friends family and students from both High Schools came to support the teams. The atmosphere was up-beat and intense. The only thing that was missing at the end of the day was the State Championship trophy. That was everything we had worked for this entire season. To come so far and loose was at first pretty depressing, but I like to look at the positives like all of our fans who cheered us on, and the fact that it was at the United Center and no one can ever take that away from us.
      The game itself wasn't our best. I felt we were more hyped up about the United Center than the actual game. Would we have won if it was the same stakes, but at a normal rink? I don't know, but you have to wonder. My entire team was excited. But what were we actually excited for? The focus of our team was supposed to be on the game, but I believe it might have drifted away. I know I loved looking into the crowd and seeing my friends and family, but who doesn't? It's supposed to be a fun experience.
     I have two years left of High School hockey and for the next to years I will have the same goal. Make it to the last game at the United Center. It isn't an easy task. Our season is long and takes up a lot of time. The team becomes a family. Working together to become champions. THis year we fell short, but I believe we are going to hungrier than ever in the next two years because I think I speak for everyone when I say that we aren't loosing at the United Center again. We will be back though and next time we won't fail.

Super Bowl isn't about the game...to me

This year the Super Bowl between the Steelers and Packers was a great game. It was close and jam packed with action. It was very close that came down to one play at the very end with the steelers needing a miracle 1st down. I believe that this was the first time the super bowl was a really great game. Both teams were so close in rankings and had incredible talent on both side, but I also believe that sometimes the super bowl is built up in a different way. The commercials. The commercials are usually what I really look foreword to because they are funny and new. Sometimes, you even get to see a brand new movie preview Tis year, it was transformers 3 and I am excited. I also saw some very good commercials.

One fo the best commercials I saw was when a guy was standing in his window taunting his dog with doritos and the dog runs at him and tackles him even though the dog is a tiny little thing. These commercials don't make me want to buy doritos, they just entertain me, but is that what the company was going for? Are they going for entertainment or to sell? Who doesn't know about doritos? Why spend so much money to get that message across? The whole advertising world is very interesting because it is amazing what companies will do to get their product out there. And what approach they take is always interesting. What are some commercials you liked?

Mentally and Physically Exhausted

Over the past two weeks I have played in 12 hockey games. Ten of those games were apart of two different tournaments my team was in. The first tournament was the thanksgiving tournament where we went 5-0 and won the championship. The second tournament was in Jamestown, New York. WE also played five game there, but lost in the championship. The other two games were games in between our tournaments.
Not only did we not have our entire team healthy for every game, but as the weeks went on, our team was getting sick. You could hear us coughing and groaning. That didn't stop us though from playing all out. My team is dedicated to winning at any cost. Even if that cost is total exhaustion. After these two weeks, I'm proud of what I did even though I got reall sick the last few days and had to miss some school because of it. I gave up sleep and school work to focus on hockey for the past few weeks becuase the last few weeks are important and mean alot. Now i have to get back on track or else these two weeks could have put me in a hole I might not be able to get out of. This hole could then impact my hockey playing. I don't want that so for now I am resting up and preparing myself to go on with the season. I missed one game on Wednesday because the team was better off without me. I was too sick to even walk and so I stayed home and rested. Hopefully it was the right decision.

Looking ahead, but not forgetting the past

For the first time this season, my hockey team lost. We lost to Lake Forest 2 to 1 and it was a brutal game. As a team we were not performing and could not finish the chances in front of the net.  It was also a problem that our coaches were giving the referees a hard time the entire game questioning every move the referee made and every call he made. When a coach does this it is never beneficial to us because the referee will never give us a call. We also took some really dumb penalties which cause them to score late in the game. We didn't have our legs either because our coaching staff, once again, only played two lines most of the game with an occasional 3rd and 4th going out. Up until this game we were undefeated and I think pretty proud of it. Loosing this game also puts us down in the standings and we are going to have to fight to get back to the top. It was going to happen sometime this year, but I don't think my team was ready for it. I think that's another reason we lost, because we were to full of our selves to look at reality. And reality is that no team is invincible.

Going foreword, we learn from it and can only work with what we know. What we know is that we can't get into a mind set like that ever again. If we want to be the best team at the end of the year which is very possible, we need to be more discipline. There have been too many dumb penalties with under two minutes to play in several games this year including this game. To be a championship hockey team, we always need to be serious and be ready to play. Like my coach always says, "We don't take nights off." If we can do this for a season we can be victorious.

This game was only a building block and a minor speed bump in a long season. One loss is never the end of the world and looking foreword to future games, we can only improve by fixing and improving mistakes we have made. My team can do it. We just need the mind set.

tie, tie, tie, tie....sick of the word tie yet?

A person is always told a tie is like kissing your sister in that it's never a good thing. Well this past week I had four hockey games and we tied each and every one of them.
Monday: tied 0-0
Wednesday: tied 1-1
Saturday: tied 1-1
Sunday: tied 3-3

Some people might say, "well at least you didn't loose!" For our hockey team, we expect to win and this was a record for all of us. In my entire career I have never had a streak like this one and it starts to get annoying because we can't win. Nothing is working for team and we just aren't clicking as a team right now and something needs to be done.

I think our defense is suffering because by the 3rd period we don't have our full 6 defenseman able to play. Whether they are tired or being sat for a mistake, our pairs aren't working. This could be the coaches fault or the players fault. My suggestion is that the defensive pairs change it up and we stick with it the entire game. If we don't then the entire third period is a guessing game and nothing ever good comes from this.

For myself, I need to make better decisions with the puck. I think in this entire week of ties, I have been on the ice for two of the goal for and one goal against. This is an okay statistic but isn't great. As a defenseman, when they score, you usually aren't doing a good job. That's why i need to make better decisions when the puck is in our zone. I'm not playing in the third period as much as I would like because of my decisions with the puck. Although they aren't always good, I shouldn't only get 2 shifts in the third period. I'm not the only one making mistakes, but I am the only one getting punished. It doesn't make sense. For now, though, I am not going to argue with my coaching staff because I am grateful to be on Varsity as a sophomore. I will try to improve and work my way up in status with the coaches. This way I'll rightfully earn my ice time.

That is what I as an individual on the team is thinking about, but I think the team should be thinking about what we have to do to win our next game and end this streak because I think we have had enough with the ties. To do this we really have to be more offensive and finish plays by putting the puck in the back of their net.

Tired of being Tired

  WATCH THIS VIDEO:
 TEENS NEED SLEEP

         We all know there is nothing better than sleeping in. There's also nothing worse than getting up at 6 am for school. Especially when you go to sleep past 11 PM the night before. In the video I have posted above, the news talks about a school that is starting school at 10 AM and ending later. I believe this is one of the best ideas a school has ever had. When I go to school most days, I struggle to concentrate in my first few classes because I haven't got enough sleep. In that video their students are having the same problem and their grades are reflecting it. Now some would say well go to sleep earlier. Well my response to that is that it's easier said than done. At least five days out of the week, I have hockey practice or game. Each are about an hour and a half long. I also usually get there an hour before. ALmost every single practice or game I have starts past 8:30 at night. I do not get home on most weekdays from practice or a game until at least 10:30. Then I still have stuff to do when I get home at 10:30 and I still have the adrenalin pumping. This wakes me up and makes me not tired. I then up going to be past 11:30.  Also, when I get home from school almost everyday and make my way up to my bedroom to do my homework, I almost always fall asleep on my bed. Sometimes i sleep all the way intil i have practice, which really screws me up because then I have to do my homework at 10:30 at night. But sometimes I sleep until dinner. Now my homework time is down to about an hour. In High School, you need more than one hour to do homework, so now I have to do homework after hockey. This now starts a cycle for my entire week.
         I believe that our school needs to have more than just once a month we get late arrival. I think it needs to be more. The benefits the school would see would be outstanding. The attendance would go up. The grades would go up. The amount of attention each teacher gets in the morning would sky rocket. So what measure should be taken? Well changing the school day would certainly send many people through the roof who don't believe we need more sleep. So i suggest in a more down to earth proposition that instead of only one late arrival once a month, we should have a late arrival every week. Why? Because students, for the most part, only get to sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays. That is not enough.
         There have been studies that show that as teens we are naturally going to be able to stay up later and want to sleep in. Why not structure the high school around that fact? I mean the High School is supposed to help us. If they really want to help, why not give us one more day where we can sleep in one or two more hours? It would make the difference. So what do you think about sleeping? Do you have a similar situation of always being tired? Do agree with my proposition?

My World

My entire life revolves around hockey. I play it at least five times a week and I can never get enough of it. I don't love anything more, other than my family, than hockey. Even though I know I will never go professional or play college division one at an amazing school, it's still my life. I dedicate most of my time to this sport. Why? Well, for one, it has built me as a person. It's the reason I am in shape. It's why I have close friends who are current and former teammates. It's why I have motivation to do the right things. So I can be eligible to play. It is more than just a game. Hockey is a lifestyle. It has shaped me into the person I am today. I have learned to think quick and always be on my toes. I have learned that being super serious isn't always the answer. Having a little comedy in your life is a good thing. When you play this sport, you play with teammates. These teammates are your family. You don't let anything happen to them. Sometimes they frustrate you or get on your nerves, but in the end, everyone on your team looks out for one another. I am sure many sports are like this with their teams, but in hockey, there is this certain chemistry that develops throughout the season and you actually become a family. Even today, the hockey team that I was on last year has a team thread on Facebook that was started a year ago. We don't even all play together any more, but we still are a family and we still talk to each other. We have been playing on the same team since fifth grade. We learned to love each other and learned to play the game together. And we have accomplished many things.

Hockey is my world.