Well, I have a new update. The team that I had a tryout with and have been staying with tried to tell me I had to leave on Friday morning because they have another player coming and need my apartment. I told them that I didn’t understand why they were doing this when they had a player who played hard, played with heart and with skill sitting in the office right now and that I wanted to stay for the rest of the season and play. It turns out that they offered me a contract on the spot for the rest of the season.
The money is, well, much lower then I had imagined and even lower than last season but I took the deal regardless. It is an opportunity for me to play everyday and to prove myself in a league that I have been striving to get into. If I never play professionally again after this season I will always know that I did what I had to do to keep the skates on my feet and to try to get into the best possible situations for my career. Of course if I play really well then who knows where this will end up.
The situation here is not ideal, the coach is lousy, the team is not experienced and there is no money to be had anywhere. The good news is that is presents a situation for me where I can put all of the negatives aside and find my game at a higher level then I ever have before. With confidence and presence I know I can be one of the best on the team and in the league but I have to just focus on my own job, not worry about the distractions and lead the team through my play. There are too many guys that talk about what they have to do but in the end they never do it. I think it is my job to be patient and know to let my play talk for me.
I have played 5 games for the team and we play again tonight. I played Friday as a defense-man, my first pro game as one. We still lost 8-1 but the paper said that even though we lost badly a positive was my play as a D man. Still no points for me and my confidence is a little shaken but I know I just have to not think about it, relax, play hard and not care about what others are thinking or saying which allows me to make good decisions on the ice and shoot the puck without worries.
I am excited about this opportunity and I hope that it will work out like I want to. I have had so many experiences through my career that I have been able to learn and develop from and it is time that my hard work pays off.
