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Prompt 2: From the perspective of your player, talk about a game day or some game days and what you did before, during, and after the game.

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First regular season game in the SMJHL. I would be lying if I said I was feeling calm and controlled that day. The preseason had helped a lot to figure out my nerves and get a feel for the competition, but the very first game is always special.

I woke up before my alarm went off but luckily by only 30 minutes or so. Took a short jog around the neighborhood to try to wake myself up fully. It seemed to do the trick. I have never been one to eat a full and healthy breakfast like I should. I’m just not that hungry in the mornings. So after having some quick cereal I started to try and mentally prepare for the game.

What I did was I set some goals for myself, to focus on specific parts on my game. While a hat trick would be amazing it is not very realistic. I decided on two goals:

• Do not take any unnecessary penalties
  
• Do not give up the puck in the defensive zone
  

These might sound obvious to some, but I like to keep it simple and attainable.

After lunch I decided to go down to the rink to do some off-ice stick and puck handling to start getting into the groove of things. At this point I had calmed down a little bit and started focusing more on the game as if it were any other game. I have played thousands of games in my life of varying degrees of importance so I was hoping that I would be all good as soon as I stepped out onto the ice. Like usual.

When the entire team had arrived before the game we ran some laps and juggled a football(soccer) between each other before I decided to head into the locker room to gear up and listen to the coach’s motivational speech of the day. Then suddenly I was in line with the guys, waiting to enter the ice with music blasting and people cheering. It was pretty surreal. Introductions were made and I took my place on the bench as the ref dropped the puck for the initial face off.

My first shift went, well, let us just say that I did not fulfill my second goal to 100%. I retrieved the puck in our defensive zone after a dump-in by Carolina, travelled to the neutral zone aaaand my first pass was intercepted. The puck traded team a few times until Carolina moved into into our zone again. I was able to read the play and intercept a pass but immediately I again gave away the puck, this time in our zone. Luckily it did not lead to a goal, but I was quite upset that I had messed up that early. I tried to keep my head up and tell myself that “that is the only one they will get”.

After that I did better for about 10 game minutes. Remember that first personal goal I had? Well, right after Carolina scored their first goal they won the face off and moved into our zone again. I guess I got a little too cozy with the Carolina players because I was given a holding minor. I would not say that I agreed with the ref but I figured it was best not to argue. To top it all off, Carolina scored on the power play. I made my skate of shame back to the bench and hoped I would still be welcomed. Which of course I was, but it always feels bad to be the cause of a goal against.

I successfully straightened my game out after the first period. I felt a lot more comfortable and while it is not a game that will appear in my highlight reel I was satisfied with my work after the penalty. Unfortunately we lost in the end. I guess you cannot win them all.

We talked about the game in the locker room. I got some pointers to work on and decided to stay a little longer after the game to practice my shooting. Only for about another 30 minutes to wind down.

Later in the day I joined some of the guys for a dinner with the rookies at a local restaurant. We chatted a bit about the game but nothing too serious and it quickly devolved into bad jokes and stories about the other guys’ first games.

It was a great experience and I’m still really happy to be in Vancouver. I’m gonna work with the coaches to improve my game and make sure I stop hugging people too hard.