Since I have been in this league for some time now - I feel like I have a lot to offer, I did not have to think twice when an opportunity to be part of this program came up. I chose young center Jakub Bruchevski ( @JaytheGreat ) to come and hang out with me. He is a Russian kid going towards SHL career, I´m from Finland, so I have a decent understanding on what could be going on inside his head - our nations are close to each other in more than few ways.

The first thing I wanted to talk with Jakub is the mental side, the game of hockey is at least 50% mental - need to be aware all the time. To demonstrate the importance of that, I took him out to get a cup of coffee. When he got the cup on his hand - I checked him. Coffee went flying all over the place and I could see Jakub was not pleased when I said to him: keep your head up all the time, but that is how you learn.

The second lesson is more on what happens off the ice, always come early. It´s what professionals do. The opportunity to teach Jakub that lesson came when he staid in my place over the night one day, I changed the time on his phone and watch to show 30 minutes ahead of real-time when he was sleeping. Then in the morning I stormed in and woke him up: we are late, get up get up. He quickly put clothes on and ran downstairs where I told him there is no rush. The look on his face was priceless, especially when I had nothing planned for that morning anyway, but I think he got the message and makes sure he is always on time.

Overall, our time together went well, I was able to share some valuable thoughts and I think Jakub was happy to hear them out. I have full confidence he will be an excellent SHL player in the future!