The most unexpected thing in Ryan Shepard's hockey life was when he started his first season in SMJHL. After many years of experience in junior hockey around Canada, he got drafted into the SMJHL at 18. The game as he knew it didn't change much, but the thing he wasn't ready for was the zombie-like players in SMJHL and SHL. He'd heard of these "inactives" in passing before but it was a shock when he experienced it on the ice initially. There was something off-putting about these players, it's like they weren't all there. The first time he lined up at the faceoff dot against one, it stared right past him with lifeless eyes as it glided into position to take the draw. It mechanically put its stick down and just waited. Shepard was uncertain how to deal with this and the ref told him "this is just how it is here, take the faceoff and he'll return to normal". He took a few seconds to collect himself and got ready for the faceoff. As soon as the puck dropped, the centre that was motionless in front of him sprung to life again and played like nothing was wrong.