06-12-2024, 12:46 PMWill2044 Wrote:

I just got drafted to the SMJHL! What an experience!

As I entered the locker room for the first time, I felt the rush of a new and unfamiliar environment around me, but also it already felt familiar in a sense. Not because I had been there before, but because the team had been so wonderful outside the facilities and before I'd even stepped foot in there.

Seeing all the stalls around the room and searching for my own name was nerve wracking. Was it there? Sure enough, yes, it was. Right next to my friend's stall too, fellow SMJHL draftee Nick Sansone. The jerseys for each player were hanging up on the back of the stalls, hanging over clothes hangers. Seeing the number 88 facing out at me under the writing that spelled out my surname set my nerve endings alight as I raced over and dropped my kit bag at the foot, quickly pulling over the shirt with pride and wearing it. I knew it would have to wait, however, until I was fully ready. But it felt comfortable, warm, mine.