Mental and physical preparation are key for any long and grueling season like we have here in the SHL. During the offseason I spend a ton of time making sure that I’m focused on growing both of those areas of my game to be ready for the start of the regular season. While the time spent in the gym and on ice doing skating training are incredibly important, the mental aspects of preparing for a long season are often overlooked by some of the other folks in the league. However, there are a few things that I have found that really changed and expanded my preparation for seasons. The first is to spend more time in the offseason in meditation. Relaxing the mind can help clear up some of the noise that exists from the previous season. Additionally, I’ve found that studying game tape can have a really big impact and influence on the kinds of things that I want to do in my physical training program in the offseason. So, certainly, every offseason I’m leveraging both physical and mental parts of my training program to get better for the upcoming season.