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FinnRhys · 06-14-2020, 09:49 AM

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An Open Letter from FR Finn-Rhys

I have been giving this a lot of thought and after talking it over with my coaches, the support staff here in Edmonton and my mentors on the team, I have decided to finally put some of my thoughts on this season onto paper. Hopefully it will be cathartic and serve as an outlet since this has been a difficult season for me both personally and professionally.

First, I want to start by thanking my teammates and the coaching staff. They have been there for me through thick and thin and even though this has not been the season that I had hoped to have, they have constantly given me words of encouragement and helped give me the motivation to keep at it. The entire team has been amazingly supportive and if I started naming everyone individually it would literally encompass the entire team.

Second, I want to thank the fans for sticking with me, and with the team. We have been a bit more up and down this season than I think the fans expected but we are still in the hunt for a playoff berth and, if previous seasons are any indication, we are still in the thick of it and could make it deep into the playoffs. I especially appreciate the fans who went out of their way to make signs of encouragement during games and led cheers in the stands. You may think your voices are drowned out by the rest of the crowd or the game play but trust me, we hear you. I would also like to thank those special fans that go out of their way to say hi to me at the grocery store, at restaurants and any time I am out. I mean this sincerely, it always is a delight to get to spend a few minutes talking to you and hearing about how much this hockey team means to you and the city. I hope I have made your day as much as you have made mine.
And now, the real meat and potatoes of this open letter.

This has been an incredibly trying season, both personally and professionally. Personally, we have all had to deal with the effects of COVID and the deaths it has caused and the disruptions to our daily lives that we are still learning to adjust to. I am grateful that the league has been able to stay afloat even though many fans have found themselves watching us on the television instead of in the stands. I truly think that our ability as a league to continue play, especially when other leagues have made the decision to end or postpone their seasons due to COVID, has been a god send. While it is not perfect, we have been able to provide some type of normalcy to an otherwise abnormal situation and we have provided an outlet for those who need it.

Additionally, beyond COVID and closer to home, this season I had to deal with an intense family situation. Early this season my father in law, who lives with my wife and I, suffered a heart attack while I was on the road with the team. Thankfully the story had a happy ending and my father in law survived, albeit only due to the amazing work of the paramedics that arrived within minutes of my wife dialing 911. If they had arrived even a minute or two later than they did the story would have had a very different outcome. This event has had a significant impact on my personally. It was traumatizing to be on the road and not be able to be there for my wife or my father in law when they needed me most. It can leave you feeling incredibly powerless to know that there is nothing you can do to ease the pain or hurt someone you love is suffering through. Thankfully the Edmonton Blizzard franchise has an amazing support network and the team immediately stepped up and allowed me to take as much time off as I felt I needed. Their willingness to allow me to take time to take care of my family means the world to me. They provided resources and helped us navigate hospital bills and unforeseen expenses and they did so with understanding and incredible patience. I know that I am incredibly fortunate to play for an organization that cares so much for its players and our families. The members of this franchise truly are an extension of my family.

Professionally, this has been one of the most difficult of my career. I will be completely honest, I am just not as good this season as I have been previously. For whatever reason things just have not "clicked" this season and my performance has suffered. My rookie season, Season 51, I played on the third line and was pretty please with my performance given my limited minutes. I tallied 2 goals and 13 assists while contributing 77 hits and 45 assists. I had a positive +/- rating of +9 which made me incredibly proud, especially considering I was on the checking line. It certainly started to raise expectations for my future performance.

My sophomore season, Season 52, I made my way into the top two pairings and did admirably well. I felt like I contributed, even if my 5 goals and 21 assists were relatively meager compared to some of the great players we have on our team. I was able to produce on defense and make some key plays and earned 82 hits while blocking 62 shots. All around I feel like I was able to produce for it being only my second season in the professional ranks.

Last season, Season 53, was probably the best in my career and made me feel like I was turning the corner. My 8 goals and 27 assists set high expectations for me. Add in my +27 +/- rating and my contribution of 73 hits and 82 blocked shots and I really felt like I was on the cusp of meeting my potential as a consistent all-around two-way defenseman that could contribute on offense and make the tough plays on defense.

This season, however, none of that has come to fruition. Instead, this season has been nothing short of disappointing. I have regressed in every major statistical category. The only statistic I have actually improved upon is that I have taken significantly less penalties this season, accruing only 4 penalty minutes through 34 games. My performance this season has been nothing short of abysmal by any objective standard and I truly feel like I have let down my coaches, my teammates and my fans. It is one of the worst feelings to be doing your best and realize that, for whatever reason, it just has not been good enough this season. With only 2 goals and 6 assists this season, I am not even on pace to break my rookie production. What compounds my lack of offensive production is the fact that I have played just as poorly defensively this season, earning only 39 hits and 50 blocked shots to this point. With only 16 games remaining in the regular season, it is a fair assessment to say that this season has been a bust for me.

My poor performance on the ice and my personal tribulations off the ice have really made me begin questioning if this is for me. It is incredibly hard being away from my family and I feel shallow for it because, frankly, I am away from my family at my own choosing as I continue to pursue a professional hockey career. I would be lying if I said that performance on the ice did not impact my willingness to continue playing. Being on the top of my game and performing and helping the team is intoxicating and you just want to continue feeling that feeling, but it is absolutely tempered when you have played as consistently terrible as I have this season.

I do not write this to be all gloom and doom. I just want to be honest and candid on how this season has shaped my perspective. At the end of the day, however, my family and my teammates have continued to support me, and I continue to love playing hockey and having those relationships with people. I know that my doubts are ultimately temporary and that with increased focus and effort I will pull myself out of this rut, especially with the help of my teammates. All of this is to say, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to play hockey professionally and specifically for the Edmonton Blizzard. This season has really allowed me to realize how incredibly fortunate I really am to play the sport I love with such a great family and support network of coaches, teammates and fans. Thank you!

F.R. Finn-Rhys

FINN RHYS

[Image: hockey__27674.1518661372.1000.1200.jpg?c=2]

DeletedAtUserRequest · 06-14-2020, 08:32 PM

Good read.
+1

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