The Player’s Tribune
The day I became a defenseman
By Pierre Laroche-Durocher

 

With the draft approaching, sturdy defenseman prospect Pierre Laroche-Durocher revisits his past to relate the story of how he became the player he is now.

“There can’t really be players who actually choose to play defense!? It’s SO boring!”

That’s me, about ten years ago. My bantam AAA coach had just forced me into the third pairing under threat of benching me. Or worse, sending me down to AA where I’d “be able to do all kinds of fancy stuff, score tons of goals, and never be drafted.”

Let’s go further back for a little bit. From the day I discovered that the only thing I’d ever want in life was to play in the SHL to the day I realized I actually had a chance to make it (two stories for another time), I had been a forward. Be it down the middle or on either wing, I was killing it. That’s hardly a brag, any player with enough skill to have the slightest chance of making it to the big leagues was a clear step ahead of everyone else in the earliest days of his career.

But then came a kid we’ll call, for privacy purposes, Yvon Gagné. Yvon was an incredibly gifted locker-room cancer. We were both in our second Pee-wee year, and his father had changed jobs and moved 200 miles just so his son could play with my team, because we were “winners, and only winners will get noticed.” I mean, we indeed were winners (again, that’s a story for another time), but I found it a bit extreme at the time, and I find it a lot extreme now. I know plenty of guys who weren’t on that Pee-wee team who are still going strong with their careers.

Anyways, as soon as he arrived, Yvon was put on my wing. It was either that or the second line, coach had no reason to give him my 1C spot, no matter how much his father probably whined behind the scene. Here’s the kicker: it went terribly. You see, when I said I was killing it, I might have said we were killing it. Whoever my linemate were, most of my points came from collective effort and sick teamplay. Yvon wasn’t like that; he scored goals, and he scored them alone. We had no chemistry at all. No more collective effort, no more sick teamplay, and by the time midseason came, I had barely put up half the points I had at the same date a year before. My self-esteem took a huge hit and I started doubting myself and pilling up giveaways instead of goals, constantly putting my goalie and best friend Gaétan Tanguay in trouble.

Our teammates started talking. Not to my face of course, but I know they did. I had fallen from my metaphorical throne, and soon enough I lost my literal throne: the 1C spot. The coach obviously had to rearrange the line-up to spark me up, and Yvon had been producing on his own while I hadn’t. The problem is, I was a young, proud and immature teenager. I got both angry and depressed from it, and my production kept going worse and worse as my head and heart weren’t in it at all anymore.

I bounced a bit around the forwards line-up, but I saw each move as another failure, and my mind got stock in that vicious cycle. I actually make it sound worse than it probably was, else I wouldn’t have been kept in the line-up at all, but that’s how it looked like to me.

The team wasn’t going so bad nonetheless. Yvon had taken over, and Gaétan was still the reliable puckstopper he always had been. And it’s not like it was only the three of us on that team, there were 17 other pretty damned good players. But my troubles were still a heavy weight for a club I had led to success in the past, and we were a point shy of the playoffs come the last game of the regular season.

It was then, tied at 3 at the end of the third, that I lived what is, to this day, my worst hockey-related moment. I don’t even know why I was on the ice at such a crucial moment. Maybe we had been called for icing and then stuck in our end? What I am sure of is that the puck was indeed deep in our defensive zone, right behind Gaétan. Two players from each team were digging at it, them trying to take the puck out and shoot before the remaining ten seconds ran out, and my defensemen desperately trying to prevent them from doing so. A quick look at the clock, and I left my coverage at the point (I had been moved to the wing) to go get that puck and put it all the way down the ice.

That first part was easy; I came in and snatched the puck as easy as I’d snatch a lollypop from a baby. But on the clearing attempt, I fluked. Hard. I overthinked it, trying to aim as far from the goalie as possible, but without hitting the boards in case of a weird bounce, and lobbing it over the other players, but not over the glass… and so I barely touched the puck in my swing, only enough to put in on the tape of the very guy I had left alone to go dig the puck out. He launched an absolute rocket, and that was it for us.

Nobody was talking in the locker room. We were devastated, and I chief among all. Then Yvon said: “Well, just as they have all season long, Pee-pee Pierre screwed everything for everyone here, with no help from Gay Gaétan (yes, he was that puerile). Thanks for nothing.” They all left for the shower throwing me dark looks, except for Gaétan whose look was plain disappointment. Me, I went straight home, and that was it for my second pee-wee season.


Yvon left that summer, still looking for a winning team that his presence wouldn’t entirely ruin. That summer was long and lonely. To my surprise, I still made the cut for AAA the next season, as a first-year bantam. The coach sat me down and said: “You had a down year, but you and I both know what you used to do. You need to put all this stuff behind you and come back to your good version.”

That was easier said than done though. My dumb brain decided to interpret this not as “You can do it and I know it”, but instead as “You were really bad last year and need to be good now, or else.” So I overthought it again, and subconsciously tried way too hard to emulate Yvon’s play from the past year instead of going back to what made me successful in the past. A few games in, and that’s when the opening quotes from this story were heard: I was moved to defense. Just to be clear, it’s not that defense is an easier position or that our defensive corps was bad (far from either), it’s only a combination of injuries and despair to wake up my past self that made it happen.

As it turns out, it didn’t go so bad. It took all the pressure off from my shoulders as I didn’t feel the same expectations. But then the injured players came back and, even if I was not bad, they were simply better. So I was moved back to the wing by a coach filled with hope that I had gotten the confidence boost I needed. Apparently I didn’t, and this time I really was scratched, and it was brutal. Even more brutal that the team started winning a lot of games. We made the playoffs and made our way to the finals without too much opposition.

You’ll think I’m kidding when I tell you who we faced. Why of course, in the first game of that ultimate series, in the faceoff circle, was Yvon Gagné, looking right at the healthy scratch I was with the biggest, ugliest grin on his face. Well not only was he making me live a nightmare for the first five games of the series, he was also still lighting that red light behind Gaétan a lot. And, to make it worse than worse, his game winning goal in the 4th game came right after he slewfoot one of our top defensemen.

Thus I was called in, with a series tied at 2, to take up once again the mantle of a member of the rear-end brigade. It went, again, surprisingly not so bad for the first two periods. Then, halfway in the third and trailing by one, Yvon came in our zone on my side with a lot of speed. I knew just what he was going to do, but I wouldn’t cheat on my positioning in case I was wrong. That made it way harder to actually stop him and I failed miserably. He went past me and put it top shelf, breaking our legs and taking that game 5-3.

The coach came to me after the game. I said at once “It’s all on me. We had built a lot of momentum, then I let him pass and it killed us. I know it and I’m sorry. Worse is, I knew he was going to do just that.”

“First of all, said the coach, we’re a team. We all lost that game together. And second of all, that’s why I really came. I saw it, when he came your way, that you fought your instinct and that’s why he beat you. Sometimes it’s good to trust your instinct. Just like a mother bear protecting her cubs, you need to do what’s right to protect your net.”

I found the analogy a bit weird, but acquiesced. And that advice still guides me to this day.

See, the next game was a game with no tomorrow for us. It was do or die and we weren’t done living yet. We came out strong, and with one minute left to the game we were ahead 4-3. We were all pretty confident, they had scored on a few lucky bounces and Yvon didn’t have a single point yet. There was no way we would let this one slip. But Yvon wasn’t going to go down that easy. Another discreet case of slewfoot, and he was coming with the puck on a 2-on-1. Who was the poor guy defending? Well me, of course.

I knew I was supposed to cut the pass option and leave the shot to Gaétan. But I also knew that there was absolutely no way Yvon was passing on that one. Gaétan wasn’t particularly tall, and would be beaten top shelf.

But I wouldn’t let him down this time. Yvon faked a shot to drop him to butterfly position as Gaétan was too prompt to do (that was sadly what made his downfall as a short goalie). But he never got to the actual shot. As soon as he’d lifted his foot for the fake, I was abruptly changing courses. With both his eyes locked on the goal, and his mind probably already planning his celly, he never even realized I was coming for him.

His back touched the ice before his foot. Nothing illegal, nothing dangerous, I just got him good. Real good. The entire building held its breath as he lost his. I just stood there, looking him down while Gaétan sprung from the blue paint and lobbed the puck away, where our uninjured slewfooted teammate who was behind the play following his fall easily took it and put it into an open net. I didn’t even budge, I kept looking at Yvon until the horn sounded and the crowd went wild.

I honestly don’t remember much of the rest of that night, except that I was acclaimed as a hero as soon as the locker room door closed. I realized then that there was more to hockey than dangles and snipes, and that I was pretty damned good at it. I don’t remember much of game seven neither. I know that Yvon wasn’t the same, and I know that we lost anyways. Sometimes the puck just doesn’t roll for you.

So yes, bantam me, there actually are players who choose to play defense. Maybe it’s less flashy, but it’s still as fulfilling.









Word count: 2106
Related to the next draft so should qualify for the x2 bonus

You should change the font color xD

You should change the font color xD

I thought I did? It was black at first but I made it white

not many people use dark theme. Best to change your theme to myIPB in the bottom right

Ben Waters Jr. || LW || Edmonton Blizzard || 312 TPE
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 225 lbs
Birthplace: Montreal, Canada

Transactions
S64: Drafted by Kelowna Knights with the 24th overall pick in S64 SMJHL Entry Draft

Stats

Awards




Player Page
Update Page

Oh, that explains a lot. I thought it was the default one. I'll try and fix it

Fixed it!

you should also clarify that this is your first media article so you get maybe 4x the pay

Thank you all for the amazing sigs & player cards
 

S31 Eduard Selich  || F || Buffalo Stampede || Peak: 1252
Name: Eduard Selich
Hometown: Fulda, Germany
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 195 lbs
Number: 19
Age: 29
------------------------------------------------------------
Regular Season Career Statistics:
SMJHL:
S30 PGF | GP 50 | G 15 | A 12 | P 27 |  -3 | PIM 8 | HIT 38 | SB 5 |
S31 PGF | GP 50 | G 21 | A 20 | P 41 |  -6 | PIM 18 | HIT 42 | SB 20 |
SHL:
S32 BUF | GP 50 | G 17 | A 19 | P 36 |  +11 | PIM 6 | HIT 54 | SB 13 |
S33 BUF | GP 50 | G 21 | A 25 | P 46 |  +14 | PIM 12 | HIT 44 | SB 21 |
S34 BUF | GP 50 | G 28 | A 35 | P 63 |  +23 | PIM 2 | HIT 3 | SB 22 |
S35 BUF | GP 50 | G 17 | A 17 | P 34 |  -6 | PIM 12 | HIT 13 | SB 17 |
S36 BUF | GP 50 | G 23 | A 24 | P 47 |  +3 | PIM 2 | HIT 37 | SB 15 |
S37 BUF | GP 50 | G 21 | A 27 | P 48 |  +9 | PIM 25 | HIT 74 | SB 15 |
S38 BUF | GP 50 | G 28 | A 27 | P 55 |  +4 | PIM 44 | HIT 42 | SB 12 |
S39 BUF | GP 50 | G 18 | A 21 | P 39 |  +1 | PIM 10 | HIT 48 | SB 23 |
S40 BUF | GP 50 | G 7 | A 15 | P 22 |  -26 | PIM 9 | HIT 48 | SB 11 |
S41 BUF | GP 50 | G 18 | A 17 | P 35 |  +10 | PIM 2 | HIT 5 | SB 11 |
S42 BUF | GP 50 | G 20 | A 21 | P 41 |  +10 | PIM 0 | HIT 5 | SB 10 |
S43 SEA | GP 50 | G 19 | A 19 | P 38 |  +8 | PIM 12 | HIT 47 | SB 7 |
------------------------------------------------------------
Playoff Career Statistic:
SMJHL:
S30 PGF | GP 17 | G 8 | A 13 | P 21 | +7 | PIM 2 | HIT 10 | SB 3 |
S31 PGF | GP 4 | G 0 | A 1 | P 1 | -5 | PIM 0 | HIT 4 | SB 2 |
SHL:
S32 BUF | Did not qualify
S33 BUF | GP 5 | G 4 | A 1 | P 5 | +1 | PIM 0 | HIT 0 | SB 0 |
S34 BUF | Did not qualify
S35 BUF | GP 4 | G 2 | A 2 | P 4 | -3 | PIM 0 | HIT 5 | SB 1 |
S36 BUF | GP 7 | G 6 | A 2 | P 8 | +6 | PIM 2 | HIT 10 | SB 1 |
S37 BUF | GP 7 | G 2 | A 0 | P 2 | -3 | PIM 0 | HIT 12 | SB 0 |
S38 BUF | Did not qualify
S39 BUF | Did not qualify
S40 BUF | Did not qualify
S41 BUF | GP 7 | G 2 | A 1 | P 3 | -4 | PIM 0 | HIT 1 | SB 2 |
S41 BUF | GP 5 | G 1 | A 1 | P 2 | -7 | PIM 0 | HIT 0 | SB 0 |
S43 SEA | GP 6 | G 3 | A 0 | P 3 | -3 | PIM 4 | HIT 7 | SB 2 |
------------------------------------------------------------
IIHF Round Robin Career Statistic:
S30 GER | GP 10 | G 0 | A 0 | P 0 | -4 | PIM 2 | HIT 3 | SB 0 |
S31 GER | GP 10 | G 2 | A 1 | P 3 | +2 | PIM 2 | HIT 4 | SB 1 |
S32 GER | GP 10 | G 5 | A 4 | P 9 | +4 | PIM 0 | HIT 2 | SB 3 |
S33 GER | GP 10 | G 2 | A 1 | P 3 | +4 | PIM 2 | HIT 4 | SB 2 |
S41 GER | GP 10 | G 4 | A 1 | P 5 | -2 | PIM 0 | HIT 0 | SB 1 |
S42 GER | GP 10 | G 1 | A 2 | P 3 | -2 | PIM 0 | HIT 9 | SB 1 |
------------------------------------------------------------
IIHF Medal Round Career Statistic:
S30 GER | GP 1 | G 0 | A 0 | P 0 | +0 | PIM 0 | HIT 0 | SB 0 |
S31 GER | GP 3 | G 0 | A 0 | P 0 | -2 | PIM 0 | HIT 1 | SB 0 |
S32 GER | GP 3 | G 1 | A 2 | P 3 | +4 | PIM 0 | HIT 0 | SB 0 |
S33 GER | GP 1 | G 0 | A 0 | P 0 | -1 | PIM 0 | HIT 1 | SB 0 |
S41 GER | GP 1 | G 0 | A 0 | P 0 | -1 | PIM 0 | HIT 0 | SB 0 |
------------------------------------------------------------
Transactions:
S30 | Drafted #20 in the SMJHL Entry Draft by the Prince George Firebirds
S30 | Signed a 1yr/1.5M deal with  Prince George Firebirds
S31 | Drafted #2 in the SHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Stampede
S31 | Signed a 2yr/2M deal with Buffalo Stampede
S32 | Signed an 23yr/23M extension with Buffalo Stampede
S34 | Contract Adjustment: 3yr/9M deal with Buffalo Stampede
S41 | Signed an 1yr/3M extension with Buffalo Stampede
------------------------------------------------------------
Noteable events:
S30 | Voted Alternate Captain of Prince George Firebirds
S30 | Organized WJC
S30 | Got the call to play for Team Germany
S30 | Won Zach Miller Trophy (Most Dedicated)
S30 | Won Ron Bolt Trophy (Most Sportsmanlike)
S30 | Won Ronan O'Keefe Trophy (Playoff Points Leader)
S30 | Voted S30 PGF Team MVP
S31 | Voted Captain of Prince George Firebirds
S31 | Named Germany Federation Head and won the Silver Medal
S31 | Nominated for Brandon Holmes Trophy (Top Defensive Forward)
S31 | Nominated for Zach Miller Trophy ( Most Dedicated)
S32 | Voted Alternate Captain of Buffalo Stampede
S32 | Nominated for the Ryan Jesster Trophy ( ROTY)
S32 | Named to the SHL All-Rookie Team
S32 | won the Gold Medal with team Germany
S33 | Named Buffalo Stampede Co-GM
S33 | Damien Littleton Trophy Nominee
S33 | Won Lance Uppercut Award
S34 | Named 1st Team All-Star in the SHL
S34 | Damien Littleton Trophy Nominee
S34 | Aidan Richan Trophy Nominee
S42 | Named Buffalo Stampede Co-GM


Otto Selich||GM||GER S31-S34(26-9-2)||BUF(S33-S34,S42-)||1 Gold & 2x Silver
-----------------------------------------------------------
Round Robin Career Statistics:
S31 GER | 6-4-0 | 18 points | #1 seed Group A
S32 GER | 8-1-1 | 22 points | #1 seed Group A
S33 GER | 7-3-0 | 21 points | #1 seed Group A
------------------------------------------------------------
Medal Round Career Statistics:
S31 GER | 2-1-0 | Silver medal | lost to USA in the Gold medal game
S32 GER | 3-0-0 | won Gold Medal
S33 GER | 0-0-1 | lost in Quarterfinals to Finland


S45 Alexander Selich || D || || Colorado Raptors || Peak: 2134
Name: Alexander Selich
Hometown: Fulda, Germany
Height: 6'10"
Weight: 280 lbs
Number: 19
Age: 18
------------------------------------------------------------
Regular Season Career Statistics:
SMJHL:
S43 KEL | GP 9 | G 1 | A 1 | P 2 |  1 | PIM 0 | HIT 4 | SB 0 |
S44 COL | GP 50 | G 12 | A 14 | P 26 |  8 | PIM 4 | HIT 23 | SB 11 |
S45 COL | GP 50 | G 17 | A 16 | P 33 |  2 | PIM 12 | HIT 35 | SB 7 |
------------------------------------------------------------
Playoff Career Statistic:
SMJHL:
S43 KEL | GP 6 | G 1 | A 0 | P 1 | 0 | PIM 2 | HIT 2 | SB 0 |
S44 COL | GP 16 | G 7 | A 5 | P 12 | +3 | PIM 2 | HIT 3 | SB 6 |
------------------------------------------------------------
IIHF Round Robin Career Statistic:
S43 GER | GP 14 | G 0 | A 3 | P 3 | 2 | PIM 4 | HIT 7 | SB 0 |
S44 GER | GP 14 | G 1 | A 1 | P 2 | -10 | PIM 8 | HIT 7 | SB 4 |
------------------------------------------------------------
IIHF Medal Round Career Statistic:
S43 GER | GP 1 | G 0 | A 0 | P 0 | +0 | PIM 0 | HIT 1 | SB 0 |
S44 GER | GP 2 | G 2 | A 1 | P 3 | +1 | PIM 2 | HIT 2 | SB 0 |
Transactions:
S44 | Drafted #1 in the SMJHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Raptors
S44 | Signed a 1yr/3M deal with  Colorado Raptors
S45 | Drafted #22 in the SHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Stampede
S45 | Signed a 3yr/1M deal with Buffalo Stampede
Noteable events:

3. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 5 (Maximilian Wachter, Alexis Metzler) at 16:25
5. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 6 (Steven Stamkos Jr., Brynjar Tusk) at 19:48
8. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 7 (Brynjar Tusk, Alexis Metzler) at 13:55
9. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 8 (Anton Fedorov, Mikelis Grundmanis) at 15:12
10. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 9 (Dickie Pecker) at 19:43 (Empty Net)

not many people use dark theme. Best to change your theme to myIPB in the bottom right

omg thank you for this. It's so much better.

you should also clarify that this is your first media article so you get maybe 4x the pay

Yeah no apparently it doesn't work that way so I'll try to make another article not on the draft and try to use that first media bonus there even if it's actually my second by a couple hours, all the while arguing why it makes no sense to not give at least 3x (100% bonus for first article and 100% bonus for being related to the draft instead of x2 x2 = x4)

Literallly you people who use the light theme are all fucking monsters and I want nothing to do with you. Darkness 4 lyfeeeeeee.

Need a sig :-/