Steemit's First Professional Hockey Player!

 

     I have always been one to read and follow social media sites like reddit, twitter and facebook.  However, I have never been a big contributor.  Thanks to Steemit, I have decided to take the plunge!!!  I also decided to write this article because I recently turned 30, and while I have done and accomplished a lot it is good to reflect and reminisce as I am never satisfied!  It's good to never be complacent!  What the mind can conceive, I can achieve, as long as the heart believes! I truly believe that so Steem on!

     NOW, I play ice hockey for the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins of the AHL.  Yes, THE affiliate of the 2015-16 Stanley Cup Champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins!  I just finished my 6th year professionally, and so far have spent my entire career in the minor leagues!  I have played all over the US and Canada on my journey to one day play in the NHL.  

     HOWEVER, before I go into my hockey story (the part about playing in Las Vegas is pretty good)!  A comment on crypto's, and a little more about myself because hockey does not define who I am.  I first discovered Bitcoin in 2012, and it changed my life drastically.  It gave me hope for a world controlled by a cruel elite, with fiat money and central banking as their greatest weapon.  The evolution of money and finance is long overdue!  I believe in the success of many crypto-currencies and assets, and I believe them to be as revolutionary as the Internet itself.  As long as we can take the tech mainstream, THAT IS THE KEY, network effect and awareness!!!

     Real ruick a little bit more about myself. I have a degree in Finance, I am an Eagle Scout, a fur father (I have a  dog), and I am getting married in 2 weeks to the love of my life soul mate! 

     During the hockey off season, I live in Lakewood, CO basically West Denver.  I have about as many interests as my body can keep up with.  I love to try everything, within reason!  I love the outdoors: hiking, mtn biking, rock climbing, mountaineering, snorkeling, spearfishing, and currently learning white water kayaking.  I love a lot of sports hockey, golf, table tennis, etc.  Some of my favorite experiences that I highly recommend include: skydiving in Las Vegas (why gamble with money when you can gamble with your life was their motto), swimming with Whale Sharks and Spearfishing near Cozumel, Mexico.  Climbing Torrey's Peak a CO 14'er (14,000+ ft. mtn.) in late Spring with crampons and an ice axe (Don't climb down the wrong couloir!  Very steep and scary experience!) and teaching English in a rural school in Guatemala.  

 

 

 

 

     Things I still need to do (maybe you can help me!): wing suited base jumping, highlining, big wall climbing, Ninja Warrior and Red Bull Crashed Ice (I want to win!!).   I love to travel, learn, read, volunteer and meet people.  I try to be charitable.  I help raise money for the rural school I worked at in Guatemala called Project Genesis, please donate, https://www.gofundme.com/80t3eg (I haven't been proactive with the website lately, but it works.  We normally raise money during hockey games throughout the season!).  I've also helped collect thousands of phones for Cell Phones for Soldiers, https://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com (please donate your old phone), participated in St. Baldrick's Day, Movember and the Cleveland Cavs Flashes of Hope "Big Shots & Little Stars" Fundraiser.  As well as the Cleveland Cavs Celebrity Golf Fundraiser Tourney at Firestone, they ask some hockey players to play too!   I want to hear your story Steemit!  Lets keep this site STEEMIN'!  

     NOW, for my hockey story!  I first fell in love with the game at a birthday party, where I got to skate for the first time at the age of 5.  At the time, my family lived in Las Vegas and there wasn't much hockey in the desert.   Conveniently, when I was 7 we moved from the Las Vegas to Albany, New York in the middle of the winter.  What a change for a little kid, and the beginning of what would turn out to be a career.  Most kids in New York played hockey in the winter time, much like they do in Canada.  So that's what I did.  I played all the time!  In the driveway, the basement, the street, on the pond and I was fortunate to have dedicated parents who took me traveling to play the game!  My father even built a 20x40 ft. ice rink in our backyard, and put lights in some trees to light up the ice at night!  I would come home after school and play until night and then some more under the lights.  Playing hockey year round I became pretty skilled.  From New York, we moved to Philadelphia, where I started playing AAA travel hockey with the Jr. Flyers at the age of 11.  This is where I played for the next 7 years developing my game, and growing up as a young person.  Playing for the Jr. Flyers we traveled all over the country playing against elite teams all over the northeast, mid-west and Canada.  Sometimes even playing against teams from the west coast out of California and Colorado.  It was fun to be able to travel and play the game you love with all of your best friends growing up!   

      After high school, I decided to go play Jr. hockey.  In the U.S., this is generally for players who wish to play college hockey (in Canada Major Junior hockey is for players looking to play pro).  I played for two years with the Green Mtn. Glades of the EJHL based out of Burlington, VT.  I had a very successful Jr. career playing in all-star games both years.  Captaining the team my second year, and being named defensive player of the year of the EJHL!  This helped me earn a scholarship to play Div. 1 hockey at the Univ. of Massachusetts-Lowell.  A well known hockey school that competes in Hockey East against the likes of BC, BU, UNH, Maine, UVM, etc.  One year I was even nominated for the Hobey Baker award, basically the Heisman of college hockey.  At the end of my 4 years, I graduated with a degree in Finance and wanted to continue my pursuit to play in the NHL.  Being 5'8'' and 170 lbs.  I am a very undersized defenseman and was never drafted, therefore being very disadvantaged in the pro world.  I've always worked to move up the ranks the hard way, and against all odds.   

      I started my pro career with the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL, that's AA pro hockey a step below the AHL which is a step below "The Show" (NHL).  Yes, being fresh out of college and going to play hockey in Las Vegas was THE Shit!  

     However, my very first game was eye opening for me.  Now, just to set an understanding, minor league professional hockey is a very cutthroat business.  Guys are out to hurt you, teammates will root against you, and the travel/schedule can burn you out!  You make little money, it's almost impossible to have a relationship because you're on the road a lot, and you could get called up or sent down and be living in a different city in a hotel on a moments notice (I once lived in a hotel for 4 months), but I'm not complaining I've loved just about all of it!  They say, "great people, shitty business."  Anyways, back to my first game!  We were on the road playing against the Stockton Thunder, and they have a great crowd about 7-8,000 people!  I was so amped.  It really is like a drug.  During the game, there were 6 fights, and the fans were practically in the bench screaming in your ears.  I had some lunatic nut job chasing me around the ice making native war calls while he was trying to bury me.  It's a good thing I could always hear him coming!!  I'm a small skilled player which makes me a target for goons.  We won the game, and as we were heading down the tunnel to the locker room the guy in front of me got buried with an EXTRA-large Pepsi.  He was one of our fighters and he absolutely lost his mind.  Now, to explain to you the mindset of some of these fighters a lot of them don't have an off switch.  What I mean by that is they could be beating the shit out of somebody, and they go into a mental zone where you can't tell them to stop.  Those guys are the scariest and most feared.  I have played with a bunch of hockey heavy weights including: Pierre-Luc Létourneau-Leblond, Patrick Bordeleau, Mike Hoffman, Tom Sestito and Bobby Robins.  YouTube any of them for some great hockey fights!  Here they are fighting each other, how convenient!

     Anyways back to the game, so this guy gets buried with a huge Pepsi and he loses his shit.  He manages to spear this fan in the gut with his stick.  It was like something out of the movie Slap Shot, and it was happening right in front of me!  

     The fans erupted when our guy speared this fan, and beers started to rain upon us.  I quickly ran into the locker room where it felt safe!  The police came down to the locker room to demand an apology from several players to certain fans or be charged with assault!  Of course, that is just what the fans wanted, and the players had to give in.  So in my first game, there were 6 fights, I was chased around by a steroid fighting nut job, and I had been doused in what tasted like Miller Lite.  I honestly thought I had just joined the UFC and Circus Circus on tour based out of Las Vegas not the Wranglers and not hockey.  Luckily, things toned down a lot in my next game, and I settled in.  I was playing pro hockey!   Granted I was playing AA pro hockey and making 450 dollars a week.  They give you a place to live, and in Vegas they treat you as if you are a major leageur!  I got the chance to see just about every Cirque de Soleil, magic, peep and freak show you can see on the strip and for FREE (I know this whole part is shallow, but it was fun).  I partied at just about every night club, day club, and pool club there is.  We were once comped the Basketball Suite at the Palms, and had D-floor tables for Calvin Harris' Birthday at XS (club at the Wynn Hotel & Casino).  I had the chance to party with all kinds of people: Carrot Top, Blue men of the Blue Man Group (there's more than 3 of them), Cirque de Soleil folk, etc.  I got to meet 3 Six Mafia, Mike Tyson, E (Kevin Connolly the guy from Entourage) Holly Madison (my favorite) and Daniel Negreanu (Canadian hockey loving poker player, great guy).  He was at a table next to us with about 6 girls.  He said I could talk to any of them, but one or we were going to have to have a hockey fight!  To get away from the Strip, I would escape to Red Rock Canyon.  

     What I loved about Las Vegas was that within 20 minutes of my home I could be on the Strip or I could be in the middle of the mountains and the desert without a soul in sight.  I highly recommend living in Las Vegas to anyone, it's affordable and nice depending on where you settle down.  Anyways, in my first year pro I managed to play in the ECHL All-Star game.  While I never got called up in my first year it never deterred me and I returned to Las Vegas for a 2nd season.  Getting to wear an A (for assistant captain), and now being more seasoned I had a great year!   

     I got my first call up to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, affiliate of the NY Islanders.  While it was a very short stint there about 1 week and 2 games.  It was my first taste of the AHL.  I was beginning to earn a reputation, and not to long after being sent down I was called up by the Lake Erie Monsters out of Cleveland, affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche.  There, I fit right in from the start, and I finished the year with the Monsters, and earned myself my first AHL contract with them for the following season.  Unfortunately, we missed the playoffs by 1 point!!!  However, that allowed me to return to Las Vegas for the playoff run to the Kelly Cup Finals!  Devastatingly, we lost in the finals.  I will never forget the moment.  I hate losing!  My second year pro I played about 90 games total between both leagues.  I made strides that year.   

     As incredible as my 2nd year was my 3rd was just about as devastating.  I was invited to the CO Avs NHL camp.  It was going to be my first NHL camp!  I trained my ass off that summer, and I was psyched for the opportunity.  THEN, there was the NHL lockout.  I was devastated, no camp!  I headed to Cleveland for Lake Erie's camp, and I was able stick with the team which is impressive because the AHL gets very crowded when the NHL is down!  

     One of the most difficult things about pro hockey is handling the things you can't control.  There are many uncontrollables in the business.  There are coaching and management changes that can lift or bury you, there are injuries and of course even lockouts!  I managed to experience them all in one year.  We had a new coach that year, and he did not like small defensemen.  Between his views, my play and the lockout I found myself in and out of the line-up.  Christmas break came, and I tried to regroup myself.  The first game back we were playing against the Rochester Americans in Buffalo at the Sabres brand new arena.  It was a sold out game of about 18,000 people with Sabres fans dieing for some hockey!  They put me on offense for this game because we were short on forwards, and needed the bodies.  In the first period of the game, I got buried by this guy Nick Tarnasky (I do not like him).  

Nick Tarnasky

     It was a dirty hit.  I basically got elbowed in the head from behind in open ice.  While I bounced back up and finished my shift the whole moment felt like slow motion.  I remember looking up in the stands from the ice wondering what the hell just happened?  I felt really out of it the rest of the game, and the next day I was not okay.  I suffered a vestibular concussion.  This is another story in itself, but I had vertigo, headaches and a scrambled brain for the next 4 months.  Fortunately, after a lot of rehab, I returned at the end of the year to play a little bit, but my season was pretty much lost.    

     Professional Hockey is hard.  It is a mental and physical rollercoaster.  Literally one day you think and feel like you're a step away from the NHL, and the next you don't even know if you will be able to play again.  There was a time when I didn't even care if I played hockey again! I just wanted to feel healthy and normal again.  It's a tough mental situation to describe to go from such highs to such lows.  One can find themselves looking at other careers and jobs quickly for fear of never playing again.   

     After my 3rd year and all my hard work, I found myself back in the ECHL at the start of my 4th season, it was AGAIN devastating.  It was like I was back to square one, but I had gained a lot of knowledge and experience on my journey!  My agent and I talked about it, and we decided to go with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.  I was playing for the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL, and luckily half way through the season I clawed my way out of the ECHL AGAIN!  I was able to finish the year with the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins, and a pretty decent playoff run to the AHL Eastern Conference Finals.  That was about 3 years ago now.  I have been with the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins since then.  

     This past season I finally went to my first NHL camp with the Pittsburgh Penguins.  I had the opportunity to play with and against some of the best players in the world like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and many others who won the Stanley Cup.  It was a great experience for me, and I had a great camp.  Several weeks into the start of the season I had terrible hip pain that was debilitating.  I needed hip surgery for a torn labrum.  Sometimes it seems as though you just can't win, but the roller coaster rides on!  AGAIN, I came back and had a strong finish to the season!  I just resigned for my 4th season with the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins, and this will be my 7th season of pro hockey.  What do you think is part of the secret to success and reaching your goals?  There are hints throughout my story. What the mind can conceive, you can achieve, as long as the heart believes! The road to the show continues, stay tuned...