To be sure, the month of August signal the end of summer, and we are now only a few week away from the start of the hockey season. It go so fast do it not?
Many of you spent the summer going from camp to camp and showcase to showcase. You go because you get the email invite, and you think team is seriously interested in you. In the end you get cut, you don’t make the all star games, and you hear the same thing over and over again. Usually it sound like “you are not ready for this level”.
“Not ready” can be many thing. I watch a player get cut this weekend who was definitely talented enough, but he was not mature enough mentally. I watch another player who had high level of skill get cut because he was not physically mature enough.
It is time to wake up from the summer dream and realize that there are reason why you keep getting cut. Building the team is not just about picking all the most skilled player. A team need balance throughout the lineup for consistency in performance. All 5’10” forwards being equal, the team do not need nine of them. All 18 yr old player being equal, the team do not need ten of them. All goalie being equal the team only need two.
If you have not made a “free to play” team at this point in the year, you are going to “pay to play” this coming season. Accept it, and deal with it.
Now that you know you will pay to play, it is time to act quickly. If team is interested, and it is affordable, it is time to sign. Pull you head out of you backside, swallow you inflated pride, and get on a roster. If you do not do this, it will not be long until that roster spot is gone to another player.
If you keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results, it is the definition of crazy. If you keep wasting time and money chasing something, you never stop and see what is already there.
It is time to lose the attitude that you “deserve” or are “entitled” to play for free. Just because you play the high level program below Junior do not mean you deserve or are entitled to anything. This is reality.
The sooner you face reality, the sooner you can make good decision and have good season.
Coach
