If you think playing NCAA hockey is a common thing, you need to think again. Only a few hundred players per year are added to the NCAA ranks. Each and every one of them who make it, have made it because they have not simply shown up and done what everyone else was doing.
In 2021-2022 there were only 373 Freshmen playing NCAA Division I hockey. That’s it. With only 59 teams this past season that is an average of 6 Freshmen players per team. This is only a list of players on rosters and does not show how much or how little these Freshmen played.
239 were American, 102 Canadian, and 32 European or Other nationality.
Those are the real numbers. Facts that can not be argued. Now think about how many players you are fighting with to get one of those opportunities.
Do you still think that doing what everyone else is doing will get you one of those very few opportunities? Do you think spending the spring and summer chasing camp after camp, and showcase after showcase is going to get you there? If you do, then you clearly need to keep walking with the rest of the sheep who think they should as well.
If you are smart, and you can see the odds are against you. That an NCAA opportunity is an Uncommon Achievement, then it is time to take Uncommon Actions.
Remember last year or at the end of this season when the coaches told you that you needed to get bigger, faster and stronger? How do you think that will happen when you spend all summer playing and burning calories while not taking the time to rest, eat properly and train?
Stop playing the game that you think you have to play by kissing the coaches ass and playing in all the showcase events. You know why?
Because if you take the uncommon action of actually preparing for a season getting bigger, faster and stronger, you will blow the coaches away at training camp. When they don’t see you all spring and summer because you are putting in the work that is required, they will see a bigger, faster, stronger player.
If you have a plan, you are not going to showcases all summer. You are not going to camps all summer. You are preparing for a few select events and camps at the end of the summer where you will pick your team. Make no mistake, if you are prepared, it is you who will pick the team, and you will not be at the mercy of begging for a roster spot.
Making a plan, working the plan, and being effective. These are Uncommon Actions that result in Uncommon Achievements.
When you are ready to stop following the sheep, when you are ready to make something happen and you are committed to doing something exceptional. Then and only then will you change your trajectory.
How far can you go when you commit to doing everything possible to achieve a position that so few actually achieve? Can you imagine being so committed to a process and a plan that you ignore what everyone else is doing and just take control of your own direction?
When you can, and when you are ready, send me an email or give me a call.
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
