Tuesday June 7th, 2016 is a big day. Its an important day for the North American Hockey League, and an important day for players looking to play in the North American Hockey League.
For NAHL teams it is an opportunity to replenish the player prospect pool, and for players it is an opportunity to make a public statement that one of the top junior hockey leagues in the world considers you a real prospect. While I would say the same thing about the USHL or CHL member teams, I focus on the NAHL today simply because I know so many of the players who will be drafted tomorrow.
While some may say that junior hockey drafts should be done away with, I do not subscribe to that belief for many reasons.
The draft is opportunity. Pure opportunity for players and teams. The primary focus of junior hockey is the creation of opportunity. Opportunity to develop players, coaches, staff, officials, and people in general. Opportunity to recognize hard work put in by all of those people, and the families participating as well.
Opportunity. Its an important word. More important, is what each person does with it.
Will those players drafted tomorrow take advantage of the opportunity? No. Not all of them. Will all of the players who aren’t drafted tomorrow use that as motivation to work harder? No. Not all of them. Will teams make mistakes tomorrow and draft players that shouldn’t be, while others that should be are left wondering why they weren’t picked? Yes. It happens every year.
The draft is a tool. The tool of drafting is not only to create opportunity, but it is a natural way of self selection for those that are drafted and those that are not.
Not everyone is meant, or destined to become an elite level player. Every draft helps in developing the conversation that every player must eventually have with himself. That conversation often begins with “Am I really good enough?” and is followed by “Do I want it bad enough?”, and ends with “Am I willing to sacrifice everything that I will need to sacrifice in order to make it happen?”.
If you eventually answer “no” to any one of those three questions, it is time to self select into a different career path.
When I say “answer”, I don’t mean verbally answer the question. Those questions can not be answered verbally alone. Those questions can only truly be answered by the actions each individual player takes every day.
Do you sacrifice junk food for healthy eating? Do you spend more time in the gym than playing video games? Do you study the intricacies of the game instead of studying the pretty girl who moved in next door?
The commitment level required to be a legitimate NCAA prospect is measured by action not words. Anyone can talk a good game.
Do you live, train, and engage with people, places and things with “purpose”? The purpose of being a positive impacting person on those who are your team mates, and more importantly those who are not?
Recognize that to be drafted into one of the top leagues, no matter which league it is, is an honor. You are being recognized publicly as an athlete. It may be the greatest public recognition you ever receive.
As we all prepare for the draft tomorrow, advisers, players, parents and teams, its important to remember these things. Drafted or undrafted, its what you do with the opportunity tomorrow after the draft that matters.
Joseph Kolodziej – Publisher
