Archive for category Personal Essays

Legitimate Excuse for Failure: #3

Excuse # 3 – The scouts never saw me and I was overlooked.
THERE ARE MANY EXAMPLES of NHL players who made it in spite of being overlooked in the NHL and in some cases the Major Junior Draft. Clearly scouting is not an exact science and many athletes are overlooked. But this is not an [...]

, , , ,

No Comments

Legitimate Excuse for Failure: #2

Legitimate reasons for failure, part ii of iii by former NHL goaltender Steve McKichen.

, , , , , ,

No Comments

Legitimate Excuse for Failure: #1

To have the ultimate result of making the NHL you must systematically and with vigor identify all potential issues that could derail your career. Once each area is identified and addressed you are left with only one valid excuse for failure. You weren’t good enough.”

, ,

No Comments

Hockey Grandparents

contributed by Phyllis Jardine (Nova Scotia)
IT’S EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. The local arena is coming to life with the clanging of heating pipes and echoes of pucks smacking against the boards. I move out of the way as sleepy ten-year-olds parade by mumbling greetings of “hello” as they shuffle by–shirts untucked, jackets open, neckties askew–towards their [...]

, , , , , , , ,

No Comments

The Coach: Honouring Coach Frank Danby

The name Frank Danby has been penciled in along side thousands of other unsung heroes; women and men who have influenced the lives of millions of young people; leaving a lasting legacy and a treasury of cherished memories with those they touched.

No Comments

Why I Left Rep Hockey

IT WASN’T THE TRAVEL. IT WASN’T THE COST. It wasn’t the time or the fights, or the early mornings. None of these reasons were why I quit playing rep hockey. It was minor hockey politics that drove me from the game I still love, while still in my teens.

, , , , , ,

No Comments

Thems the Breaks: A Don Cherry Memory

One year, Don’s session conflicted with the personal appearance of another well-known Canadian hockey guy, Walter Gretzky, who was holding an autograph session of his own, upstairs at Coles Book Store to promote his book On Family, Hockey and Healing.

, , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Powered by Netfirms