I travelled 28,548 kilometres this year; with each owning its own story.
Some were enjoyable and some were not so enjoyable. Some occurred in good health, but most did not. Fortunately, for those 28, 548 kilometres I was in good company. You see, I am not your average travelling worker. I am 18 years old and fortunately for me my work is playing hockey.
I am also the guy who (if you’re a teacher) told me to get real when I handed in my Grade 3 report on what I wanted to be when I grew up. And my Grade 4 report. The one in Grade 5, too. Now, when you couple the fact that I play our country’s favourite sport with the league I play in, you’ll begin to understand everything.
As our season began this year in Brandon, Man., I had played with exactly one of my teammates before. There were 24 of us players, almost half of us new to the organization. We had close to triple the normal number of rookies, which made the following eight months that much more special for me and everyone else. The season began just as everyone suspected: We had a tough time adjusting to the older players and people started talking about trading away ‘the now’ for future picks and players.
And then something magical happened. We went on the road.
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Towards the end of October we embarked on the annual west coast trip, which alternates between taking us to British Columbia or through Washington to face the perennial powerhouse U.S. division of our league. This year we were headed to beautiful B.C. For our team, being the easternmost participant in the Western Hockey League, this meant a bus trip of over 24 hours to get there.
At some point, you can only play your handheld video games so much before you get bored. And so what do teenagers love to do beside play video games? Talk. And talk we did. First just the formalities, but as the hours wore on, we started to realize that…we actually kind of liked each other. And from that point on, for the rest of the year, there were no more handheld gaming systems. I bet you we watched no more then five movies all year; which is saying something considering we had the fourth longest schedule (distance covered) in the entire CHL. And so we talked, played cards, put shaving cream in guys shoes and turned their music up while they were sleeping. We became a team; a team that would overcome early season nine and 12 game losing streaks to finish above .500. A team that coming down the stretch, leaped into sixth place and it could genuinely be said that no one wanted to play us.
I made 23 new friends this year, almost all of whom return next year. The experience of playing junior hockey and living away from home this year was the toughest thing I’ve done in my 18 years, but what kept me, and all of us sane was the fact that we were such a tight-knit group and I wouldn’t have it any other way. These friends have become my family, and will continue to be so every year I go back. And I will keep going back, until the rules say I can’t.
I spent 28,548 kilometres on a bus with my 23 best friends this year … and every one of them was worth it.
Liam will blog once a week on sportsnet.ca leading in to the 2011 NHL Entry Draft on June 24-25 in Minnesota. Check back for updates each Tuesday.