Getting Started

Alright so, been in training twice a day the last couple of days. Well sore, but learning a whole lot. I've been put on Defense, which I've never played before as I'm a Forward in box. I was a tad disappointed at first, but our D coach Dan Lidl has shown me a lot about what I can contribute on the D side.

This all came to a head tonight when we squared up for our first game as a team (and a few of the guys first ever Box game) against Team Nova Scotia. It took us a bit to settle in on Offense, with a flurry of goals in the last couple of minutes to end at 10-6, Nova Scotia. A loss yes, but the first two quarters really were just us getting sorted out playing with each other. Once we settled in, we won both the 3rd and 4th quarters. A very good result for a bunch of guys who just met a couple of days ago. For myself, I had probably the best game I've ever had. I felt really comfortable on D and especially on Man-Down Defense. I dunno, I've never played D before, but tonight I felt like I really belonged there. Our entire D line was amazing, to tell the truth. We all communicated really well and made it very very difficult for the NS boys. The 'big' guys went down hard when I popped them, and I was even able to snag two shots right off my man (caught the ball in my stick when he tried to shoot) :-) I got a lot of comments from the lads afterwards that they'd never seen me play so hard, fast and aggressive. Although it was a loss, I really felt that I and my team really accomplished something amazing.

Injuries:
Yep, already a couple for this old boy. Yesterday I jammed my wrist pretty good, so have been icing it and wrapping it up before sessions which has helped a good bit (our local physio Tara is Awesome). Then in today's game, in the second quarter I forced a turnover and while going after the ground ball was pushed from behind. Unfortunately, I stuck my hand out and my thumb bent straight back under the weight of my body, popping out and then back in.

After I finished banging on the back wall in pain, I was able to ice it up and tape the heck out of it and get back into the game. Tara took a look and says I've torn some tendons, but should be alright with some ice and a good taping before matches.

Kid's clinic:
We had a kid's clinic before the game tonight, and about 50+ kids showed up, boys and girls. They've all only played a year at most, and from what the parents were telling us they'd been looking forward to coming to the camp for months. There was one real little guy, Colin, who's 8 years old and has been playing Ice Hockey and Box lacrosse for about a year now. He was so into it, having so much fun (every kid was having a brilliant time really) He reminded me a lot of Jaidon. I so wish Chris and J could be here with me.

After the clinic we had a photo session with all the kids and did a whole lot of autograph signing: papers, t-shirts, hats, you name it. It was really sweet how a few of the kids I had taken aside to coach a bit came up to ask for a one on one photo. The best though was seeing all the kids that night at the game, behind the boards cheering us on. They were really going mental! :-) Also, when I came off with my thumb injury, a whole group of them came running up to make sure I was okay. It was surreal...