How My Team Will Hold Up at Nationals

 Well, it's that time of year again, the end of the season. Ah, the birds are chirping, the snow is melting, and the temperature is around a solid 38 degrees. Which also means it's time to buckle down and start on our road to Buffalo.

First, let me fill you in on how my team has got to this position for the second year in a row. Last weekend the Utah Grizzlies (my team) the team Northwest Regulators, and the Ogden Wildcats all competed in a tournament for the prize of representing the state of Utah in the USA national tournament. Our first game was against our arch rivals, the Regulators, who we were at that point, (and still are) undefeated against. It was a close game, with my team winning 3-2 in overtime.

The next night, the Regulators and Ogden squared off with the Regulators taking it 4-0. That meant that it was do or die for my team the next morning, because the point system in that tournament was retarded. We ended up winning the game 4-1 against the Wildcats, earning us a spot in the championship game with the Regulators.

Yes, we won the game (4-1) and yes I have the game highlights on my blog if you would like to see them.
Now, thats done with. What my team has got to do now is look ahead to things to come. If the team from  Utah will win any games in New York, we will have to start winning some major games against big opponents like against our buddies from Boise coming down this weekend. In games against some top teams, we always give them really good games and they are only usually decided by one or two scores, but we never seem to be able to pull the rabbit out of the hat. If we are going to have any chance at youth hockey's biggest stage, we gotta start puling that bread out of the oven!

Also, EVERYBODY, I mean EVERYBODY has to be on top of their game. On our team, we only have a few people that can be called consistent, and everybody else just has their good games and bad games. The Utah representative needs everybody there and ready to play at all times if we plan on winning this thing.

Next, we have the issue of our conditioning. Now, my team is very good in the third period, I can truly state the we have won games in the third period, and even more importantly we haven't lost any in the third. What I am going to say is that the other teams at nationals will have their cans worked off in these next six weeks of preparing. That's what my team needs to do-but even more. Coach, we need to step it up. Now, I will say that on wednesday you made it clear that you take my point. People, I got worked so hard I was officially on my hands and knees by the end of it all, and the same goes for my teammates. So, what I'm saying is, keep it up coach, god knows what all the other teams are doing right now.

Last, the team needs to act as a team. A team at the biggest tournament in the world. You see, our biggest problem last year was that everybody thought it was vacation time last year when we went to Wayne, NJ for nationals. Everybody thought that the season was over, even though it wasn't. Kids weren't focused, we were screwing around at the hotel, and we were taking trips to New York everyday instead of focusing on hockey. When we go this year, it has already been decided that the team will stay as a team, which means we will travel together, we will room together, and we will stay together throughout the whole trip. This is exactly how other teams are doing it, and it's also how we are going to do it, keep the focus on hockey.

Alright, I lied. One more thing that we need to do to win nationals. The team needs to stay friendly with each other at all times, especially on the ice. We CANNOT, I mean CANNOT get down on each other, and start yelling at each other. The team needs to keep their spirits up, and keep having a good time if the Grizzlies are going to have a good time winning some games in Buffalo.

So, personally, I think the Utah Grizzlies have the tools to compete at the nations biggest tournament. It all comes down to how we prepare for it, how we handle it, how we can get along, and if we can handle the heat. In the games we have in preparation to nationals, we NEED to find a way to pull the straw out of the barrel. We need to stay as a team, and we need to act like friends all the time. We need to push ourselves to no limit, and keep skating as hard as we can at all times. If we can do these things, I predict the Utah Grizzlies will hold up just fine.