Quoting: Habs4ever
The players need to block stuff out and stop reading their own articles. Some people are extremely critical and do not have a life. I remember in 2002, I was meeting with Serge Savard at the Bell Centre. At the conclusion of our meeting Mr. Savard took me on a tour of the dressing room and while we were there his cell phone rang and he excused himself. As I was waiting I sat in Jose Theodores stall and waited for Serge to return. The players were not there as they were on away games. A room attendant was cleaning the room and another person had a small group behind a red rope and he was giving a tour of the place. A father lied and pleaded with the rink attendant if he could have an empty roll of tape for his son. It was an empty roll with nothing on it, yet the father was almost in tears as if it was the Holy grail itself. It was at that moment, I understood for the first time, how much these players are elevated to God like status.
I keep the names of my clients confidential but one name I will reveal is Todd Ewan. I knew he was not making smart choices and I tried to reach him but sometimes athletes that are worshiped have a very hard time, dealing with life after the limelight. Sadly he did not take my advice and he later took his own life. I digressed a little from our conversation but to me building a team, is finding good character and building a strong personal of athletes that truly believe in themselves. So, they cannot read or listen to what others say, it has to be them against the world, espcially in Montreal. I worked with Jonathan Drouin when he was with the Mooseheads. I know him fairly well. He was trying to do too much. Being French and making a big plash financially at the beginning of the year. I would have councilled him to only focus on hockey his first year, not read or watch the sports in Montreal. When you leave the rink, leave it at the rink. But he put way too much pressure on himself and he was making a ton of mental mistakes. I can count about 8 games all year, last night being one of them, that he really played with confidence and loose. He will get better and better as the years go by and will turn into a very good player.
i couldnt agree more!
my tutor growing up was Bruce Graham drafted in the 2nd round by NYR after MTL traded his pick for Kovalev
and he taught me a lot about being a big picture guy. i used to watch him on the Ice here in Junior like he was larger than life.
he'd always come back to its not about him ,its about the team and leading them to success and by proxy he'll be successful .
those words shook my world and blew my mind.
here is a guy getting ready to be drafted the Captain of a club doing really well and there wasnt a shred of Ego to him .
now i wont pretend Bruce made the NHL or met his expectations because honestly he was a good skater , big body but his hands left a lot to be desired and
he wouldnt fight (he thought it was classless ) as a 6'6 big body that essentially ended his Pro Career there because when he was drafted we were still years
away from the NHL changes brought on today .
that being said he had a lot of success in other league's mentoring players and even going to england a few times to help grow their league as well.
his Character , Mental toughness and Vision was why he could stay in North America for the most part and make a living .
he used this time to learn more about the Coaching side of things and at age 31 i believe it was retired from hockey to Pursue Coaching .
to me Bruce is Exactly the type of guy you want there coaching the next Generation and honestly i might be a grown man in tears if he gets to Coach where he started here at home in the future.i feel like he's a shinning example of what Character means in todays sport. when he got cut from the AHL after skating away from a fight he could have quit easily , could have given up .instead he evolved and i could not be more proud of him if he was Kovalev's level of player.
i feel like in the social media era a lot of the Context is lost and stories like this dont get the recognition they deserve .
i'd truly like someone like Jay Bruchel who's a Die Hard Hockey fan and Die Hard Canadian to start a web series covering this content as juniors in Canada
has a lot of cool stories you dont get to hear that could endear mainstream fans to see more then just the finished product so they'd appreciate the overall sport more.
(pitched this to Jay once when he stayed at a hotel i was doing security in , he thought the cost was a hard sell but the idea was cool )
i guess i feel like if we can start showing the people behind the gear and pads
maybe fans will stop pushing them to points its just outright abusive (case and point how Price has been treated and how his wife's been targeted )