The Official?s Report
The Official?s Report
Posted By Strathmore Standard
Posted 6 years ago
It has been said, ?The key to success is preparation.? In an overall view of an NHL season, one may say the summer is used for training camp preparation.
Training camp is used for time to prepare for a month-long period of preseason games.
Preseason games are used, for a time, to prepare for a grueling, up-and-coming regular season. Last but not least, regular season games, properly prepared for, help extend a regular season into the NHL playoff run.
Sounds easy. Preparation will help you be the best you can be, especially when you take into account your life experiences.
Each person must prepare in his/her own way. After all, it is hard to prepare for experiences you have never dealt with. Once you have been through an experience, you know what to expect and how to prepare for the next time. If those same experiences occur frequently, then it becomes second nature and preparation is focused on not only what we?ve encountered and how, but what we feel we may encounter.
During my first year in the NHL, learning to prepare for a game was an event in itself. Learning to prepare for a job that would incur business sense, travel issues and life experiences was another. Growing up in a small prairie town in Western Canada, where travel was considered a day to the big city (Calgary), my preparation for travel was limited. Flying on an airplane to arrive for work and visiting multiple cities was unheard of.
The one thing I?ve gained a great appreciation for, after 12 years in the NHL, is the many stories and experiences that naturally come to us as we progress throughout our careers.
After a game one night, some officials and I sat around the dressing room and told a few stories about the great situations we?ve encountered. One came to my mind that proves no matter how much preparation, how many years of service or what you?ve encountered before, being quick on your toes becomes second nature.
Swede Knox and I had a game in Washington, D.C. one night, with a game the next night in Philadelphia. Swede, with 25-plus years in the business, and I, in my first year, decided the best way to travel from Washington to Philly would be the train. It was my first train ride and Swede assured me that in the old days, they traveled by train daily and it would be the quickest way to go. We left the hotel in Washington, took a cab to the Washington train station and off we went. Nice ride, no lines, no security, etc. The arrival in Philly had us taking a cab from the train station to the hotel. We put our equipment in the trunk, hopped in the car and let the cabby know the final destination. The cabby?s English was very limited and Swede?s patience was even more so.
They got into a war of words because the cabby did not know the hotel location. The cabby carved up the English language due to his lack of knowledge, and Swede carved up the English language due to his unrepeatable adjectives that were thrown into the conversation.
With the car still smoking from the argument, the cabby took off with the wheels a blazin?.
Only one problem occurred: The Philly train station was a complex maze of roads and the cabby could not find his way out of the station.
We ended up on a dead-end road, under the train station, where Swede?s temperature rose to a 100 degrees and my heart started to pound. I?m thinking robbery, mugging, Swede is thinking, ?Do I hit him now or later.?
After a few more choice words, the cabby exited the train station underworld and got us back to sunlight. After 15 minutes of cab time, one maze of roads took us to another and we finally left the station. Or so I thought.
The cabbie forgot to pay attention to one minor detail. We were driving down a one-way, single-lane road, the wrong way with another cab coming head on. As the two cars approached each other, Swede blew his top! I chose the only other alternative I could think of, which was to hide behind the seat. The cars did manage to stop in time, but the cabby from the other car started an argument, and then a fight with our cabby. Remember, this is game day and all we wanted was to get to the hotel.
Our cabby ended up running off, with the fare metered at $15 and still ticking and we hadn?t even left the train station! We found out later that our cabby was an ex-convict who stole the cab to get some fare money. A quick way for him to make some cash.
After my first year in the NHL I learned, preparation for game time is one thing, preparation for life?s experiences is another.
