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Seeing this clip go viral reminded me of an exit meeting I had with Paul Maurice where he hit me with some serious truth but also taught me one of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever learned in hockey. Here is the story... https://twitter.com/topherscott_/status/1290453827200659458
It was my first year of pro hockey and I was attending the NHL rookie tournament in Traverse City as a free agent. At this point in my career I had already figured out “working hard” was important to be noticed, especially as a free agent and to be honest, very average player.
I had a pretty good tournament & much to my surprise was invited to the Hurricanes main camp. For me this was my “made it moment”. I knew deep down I wasn’t good enough to play in NHL but to attend an NHL camp and be on the same ice as guys like Eric Staal was such an honour.
Once being a bit starstruck wore off I knew I had to do everything I possibly could to try to get into a single exhibition game. For that week I probably looked like Rudy out there most days and was definitely “that guy”, going wayyyy too hard at training camp skates. Hardo!!!
I never did get into an exhibition game and was cut after about a week of camp which was the most likely outcome all along but it was quite a ride and a week of NHL per diem wasn’t so bad either. In my exit interview Paul was very blunt and basically told me I was not even
close to being at the NHL level yet (Ya no sh!t Paul
). The other thing he told me was he appreciated how hard I worked and not to take work ethic for granted because work ethic and hard work is a SKILL. I had never thought of it that way and it has always stuck with me.
). The other thing he told me was he appreciated how hard I worked and not to take work ethic for granted because work ethic and hard work is a SKILL. I had never thought of it that way and it has always stuck with me.
Work ethic is no different from any other skill in hockey or sports. It is a skill you can get worse at if you don’t practice it but also a skill you can improve if you do practice it.
It is a skill that can make a good player great, an average player good or a good player average and a great player just good or even average. Young athletes need to understand to work on your other skills properly and enough to improve them,
you first must master the skill of work ethic or you will never maximize your other skills or potential in general and will likely look back with regrets, which must be a really crappy way to live and look back on your time as an athlete.
