New Mexico Mustangs NAHL

Driving home from a tryout in New Mexico for the Mustangs NAHL team. I had a great weekend played really well and met some really great players. One of them played for the Ice Jets last year so I was able to get his opinion on the team which was great! I am even more excited to play now and it sounds like a ton of fun and a great group of teammates.

As far as the tryouts go I was cut before the All-Star game this time around because of my age but in my exit interview they said they are going to watch me this next year and keep in touch and let me develop with Ice Jets.

All in all it was a great weekend and a good experience with some talented players.

Just about a month of CO left

With just over a month left before I leave for Texas on August 21st I have only a few updates for everyone. I was accepted into a charter school in Texas this week called ischool. Its a small High School affiliated with the Ice Jets Hockey association that specializes in Math, Science and Engineering. Seems so far to be a pretty neat school and has great test scores so hopefully I can continue to do well in school and focus on hockey at the same time. Its a great set up at the school for the hockey players too, we go to school from 8-12 everyday then train for hockey for four hours after school.

Also I have been very busy raising money for this next hockey season as well. Thankfully a couple of family friends have been giving me work lately to help me raise money. Jim and Marie Raikes have a little section of a lake that they rent every year. Its a beautiful lake too, right in front of the flatirons in Boulder CO with clear blue water that reflects the mountains. Anyway they had a dock out on the lake but with the wind that builds up through the canyon it completely destroyed the dock. So Mr. Raikes and I rebuilt the dock and the ramp making a few improvements here and there, it looks great and works well! Also Mark and Jeni Knox put me to work with their son Brendan to stain their deck this last week as well.  While fighting the sun and wasps we finished in three days and celebrated the fourth by going to the new YMCA pool!

I also wanted to thank everyone who has been so generous by giving donations so far:
Keith and Robyn Bruns
Phil and Liz Weeks
Krystal Abfalter
Jason and Jessica Anderson
We are at about 40% of our goal already so thanks very much!

An unexpected summer...

At the beginning of the summer I thought that it was going to be another summer of working to pay for hockey and hanging out with friends leading into another year at Peak to Peak Charter School for my Junior year. However a week after summer began, I found that I would need surgery on my heels. Hard tissue nicknamed "Bauer bumps" was growing into my Achilles, keeping me from skating or any other summer plans until I recovered from surgery which was preformed on May 28th. As I recovered I realized that in this upcoming year I had yet to secure a spot on any elite hockey team. Lying on my bed I made a list of tryouts that I could participate in order to get on a team and focus on working for the remainder of the summer. After talking with local AAA coaches I found that competition for my defensive position was high. Team Rocky Mountain tryouts were at the very end of summer, and if I relied on this option there was a chance that if I didn't make it I would not be playing hockey this next year. I went into a scramble mode and tried to find options as to where I could play. Luckily I had a friend in town, Ryan Fay, who spoke to me about playing AAA in Dallas, Texas with him the following year. He and his father Tom contacted the coaches of the Dallas Ice Jets for me. I spoke with the head coach, Paul Taylor and was invited to the tryouts which were the weekend of June 18, only two and a half weeks after my surgery. With stitches still in my feet my dad and I drove 14 hours down to Texas. At the end of the second game of a three game tryout I was asked to come into Coach Taylor's office. He told me that I had already made the team and they wanted me to sign with them for the next season. Instantly all the worry and weight of making a team was lifted. I went home and talked with the rest of the family about the opportunity. I would be on the ice 2 hours a day, training off ice for two hours a day, going to a great school from 8-12 every day and to top it off the Fay's offered to let  me billet with them the entire year. This chance could develop me enough to give me the ability to play Division 1 NCAA hockey when the time for college came around! We decided to accept the offer and so I will be heading to Dallas August 21st... I hope to add a new post every week updating everyone on the happenings while I'm away. Enjoy!