Getting Ready
November 04, 2005
Laps are in essence, the coach’s way of saying that his/her team needs to work harder, or for that matter, get into better shape. Whatever the case, they make you stronger and more willing to grind it out at the end of the third period. The past two weeks since conversing in Lake Placid have given our team a newfound life. Our first day back we had to do a grueling 5 sets of double loops around the ice, followed by a set of 5 single laps around the ice. This is one of the many ways our coaches like to condition us. In addition to conditioning, we spend many hours of practice learning our systems and putting the team on the same page. We spend the entire week in Lake Placid doing double sessions each day. We had our body fat tested, studied over 8 hours of game tape, and continued to train in the weight room. It was a grueling week, but exactly what we needed to get over our recent losses to Canada. Our systems have been polished, hopefully proving to be the winning difference this week.
I am on a bus with the team right now with the rest of Team USA. We are traveling from Geneva, Switzerland to Torino, Italy for a pre-Olympic tournament. It will essentially give the Torino Olympic Committee a chance to test out all of the facilities and make sure that they are working properly. It will also give us the chance to see the Olympic Village, the various venues, and to get a better sense of the country before we head here in February for the Olympics. We are slated to play Canada, Sweden and Finland. If we can win two of these games, it will place us in the final game, where we can play as if it really were the final Olympic Gold Medal Game.
The Swiss Alps are beautiful and the scenery is immaculate. I cannot wait to taste the many fine foods of Italy and to learn a few Italian words. I am lucky that I am a hockey player, because I can see the world through this sport. Hockey is allowing me to see things I have never witnessed before, and for that, I will sprint as many laps as coach asks for.