Pro Journal – International
Due to the number of entries received and new blog topics that will be forthcoming, in order to save space, older entries will be moved to this section for viewing and comments.
The following blog will be written by Kyle Bruce, a long time friend and student (his interview is posted on this site). I will upload his stories, pictures and videos from abroad where he is playing in Scotland. The objective of this blog is to provide insight’s into the game internationally from a pro player’s point of view. Hockey is a sport played world wide and as such each culture treats the game differently than we do here in North America. Enjoy!
Introduction:
Sleep, eat, practice, eat, sleep, gym, eat, sleep…. This is the life of a pro hockey player. Yes it’s laughable but over the years, this above all else, is the motto that we live by.
Let me start by introducing myself to those who have never met me. My name is Kyle Bruce. I started playing professional hockey 8 years ago. I have known and trained with Ron Johnson since I was 12 years old, that would be 16 years I have had the pleasure of knowing this man. Yes some of those years we may have not talked much, or even seen each other for a few of them, but I still consider him a good friend.
I have been working the past two summers with Ron and helping teach his students throughout the summer season, but this is not the first time I have helped Ron run his training sessions and I know it will not be the last either.
When I was 15 I moved to North Delta from the Sunshine Coast so I could play competitive Bantam AAA hockey. Yes, at 15 to move away from your friends and to move to a whole new world is a scary thing. But guess what future hockey players, get used to it, we move a lot as you will begin to understand as you get to know me more. This move ended up being one of the best and most important decisions of my life. We ended up winning the Western Canadian Bantam AAA Championships that season and most of my closest friends belonged to that team.
From minor hockey I then moved onto playing in the WHL and spent the next 5 years playing for the Kamloops Blazers, Prince Albert Raiders and the Vancouver Giants. Along the way I was drafted into the NHL by the Florida Panthers and attended their rookie camp and main camps twice and after my final season with that Vancouver Giants I attended the Vancouver Canucks rookie camp then the Manitoba Moose training camp, ended up playing for the Carolina Inferno of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). This would be the start of my official pro hockey career.
I did leave the Inferno to play for the UBC Thunderbirds at the Canadian University level but things happen in this game of life and I ended up leaving them as well to again peruse my professional hockey career by attending the Iowa Stars training camp in the American Hockey League (AHL). Since then I have played for the Idaho Steel heads (ECHL), Wichita Thunder (Central Hockey League (CHL)) and leaving North America i have now moved onto playing in Europe and have played with the Manchester Phoenix of the English Elite League (EIHL) and the past two seasons have played in Glasgow, Scotland with the Braehead Clan (EIHL). So you see, if you plan on playing hockey as a career, you better get good and used to moving.
Yes moving around lets you grow as a person and a player, lets you experience new things and meet many new people from different cultures and exposes you to a lifestyle that many people wish they could have. But understand, to get here, it’s a lot of hard work, sweat, pain and, sadly, luck. I wouldn’t change the life I have for many things, this was my choice and I wouldn’t change it quite yet, soon maybe, but not quite yet. This is why when I work with you kids in the summer I always stress, “Approach hockey as a job now, because when you get older, if you didn’t, you will wish you did”.
So now that you know who I am, and a little of what I have been through, let’s get back to that “eat, sleep, eat, train”, motto I was going on about when we first met.
This mundane life goes back to approaching hockey as a job. Your body is your paycheck so you need to take care of it and need to get the right nutrients into it and take care of those moneymakers (legs) that allow you to travel the world and play that game you love. If you negate sleeping things breakdown, if you don’t eat right and workout properly you body will fail you when you need it most, to score that goal, catch that opponent on a breakaway or battle for the puck in the corner to sustain pressure on your opponents. Yes technically I only have to be at the rink a few hours each day for practice, but if you want to be a professional for more than one season you have to do that little extra, make sure you know you trainers, you equipment and most importantly know yourself and what you need to do to stay on top of your game and one step ahead of your opponents.
Throughout this blog I will tell you stories of my season in Scotland, relive past trials and tribulations with you and glean onto you any knowledge I have that will help you in your future years on your way to becoming a pro or just becoming a better team player in life.
Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy the little things that I have to say,
Kyle Bruce
Chapter 2 – Stress
Stress is a major factor in anyone’s life, Hockey players are not exempt from this. True, we may not have many of the same worries as most people, yet we face many stresses that most people do not have to worry about. During the season, while playing pro hockey, most things are taken care of to limit the stresses on a player, usually the only bill that a hockey player will ever see is their own cell phone bill and even sometimes this will be taken care of by the employing hockey club. Still no matter what level of hockey you play, may it be Jr. B, Major Jr. or even Professional Hockey you will find yourself under the microscope at any given stage of the season or off season. True, when you are playing well, scoring goals, knocking out opponents and winning games, the leash may be long and the microscope may be blurry but when there is a bump in the road and you are facing adversity it may seem like everything and everyone is turning against you.
Hockey is a game and this is what most people will see. But it is also a business and in a business, making money is the golden rule. Losing teams do not make money, they don’t attract fans or sponsors and they don’t fill the pockets of their owners so what is the easiest way to remedy this situation? Change the players. Changing a player or multiple players is the easiest and cheapest way to remedy any situation in the minds of business person. For this fact there is lots of stress on hockey players to perform.
This is similar to something that my team here in Scotland has just gone through. When I tell you what is happening here you may laugh and think this is an isolated situation, but it is not. Our team’s record was six wins and five losses (6-5) but we had just gotten spanked on the road 9-4 against a team lower than us in the standings. We were still a WINNING hockey club and yet the fans were not impressed with our consistency and demanded better play. All the armchair quarterbacks were coming out of the woodwork and explaining why we were not winning and what our problem was (even though these people had never played high level hockey, and only had been watching it for the past two seasons). The fans started jumping at people’s throats and demanding heads roll or they would stop supporting us and even said they would boycott team events to show their displeasure. Within their ramblings and speculations rumors started to spread about players and what their off ice antics were and that these ‘rumors’ were why they were not playing well. This or that guy was out drinking. This or that guy was associating with unsociable people. Drop this guy or drop that guy, things needed to change. When there was no evidence to say otherwise. But these things get into peoples and players heads and in turn affect their games.
You know what happened? Nothing. We won our next game against the best team in the league and went unbeaten on the next weekend and everything was fine again. But can you see how fast things can spoil and turn against you. One minuet the fans and organization are loving you and within a week they could be demanding changes be made.
Most of these rumors started just from a fan seeing a picture online or seeing a guy have a beer after the game. In the age of online social networks, pictures spread fast so make sure you protect yourself at all times. Know who you allow to see pictures of yourself online and who has access to your personal information. A person is generally good, but people on a whole are scared, jealous and unreasonable. When people become unreasonable the dominos effect happens quite fast and people, who by themselves may seem quite decent, but in a group jump to any conclusion if it seems to ratify any hypothesis they have come to.
Yes, you may say this is our job, and that we have to deal with this to get all the perks that we get but when at 16 you are playing from a semi-professional hockey team it is something that many kids have not grown to understand. This is why you see lots of troubled hockey players turn to drugs and seem to have an ‘attitude’ problem. This label also creates stress for a hockey player. No one can understand another person fully. No one can know what is happening away from the arena, in the dressing room or just be going on in the mind of someone else. This is why being under the microscope can be so hard on professional athletes.
How you deal with these situations to get back on your game is what will make you or break you as a hockey player. If you are in a slump and can’t seem to score or get the bounces or if you have having personal issues away from the arena that are affecting your game, you need to be able to center yourself and bear down to do what you were brought to your team to do.
Reading, breathing and understanding your body is an easy way to limit the distractions on your game. Not reading what is being said about you on websites or in the media. The media is full of people who want to give their opinion on a situation who really don’t know what they are talking about. Most writers are journalists and just that, a journalist. Many do not know or understand the sport they are talking about, they need to sell and by creating controversy they sell more headlines. Not saying you can’t take their criticism and see if you can improve on what you are doing but do not take it to heart. Read to better understand your body and how it works. Read to better understand the game of hockey. Read to get yourself away from hockey if you must.
Understand yourself, avoid the media, concentrate and do the little things that got you to the place where you are today. If things are not going your way, remember back to when you were at the top of your game and think about what you are doing differently now, and if you have to get back to your original game.
Communication. Talk to your assistant coach or your head coach and ask for video or advice about your game. These are the people who put you on the ice, you better be doing what they want you to do or you will not be getting played, and if you’re not getting played you’re not being given a chance to put points on the board to make it to the next level. Remember that this is a business but it is also a game, like most people tell me that’s what I do for a living.
But I love this game, and I love the life it lets me live. If I have to deal with stress to live like I do, I welcome it, bring it on.
Kyle
Chapter 3 – Adaption and Compromise
Compromise is something that any aspiring hockey player has to get used to. We move, live with different families, with different roommates. Each coach or GM has different rules that you have to abide by in order to stay on the team. Each coach and GM expects something a little different than the other. Each family you live with has different rules that if you want to continue living with, you have to abide. If you can’t live within each of these different confines you will not be playing hockey at a high level for very long. Like I have already said, we move lots. Until I was 14 I had only lived with my mom, dad, brother and sister. So one home until I was 14, by the time I had turned 20 I had lived in 5 different cities, lived with 6 different families and gone to 6 different high schools. Talk about a tough time making the grade.
Living with a new family can be a very trying time for any adolescent. Each and every one of them cook a different way so you better get used to every type of food because in some situations what is made is the only thing available. Different household rules can affect a player in many ways you wouldn’t think. When I lived in Saskatchewan, it was two hours time different than British Columbia and in one of the households I lived in I was not allowed to be on the telephone or on the computer after 10pm so it was hard staying in touch with my family. And again take my situation now, I live in Glasgow Scotland, this is an 8 hours time difference from BC. When I want to talk to my family and friends back home it either has to be by email or when they first get up in the morning. Some families want to monitor the computer use, well, back in my day there were no laptops or Iphones and such so you had to use the desktop. One time I came home from a road trip, its 4 am in the morning, I think I can get a minute to check my emails but I open the door to my home and low and behold, there is my billet on the computer, making sure I didn’t get on. Talk about obsessive.
Respect. As a player you need to respect the rules that are put down around you, you may not have to agree with them, but you do have to live with them. I always say you can learn something new from any coach, may it be what to do or not to do, the same can be said for living with different people. Try and treat everyone the way you expect to be treated and give them respect until they deserve to lose it.
Communication. Again if you sit and don’t say anything no one will know that anything is wrong, but if you whine and complain everyone will just think that’s what you are. Approach the undesired situation with respect and be honest but not too blunt. Don’t say, “man I hate your cooking!” or “that’s stupid I can’t use the phone at those hours!” Try it a little more subtle. How about, “I really like (this type of meat) and (these types of vegetables) do you think we could have them more often.” Or how about, “do you think I can use the phone at (this hour) because my parents don’t get off work until then.”
If you try and be reasonable about a situation and still it is unlivable you will need to take the same approach with your coach or GM. Again, you don’t want to be seen as a whiner or complainer. Explain your situation and why you think a change needs to be made. When you play pro you will need to be able to do the same with your roommates and no one likes a whiny little boy when you are supposed to be a grownup!
Kyle
Chapter 4 – Adversity
Some things are beyond your control and you, me and everyone else out there has to deal with this. In the game of hockey there are many things you can control (your attitude, work ethic, preparation), but there are many you just don’t get any say in the matter (puck bounces, injuries, penalties).
My work ethic is one thing that I am proud of as a hockey player and a person. I keep myself in peak physical condition and there isn’t a player on the ice that works as hard as I do or is willing to sacrifice his body in the way I do for my team in the pursuit of winning. Keeping myself in peak physical condition has allowed me to get over many adversities in my hockey career. Twice I have needed ACL reconstructive surgery that ended my season, but after both shortened seasons I have come back the next year and exceeded expectations from my coaches and fans. If I had not taken control of the situation and done everything I could in order to put myself in that position to exceed, my career could very well been done.
A side note to the mothers of a hockey player, its a tough, rough sport, we get injured, its gonna happen in a career so just be ready. Trust me, my mother had to learn because the style of game that i play, she had many a long night worring about her ‘little’ boy. And take my advice players, be ready to overcome your injures, keep yourself in shape because this will speed any recovery for any injury.
Attitude is an area of my game that over the years I have really needed to improve. I have been on many losing teams and have given up on trying to perform. I have realized this was my downfall early in my career. I have read many books on the mental game of hockey such as, Hockey Tough, and now wear an ‘A’ on my jersey as a leader in the dressing room and on the ice. I totally suggest to any aspiring hockey player to develop this area of their game in the same manner as they learn to skate, shoot and pass. In the years where my attitude was poor I never came to the rink wanting to win or produce, I just wanted to get the game over with so I could get back to doing other things. This was the definite losers approach to the game and many of the teammates at the time were guilty of the same thing. Guess how our teams did. We lost. A lot. As I matured I realized my folly and have now rectified it. I now come to the rink everyday wanting to win, wanting to improve. I’m 28 and still want to be the best at what I do so I practice everyday new things, try new moves, I smile when I come to the rink. I smile because this is my happy place. This is what I love, why wouldn’t I be in a good mood when I show up to play a game I love.
Recently I got suspended for 3 games for an illegal check to the head. Did I agree with the refs call? No. Did I agree with the leagues review to uphold the call? No. Was I mad about this? Yes, of course I was. Did I sulk? No, I got back in the gym each day and prepared to make my return. My team lost 2 of the 3 games I was out and you better believe that when I got a chance to return I was ready to help my teammates and we won that game I returned in. I killed penalties, I created chances and I played the body. I know my team was shorthanded while I was out so I needed to pick up the slack and help their tired bodies. That is how I prepared for the game and took control of the situation that was out of my control.
You can sometimes control how a ref is going to call a game but as you will learn, no refereeing is a good as the NHL. Try playing with refs that didn’t grow up with the game as part of their blood. I know they do their best but I expect more as a professional. I have learned not to yell at them at every chance because that just pisses them off and makes them take it out on you. Control this, try not to make them look like fools by yelling at them. Play within the rules and state in a mild manner your displeasure when they make a mistake, please try, trust me, I know it’s hard. Don’t create a situation you cannot control, but don’t let it affect your game as well.
Remember you can control how you prepare for the game (meals, sleep, visualization), your work ethic and your attitude. But sometimes you can’t control the bounces of the game, injuries and the refs. Just make sure your ready to get over and past any of these situations when they rear their ugly faces up in your path to stardom.
Kyle
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