Final Days of My Career

As the season went on I realized my hockey career was soon over. I didn’t know exactly what it would feel like but realistically it hasn’t hit me yet. As the final day of the season came closer we were preparing to take on Hobart in a 2 game series to decide who would finish 2nd and who would finish 3rd. Both games were close and both games ended in a tie. Those ties were the deciding factor of the team finishing 1 point ahead of them in the standings and getting a home game in the playoffs. So Hobart was going to come back for the first round of playoffs the very next weekend. This is the game that really mattered. As a team we prepared like never before. If we didn’t win this game our season was in jeopardy. This game was going to be a dog fight to the bitter end. Eventually we ended up losing this game and now our hope of getting into the NCAA tournament was in limbo. Our fate was in the hands of the NCAA committee. So the next week we had to practice as if we were playing a game but in reality had no idea even if we were going to get it. This was a tough situation knowing that you might be practicing for nothing. So the pairing came out and our name wasn’t called. This put some sort of a pit in my stomach because after every year in my life since I was three I was always able to get’em next year. But now it’s a different situation because there is no next year. I could go a play somewhere and make $300 a week playing the game I grew up loving but do I really want to prolong my life even further after graduating at the age of 25. So I have just kind of excepting the fact that my career is over and to look for the positive in it all. I have made numerous friends and learned countless lessons playing this game that I will take with me where ever I go, so I’m taking away from hockey many memories and lessons that will get me through the next phase of my life. In the end sports don’t last forever but they sure were fun in the process.