New Jr. Trappers forward Stephen Langford gets the "Mile High" feeling writing his first Jr. Trappers Insider on a rock cut. The Colorado native will be sharing his blog with you every Wednesday.
New Jr. Trappers forward Stephen Langford gets the "Mile High" feeling writing his first Jr. Trappers Insider on a rock cut. The Colorado native will be sharing his blog with you every Wednesday. Enjoy!
Hello Trapper Nation!
Hope everyone is having a fantastic day.
Although this day has passed, I wanted to talk about the January 10 trade deadline.
In junior hockey there are a few deadlines that make everybody nervous. The trade deadline in January is one of the last ones. That’s why you’ve got to give it your all and leave nothing on the table, or ice, so to speak.
Although you might not be able to tell, everyone on the team is fighting for a roster spot.
It's hard because you feel like one big family, but you know deep down you might have to say goodbye to one of your brothers, or even you yourself have to say goodbye.
No one wants to leave, but a deadline is a deadline, and junior hockey is a business. That’s one thing you have to know going into a season, it’s a business and anything can happen.
The best thing to do, for me at least, is to just play to the best of my abilities and hope for the best, if a trade or release does happens, keep your chin up and go somewhere else to fight for a spot on the team.
The last thing I want to do around deadlines is let the stress build up until that’s the only thing on my mind. I feel when I do that, my play on the ice suffers.
I talked with Beau Orser, a very skilled defenseman we recently acquired, and asked him how he felt about the January 10 deadline. He joined our team from the BCHL early in January.
“Well ya know, the trade deadline is tough for everybody, everyone’s on pins and needles just approaching that January 10th mark," said Orser.
"We’re all happy to see the other side, especially myself. I’ve seen a few trades in my junior career, here being my fourth team. I’m extremely happy to be a Trapper and it feels good to sit around the (locker)room and see the finalized roster of us guys here, not that we’re going take it at easy now that we have a spot, we’re just ready to buckle in and make a good run here eh?”
Beau couldn’t have said it any better.
We have a three game road trip this weekend to Elliot Lake, Soo, and Blind River.
We’re looking to come back to North Bay with all 6 points.
You can watch our progress on www.fasthockey .com!
