Couldnt agree more on this subject. I know I spent one season in college hockey in Saskatchewan playing for the Briercrest Clippers of the ACAC which is the top college level in alberta. But the weather was minus 40, my half scholarship forced me to shell out about 15 grand for one year and then I decided to try my luck in Idaho, with the steelheads. I noticed you ended your career there last year. Boise is a good place but the dream of playing ECHL at 30 years of age isnt that cool. I ended up playing UHL, long beach ice dogs and finished in the LNAH in quebec. Good decision for you to become a writer cause you will go far in this bracket.

Very cool site and I just logged into it today, will be following your signatures in the future.

Paul Braaten, Grande Cache Alberta. Safety Inspector in the Oil/Gas Canadian fields.

I think it kind of depends on your goals. I did music, from like age three for FOREVER and it ate my life, 24/7.

I’m not a musician now – at all – which is hilarious considering the sacrifices I made and how much of my youth/fun years/etc got sucked up by it.

Thing is, my goal wasn’t “be a famous musician or nothing.” My goal was “do awesome music,” which I more than succeeded at, until I finally went on to other things. I played at a level few kids play at. I had ensemble experiences that I would *never* trade, and got to compose pieces that were performed in public and yeah, I missed out on some regular stuff but wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything.

I think Ozzie’s approach (hi, Ozzie!) is the right one. What screws people up is setting outrageous goals (or their parents setting them), where it’s “play NHL or fail.” Excellence itself can be its own reward, and that’s not a bad thing to learn. I have more discipline and more drive than most people, and I’m sure there’s traits and benefits that Ozz is carrying forward too, whether or not he plays.

If hockey isn’t enough of its own reward, then that’s one thing. But if it is, then why not, you know?

I do have to say that attending Texas A&M football games as a student was always a good time. That is one thing I miss about living in the southern US.

I grew up in the far north of New York State right along the Canadian border (and Islanders fan… thank you Sports Channel) and my dream growing up was to some how, some way play college hockey. I knew I wasn’t ever going to be gifted enough to consider anything past that. I grew up going every Friday and Saturday night to Clarkson University in Potsdam NY to catch the best that the ECAC had to offer from roughly 92-06. I realize the ECAC kind of sucks, but still… it was my dream to throw on the Green and Gold and play for the Golden Knights. Flash forward about ten years to me realizing I’m never making it off the Third line of my very public, very small, very untalented high school team, I figured I’d finish my varsity “career” and be doomed to getting my ass pounding in our local Beer League until my knees gave out or something.

Then I got an opportunity to relocate to Springfield Missouri… At first I wasn’t a huge fan of this situation; the deal maker though was that I could play club hockey at Missouri State University. I was lucky enough to play a year and half of college club hockey… though it wasn’t the Division 1 NCAA stuff I dreamt of, it was still what I had wanted, I was representing my school; going on road trips; making friends; and I’ve got more memories from that year and half than I ever would have imagined. To me this equates to guys that are trying to get to the NHL and find themselves playing in Sweden or something…not quite the show, but still pro hockey.

Now to sum this all up is easy for me. I didn’t have a chance in hell at making a choice between major junior or NCAA college hockey; I did however have a blast being a great little city, with a warm climate (and great looking girls) and I got to play some hockey to boot. If I was ever in a position to offer advice up to some kid trying to make this decision my advice would be this… you only get to do college once, make the most of the time you get.

I dunno – If I had the God-given talent to be a great athlete, I kinda think I’d regret throwing it away for the chance to get drunk every weekend. Hell, you can do that for the rest of your life. But maybe that’s just me.

PS ~ Don’t call North Dakota miserable…. no place better to play hockey. Weather may suck but the Ralph is nicer than most NHL arenas. You may be able to notice it better if you took off your helmet during the National Anthem