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I directly caused 5 more breakaways by either wiping out on routine plays at the blueline or making weak passes in the direction of my D partner. The other team scored on 2 of those mistakes.

The final straw was when I ended up scoring on my own net. Normally, I would have dove across the crease to block the shot, but I knew that would cause excruciating pain. So I reached out with my stick instead and ended up deflecting the puck in my own net.

At first, I was furious. I was used to being able to do all of these moves effortlessly and now I had lost control over my game. I hated playing badly and letting down my teammates. I didnʼt want to use my surgery as an excuse, so I kept playing through the pain and the embarrassment. My teammates didnʼt say a single thing to me despite the fact I was single-handedly losing the game - probably for fear that I would completely lose it on them. And they were probably right.But after 2 periods of this horrible display of hockey skill, it became downright funny. No matter how hard I tried, how much I pushed, how positive I tried to stay, how much my teammates tried to help me out, I couldnʼt do a single thing right out on the ice. I am sure that no one would have blamed me for just going to the dressing room after the first period and staying there for the rest of the game.

So why am I telling you all this?

Because there are going to be days when you canʼt do a single thing right out on the ice. You will score on your own net, youʼll pass to the other team and youʼll fall over for no reason. No matter how hard you try, you just wonʼt be able to put it together.

Maybe youʼll be dealing with an injury, had a horrible day at school or had a fight with your friend on the way to the rink. Any one of these could be an excuse to play your worst game ever.

Donʼt make excuses. Fight and claw your way through it. It says so much about you as a player to be willing to battle hard through your worst game ever instead of giving up. You canʼt be great all the time. You canʼt even be good some of the time. But you need to work your hardest no matter what all of the team.