As soon as I stepped outside, the overcast sky mixed with the cool weather reminded me that I was really on Boston. The sky scrapping buildings seemed to be on every street around me, tall and skinny and unlike any building I have seen in Florida. The drive to the hockey rink seemed to drag on for hours but it was only five minutes away. I was more than ever to get out and play my favorite sport in my dream city. The locker room was like a Macys on black Friday, hockey players everywhere. Meeting all new people that I have never even played with. From ages thirteen to twenty. Not going to lie, it was extremely intimidating, but Herb Brook’s speech was replaying in my mind. I was meant to be here and I was meant to play hockey. It took me the usual time of about fifteen minutes to fully put on my gear and my jersey and of course my skates. By the time I was ready and raring to go, the butterflies kicked in. The pre game jitters hit me like an unexpected wave. Mixed in with the crowd of parents and players friends would be recruiters. That meant that I would have to play my hardest to impress the people with power to help me with my hockey career. The second I slipping onto the ice, the adrenaline started pumping. Nothing was better than the sound of the skates digging into the ice. I could feel the pressure and all the eyes looking at me as I warmed for the first game. As I look down the ice where the other team was warming up I could see that their smallest player was easily over six feet without skates on.

The scouts were camouflaged among the ordinary spectators and the other teams seemed rather aggressive. Finally, it was time to drop the puck of the first game in Boston. The second the puck hit the ice, I was concentrated on one thing. The entire game, I was determined to play the very best I could ever play. Between the fights and all the penalty calls, the game kept everyone on the edge of their seat. As I look up at the scoreboard I could see the game winding down to an end and then finally the buzzer rang across the ice rink. Once the last period of the first game ended, a wave of exhaustion hit me. Although the game ended with a score I would rather not mention, I was satisfied with the way I have played. Having this as the only game I would play today just meant that I would have three games back to back to back. With the game ending only around 9:30 I knew that I would need to go straight to sleep once I get to the hotel. As I got to the hotel I could see that it was a rather older hotel. With chips of paint peeling off the walls it looked as if this hotel has been around from the fifties. As I lay in the unexpectedly comfortable bed I switched on the T.V. just to watch more hockey. As I watched these professionals do what they do best I knew I had a huge dream that I wanted to accomplish. As I finally was dozing off I was dreaming of being in game seven of Stanley Cup playoff game. Grinning out of nowhere I knew that this weekend was going to be an unbelievable experience playing in this highly competitive tournament. For the rest of the weekend the only thing I would have time for was to eat, sleep, hockey, and repeat. No time for anything else except for more hockey, of course.

As the end of the hockey filled weekend came closer to an end, I began to realize that I would have to leave Boston. But as all tournaments do, it tired me out. I was sore all over and in need of a good nights sleep. I was indeed ready to get back home to the humid weather in Florida and sleep in my own bed. The flight back home was late at night so the hum of the plane lulled me to sleep, but all I could think about were the memories I made in Boston, between me and my teammates and my growing love for the city. I plan to return one day, but that time I will have a one way ticket, and of course my hockey gear.