Hectic Hockey Team Transfer
By Leo Gelb
“I’m sorry, but we just don’t have space for you,” the coach said. This came as a really tough blow for me.
“Alright,” I said, trying to hide my frustration and disappointment. This hockey season I had really hoped to make the A team. Instead, I ended up with a talk from the A team coach, and a spot on the lower team. The team I was placed on was supposed to be in the BB division (BB is directly below the A division) but many of us were unsure if there were even enough teams in the BB category. If the organization decided that the division was too small, we would either have to move up to A, or move down to B.
Once it became apparent that there was no chance there would be a BB division, we knew we were in trouble. Our team needed to do really well pre-season for any chance to be placed in A. We won our first game 7-4, and we started believing that we actually had a chance to move to A. I started to worry, as I could tell we were becoming overconfident. I was clearly one of my team's better players during this game, getting 2 goals and 2 assists in the game.
We lost our next game 5-2, and we knew if we wanted to be placed in the A division, we would have to win the next game. We didn’t even have a chance, we got absolutely destroyed and lost the game 10-0. This was a major blow for the team, as we then knew that we would be placed in a lower league than we wanted.
As I expected, this wasn’t going to be the right league for me, considering I barely didn’t make the team that was playing in A. We won our first few games, and we were cruising as the best team in the B division. This just didn’t feel like the right level of play for me. I also noticed that my coach hadn’t decided on a captain yet, which was odd. Usually the coach decides on a captain before the season starts. We were already multiple weeks into the season, so this was definitely not normal.
I decided to check the scores for one of the A team games, and I noticed that one of the teams only had 16 players (counting the 2 goalies), which is less than a team usually has. Somehow the team went from not having space for me, to having less players than a normal team. The week continued as usual, and we won our game again. After the game, my coach asked to talk to my mom. According to my mom, the coach of the A team was looking for a player to join their team, and he was planning on inviting me to practice with them soon. This came as a real surprise to me, and it got me pretty excited.
After that surprising news, nothing else happened. I wondered if the coach of the A team had decided that he no longer needed me on his team and didn’t need me to come to his practices. After my team's practice on Thursday, my coach asked me if I was staying for the next practice. The practice directly after ours on Thursday was the A team, which I already knew about, but I hadn’t received an invite. I told my coach that I hadn’t been invited, and he said he would ask about it.
A few days later, I received an email asking if I would like to attend the practices with the A team. I responded to the email saying I would like to attend the practices. The day of the practice, I really started worrying. This was my chance to show them that I was able to compete at this level, and I had been placed on the wrong team earlier in the season. This was going to be my only other shot, and I was lucky to have it.
I slowly walked into the locker room. As usual, it smelled like sweat. Everyone was looking at me and a few people from last season recognized me. “What are you doing here?” someone said.
“Your coach asked me to practice with you guys,” I muttered. I slowly looked around trying to find a seat in the locker room.
“Sorry there isn’t space here,” somebody to my right said. I ended up tightly fitting my bag between two of my previous teammates' bags. Not a great introduction to the team. I put on my gear and got ready to go onto the ice. The first drill was a drill I had never done before called Canada cup, so I went to the back of the line. I had to somehow learn the drill by watching the people in front of me do it just once. Now it was my turn to go. I skated the route I watched, and got the pass I was looking for. Very tense on my stick, I skated up ice to continue the drill, and managed to take a decent shot as well as start the next part of the drill going the other way.
The rest of the practice was pretty normal, and everything went alright. I learned a lot about the team's strategy and gameplan, and how it differed from the team I was on at the time. I also got to learn a lot more about the players on the team and their playstyles. At the end of the practice, when everyone was getting off the ice, the coach asked to talk to me. Nervously, I glided over to him. “Are you able to come to the practice tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be there,'' I quietly said. I skated to the bench, grabbed my water bottle, got off the ice, and went to the locker room.
“Are you on our team yet?” one of them asked.
“Not yet,” I said.
The next day, I went to practice again. This time many of the players greeted me. The practice went pretty well, and I could tell that a lot of the players were making more of an effort to include me more in the drills and plays. After the practice, the coach asked to talk to me again.
“So, you have a choice,” he said. “First of all I would like to let you know that you are welcome on this team. If you want, we can move you to our team roster. However, I want to let you know that your current coach has selected you to be the captain of his team. It’s your choice. You can talk to your family and decide, just send me your decision in an email sometime tomorrow,” he said. I was completely shocked. I now had to decide between being the captain of my current team, or moving up.
“Thank you,” I said. I walked up to the locker room and again was asked if I was moving teams. I told my friend what happened, and he asked what I was going to choose. I told him I wasn’t sure yet.
On the drive home I talked with my mom. We agreed that it would be better for my development as a player to move to the A team, so that is what we decided to do.
I had one final game to play in before I moved to the A team, and I wanted to make the most of it. I scored the first goal for my team, giving us the early lead. We ended up winning the game 6-3, and I ended up with my goal and two assists. After the game, my coach let everyone know that I was moving to the A team. Everyone was very supportive, and wished me good luck competing at a higher level.
Hockey is really important to my identity for a few reasons. The first reason has to be all the social connections and friendships I have with my teammates. The second reason is because of the amount of time I dedicate to the sport. Overall, hockey is a really important aspect of my life and identity.
