When the going gets tough, Hutchison gets going

In this week's "Making of a Royal" player blog segment, center Nicholas Hutchison (6-foot-2, 168 pounds) tells NHL.com how the Long Island Royals have helped him both on and off the ice. Royals assistant coach Steve Webb, who has watched Hutchison since he was 12, said the team's second-leading scorer has a great passion for the game and that when the game gets tougher and tighter, that's when he excels. "The more competitive the contest, the better Hutchison gets," Webb told NHL.com.
 

Hi everyone. This is my second year with the L.I. Royals. I previously played in Westchester with the Westchester Express and then, two years ago, came back here. Last year, we were '94 birth years, so we were underdogs. But this year we're like one of the top teams and everyone wants to beat us -- and that's a good thing.
 
I find that just hard work and effort, spending time in the weight room over the summer, have really helped me out this season. I like to play a physical game and be a physical player. I think I'm a good two-way center, who could control the game and make simple plays. After this season, I'm hoping I can play in the USHL. No team has my rights right now, but I was invited to main camp for the Indiana Ice, so hopefully I'll be able to play with them.
 
Right now, we're basically rolling three centers and four lines, but I play a lot with Michael Marnell and Adam Tracey. I'm the center on that line. I do a lot of faceoff work during the year and I like to set up a few plays even before we go out on the ice. I talk to the wingers and tell them where to go, so if I do win it forward, they go to the net and I can give it to them. I'm about 6-2, 168, so I like to throw the body around a lot.
 
Steve [Webb] is more of the mental aspect of the game and Pat [LaFontaine] helps us with all the physical stuff. Pat has helped me a lot on face-offs. Also, last year I would just shoot the puck and now I'm trying to pick corners … Pat has helped me out there too. On face-offs, he wants me to separate my feet so that I have a good strong base and he also tells me to bring my hands down a little bit so I can win it back to a defenseman -- I do win a majority of the draws.
 
Between periods, Pat usually talks to the team but Webb will come in and say some things. Webb always stresses to keep our heads up even when times are tough, and that's good.
 
We have so many good players on this team. We have a good core and we need everyone playing well in order to win. There's a great bond on this team and everyone always watches out for each other. It's really fun to be around the guys and we always want to be around each other off the ice, as well as on it. I think that has translated to us winning some games this year.