On a roll heading into holiday break

Hi everyone. Our team (Omaha) is doing pretty well of late (13-7-3, second in Western Conference). We just have to be patient. I feel as though our whole team is becoming more successful and a lot of the younger guys are learning the league a lot more and that's been a big reason.
 
You definitely want to be positive with the younger kids since learning the league is not easy. You want to be there for any advice they want and you have to be willing to lend your hand and maybe give your advice when they don't even ask. Anything that will keep their confidence up and help them.
 
Personally, I'm always learning more. I've been in the league now for three seasons and, this year, I'm taking more of that leadership role and being that guy that people look to. I want to be a person that the players and people respect. That's been more of my focus this year … trying to take on that leadership role and lead by example (Ambroz has 10 goals, 17 points and a plus-7 rating in 19 games).
 
It's always nice to score goals but you can't score if you don't shoot the puck so whenever I get a chance to shoot, I'm definitely not going to hesitate, unless there's a better play. Hopefully, if there is a better play, I can make that but you can't score without shooting (Ambroz is second in the USHL with 96 shots).
 
My linemates Justin Crandell and Nick Oddo are playing really well. Oddo missed one game with a sore knee a few games ago, but Ken Babinski filled in on that line to provide the same chemistry. When you have the same two guys, it's nice, but the lines change throughout the year so I'm not too worried about it. I feel like everyone on our team is capable of just making plays and being all-around good players. We have a lot of talent on this team and I feel like things are starting to turn around and click now. It has definitely been going well.
 
I just had one fight earlier in the year and there have been situations where I wanted to fight, but it didn't turn out that way. But, as I've said before, when the time comes, I'm definitely there to stick up for my teammates or if there's a good reason to fight, I won't hesitate to do it.
 
I'm looking forward to the holidays. I'll be heading back to Minnesota to be with my family and friends. I'm also looking forward to watching the World Junior Championship. It was awesome last year and it'll be exciting to see what happens this year. It should be another great tournament and definitely fun to watch.
 
Thanks for reading and happy holidays.