Hello hockey fans:
It was quite a month, winning a gold medal with Canada at the World Juniors and then returning to Michigan for our stretch run.
We recently split a two-game series against the University of Minnesota, losing 4-3 in overtime (Jan. 20) and winning 5-4 in OT (on Jan. 21). I'm happy with how we went into that weekend series. We really battled in practice leading up to the games and wanted to make sure we were ready to go because that's something we've kind of been struggling with ... those Friday starts. I thought we did a really good job of being dialed in. Obviously, it wasn't the outcome we wanted on Friday, but I think it carried over into Saturday's win.
We have a two-game series against Penn State scheduled today and tomorrow on home ice. The Nittany Lions are a really good team, but I like the way we've been playing and preparing for games, so I'm definitely excited.
Winning a gold medal with Canada was a dream come true, honestly. I was on the same flight home from Halifax, Nova Scotia, with several Michigan teammates (Luke Hughes, Rutger McGroarty, Gavin Brindley, Dylan Duke) who won bronze for the United States. I was wearing my gold medal, so it was funny. After a couple of days, I kind of put it away and forgot about it because we're teammates again.
Now that I'm back at Michigan, I just want to be the best player I can be for my team. It all comes down to trying to be the best team, so being the type of player that my team needs in whatever situation is the only thing on my mind right now. I'm trying to separate myself every day, doing as much extra stuff as I can, on and off the ice. I'm just trying to be the best player I can be until the end of the season.
I took away a lot from the World Juniors. I wasn't playing a role I'm used to ... I've never really played right wing before but did that at the tournament. I wasn't playing as many minutes as I'm used to, but I think that's something I learned. There were so many good players on the team, so you have to check your ego at the door and play the role you need to play to win a championship. That's what I was able to do to the best of my ability and I think a lot of guys were able to do that. That's the reason we won gold.
Connor Bedard obviously had a stellar tournament, winning MVP. He's really a great guy and we're pretty much buddies at this point. I had a really good time playing with him. He was really huge for us. Everybody knows what he can do, everybody's seeing it. He's just got to keep doing what he's doing.
Earlier this month, NHL Central Scouting had me ranked No. 2 on its midterm list of North American skaters. I think it is a big motivating factor. This is the reason I work so hard every single day to be the best I can be. I don't really look at rankings or anything like that, but everybody's aware of it and everybody's aware of what's going on in that sort of realm, so it definitely feels good. That said, there's a lot more work that needs to be done and I'll never be satisfied.
I've got time limits on all my social media apps and I try and stay away from that as much as possible. The people that are closest to me like my family, my best friends, they all know to not really talk to me about rankings]. They don't send me rankings and we try and stay away from that collectively because at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. My team has been doing a good job of keeping the outside noise, out. We're focused on more important goals.
Thanks for reading this month. I'll provide another update in February.
*Photos: Michigan Photography*
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