Chemistry: Born in a Locker Room
Monday, July 26, 2004

Posted by GSH-Editor

People on the outside world cannot understand what happens in a hockey dressing room. The word chemistry is often used to describe what lurks behind the walls of a tight knit hockey room.

If you talk to most players who win championships, they talk of the blood and guts, the second efforts, but most importantly they point out the chemistry in the room. From the day training camp starts, players are thrown together from all parts of the globe. Once the team is made, this is now your second family. You will bleed with these teammates, you will win and you will lose with them, but most of all they will become your best buddies in the world. These are the guys you have to trust – not only on the ice but off the ice as well. When your flying up the ice and you hear a “heads up stewy!”, and you quickly avoid a train coming at you, your buddies were there for you. When you are the bar unable to walk, your buddies are the ones to make sure you get home ok. You will pump each others tires with the girls in times of need. You will taste the sweet flavor of victory, and you will cry tears together in defeat. Through hell and high water for the next 9 months you will have a family that will take care of you. Away from home for the first time, you may feel homesick. Your boys will stick together and all of you will have some of the best times of you life. Stories told in the dressing room, end when you walk out the door. What happens in a dressing room becomes a world of itself. If you respect this responsibility you will reap the benefits of a great year. Respecting the code of the locker room is more about life then it is about what happens on the ice. Cherish these times in the room boys, from sitting around having a chew after a game to bus rides on road trips– these are memories that will stay with you for a lifetime. Embrace these rules, respect your teammates, but most of all enjoy the dance. When it’s all over, you will think back and smile at the golden moments of your youth. Then you will wake up your son and take him to practice. As you take a sip of your warm coffee, you can be gracious that you were there – you played, you laughed, your cried –and you got to the dance…..Congratulations