Playing for Andrew

Today was our last regular season game. If we won this game, there would be a good chance that we secure one of the top seeds for our end of season league tournament. The team has worked hard to stay in the top end of our division. It wasn’t my goal for the season, but it seems to be a result of what we have been working toward. We set out to become a well rounded team with a lot of skill. Smart hockey, hard work, and skill has been the goal. This team has a lot of heart. They have continued to impress me with their game. Today would have been a day to start of the game by focusing on the win to secure our spot in the tournament. That didn’t happen. It may have been the way any other team may have gotten psyched up for the game, but not these boys. Yesterday when I got home I found that I had missed an email from Eric, one of our players that I should have read before yesterday’s non-league pick up game. It was a request to dedicate the game to his friend who had passed away this week from Leukemia. I had read the email too late. I noticed Eric was not his usual chipper self during the game, but I didn’t know what was bothering him at the time. This morning we dedicated the final league game to Andrew, his friend. The team was silent when they heard their team mate explain what had happened to young Andrew. The team told Eric that they would go out and win this one for his friend. They did.
They didn’t play for themselves, the league, or to place high in the division....They played for their teammate and they played for his friend. The last league game of the season was on fire. Eric was on fire. The team started the third period, not by getting together and shouting: “Go Team!”, or any other usual rally call. The call was ”Andrew!” This is one very cool team... This is why I love hockey. You get to meet some great hockey players. I got the best job in the world...... I get to coach them.