the story reminds me that not every pro is a go getting alpha.
The lack of education didn’t limit me. My nature did. I was a small vulnerable kid tossed into an environment that didn’t go easy on me.
Some guys would still want to score, again and again. It doesn’t matter if the game was already decided, they’d still want more. Truth be told, I didn’t have that mentality. I was not one of the players who would give it his all when the score was 7-0. I couldn’t push more
I like how he admits that he (like many other players, I'm sure)
sort of gave up when there was nothing to play for.
"My head wasn’t in the game. When we knew from Christmas that we would miss the playoffs, I just wasn’t into it, I have to admit. That doesn’t mean I would just go there in my NHL jersey and skate around. I’m not crazy, but once there was no trophy to play for and the games meant nothing, I couldn’t push myself beyond the limit. People blamed me for it, rightfully so, but I think once you’re born like this, there is not much you can do to change it."
this was interesting, also, about when he was an older player. I wonder if it's like that for a lot of skill players.
I noticed that my hockey sense, which used to separate me, was disappearing. I got to the puck and it was as if I was frozen. What used to be automatic suddenly wasn’t. I had to do all those things consciously now, with clear intent, thinking about my next moves. I noticed how many parts of my body hurt.
Suddenly, I was doing something on the ice that I never needed to do before; thinking about what could happen next.
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