If there is one thing I love above all else it is hockey. I have been playing since I was a meager six years old. However, hockey is not a game that is exceptionally kind to your body. The game is quite physical and often results in injuries however I have to have had some of the worst injury luck of anyone I have ever met. It started when I was in the seventh grade and I broke my foot taking a shot off the skate. It healed and I returned to the ice only to break the exact same bone in my foot the next year. Then when I was a freshman in high school I shattered my collarbone into five pieces. This resulted in missing most of the season and having two titanium plates and twelve screws put into my shoulder. This has made going through airport security so much fun. During my sophomore year, I was plagued by a broken wrist which I was somehow able to play through all year but it still hasn’t been the same since. At the beginning of my junior year campaign, I got hit into the boards which resulted in a slipped disk in my back which made just walking around pretty painful. Despite my poor history of injuries in hockey, I was able to stay relatively healthy during my senior year. Oh and I almost forgot about the three concussions I have sustained over my years of lacing up the skates (I guess I should take that as a sign).

Despite the litany of maladies that have been a result of my years on the ice I do not look back at my time playing the game I love in a negative light. I think of these injuries as just making me stronger and giving me the ability to overcome obstacles. Now I would never wish an injury on anyone, but I feel like it can sometimes be a good thing to get injured. It gives you the ability to take a step back and see that there are always positive lessons to be learned from things that on the surface are entirely negative.

As I am now a college student I have since retired from the game of hockey but my stories from the rink (and the hospital) are always interesting topics of discussion in conversation. People always tell me that I need to drink more milk, which I would except for the fact that I am lactose intolerant, oh well.