"My Version of The Dream!"

I am starting this post not really knowing where I will go with it so please bare with me, lol. A few days ago this picture popped up on my facebook memories. It was taken by a terrific photographer in Gatineau, Carole Maheux. It's of Zack's last game in Gatineau which marked the end of his Junior Hockey career. I love this picture so much that I had it blown up and framed for our living room.

Zack's Junior Hockey career was not a typical one. He wasn't drafted to the "Q" so he didn't get his first opportunity to play a game until about a year and a half into his Junior career. He started his Junior Career in Junior A when he was drafted to the Amherst Ramblers in the Summer of 2013. We really didn't know what this meant and thought that he had nothing to lose by taking in the tryouts. So we headed to Amherst around the end of August for their tryout camp, thinking that we would have a fun week end of hockey and head back home to start Grade 12 in about a week or so. Well that all changed when during the camp, the Amherst Coach, Jim Bottomley came up to us and said that he was excited about what he saw in Zack and he had a really good chance at making the team. Well this changed everything! Like I mentioned, it was a week before school started and Zack was heading into Grade 12. We had no idea where to start. Zack had never lived away before, heck he wasn't even a kid that liked going to his friends for sleepovers...he always invited them to our house! But here we were, needing to start considering that he was going to make this team which meant living with billets for the first time and finishing his Grade 12 year in Amherst. We needed to start thinking about where he was going to live, organizing school, etc., but he still hadn't made the team, so we didn't really do much more until we knew for sure. Well now I'm telling you something you already know....he made the team! So with days before school was about to start, I got in contact with the high school in Amherst. Zack started Grade 12 in Amherst and then when his season was over he got to come home and finish at Charlottetown Rural and graduate with all of his friends. So that worked out great!

Anyway, let's go back to hockey for a bit. During his first year in Amherst, Zack learned very quickly from his "Old School" coach that this league was very much a 20-year-old league. Each team was allowed to have 9 or maybe even 10 20-year-old players and Zack was only 17. So for that season Craig and I spent every week end driving to Amherst, (Bogo coupons for the Confederation Bridge would have come in handy!) to watch Zack play....or warm the bench, whichever you prefer! However, during this year Zack's coach ended up needing to take some time off, so the Assistant Coaches took over and guess what...Zack got some icetime. Over this period of time he started putting up some points and people were starting to notice. However, the coach came back and guess what...back to the bench goes Zack so the coach could play his 20-year-old players again. This was a tough situation for Zack, because he had came from playing on teams where he was usually one of the guys the coach used in all situations. It was also tough and a little boring for us to watch, however we had many talks about it and came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was work hard every single shift when he did get one and make it tough for the coach to continue to sit him on the bench. So that's what he did and to this day, I think Zack will always be able to thank Mr. Bottomley for teaching him how to earn his icetime.

Then comes his second year in Junior. This year would bring a whole different story. Amherst hired a new coach, Josh Heptich and the team ended up being very young. Zack got off to a great start and really hit it off with this new Coach. So at the age of 18, he became Captain of the Amherst Ramblers. So we were still making those trips every week end to Amherst, but now we got to see a lot more of Zack on the ice rather than on the bench! It was during this year that he had the opportunity, thanks to his coach, to play with the Moncton Wildcats while some of their guys were away at World Juniors. Well this was definitely very exciting for us, and for his first game with the Wildcats we loaded up my van and Craig's truck with family and friends and off we go to Moncton! As we are all sitting there excitedly watching the game, I can remember like it was yesterday, sitting at ice level by the face-off circle to the right of the opposing goalie. The play is in the opposing team's end (sorry I don't remember who we were playing) anyway, Zack is standing in front of the net to the right and the puck squirts out from behind the net. We realize that for some reason no one is covering him. So he shoots the puck, the goalie stops it but he got the rebound so he shoots again, again the goalie stopped it, but if you can imagine the puck comes back on his stick and the third time was a charm, it goes in the net! It's so funny how there are some things I can't remember like who the other team was, and then others that play over and over in my head in slow motion and this goal was one of those times!

After Christmas, the guys started returning from World Juniors and it was decision time for Zack. The Wildcats offered him a spot to stay up with the team for the rest of the year. They told him they couldn't guarantee the amount of icetime he would get but he could practice with the team, gain experience and play some games, whenever they could get him in the lineup. I know many would have jumped at that opportunity, but Zack politely thanked them for the offer and told the coaches that because he was the Captain of the Ramblers and also because he felt he could get better by playing in games rather than sitting on the bench, that he would like to go back and finish out the season with his team. So that's exactly what he did. Luckily, as soon as Amherst's season was over, Moncton gave him a call and wanted him to be part of their team as they were heading into playoffs and needed an extra body. Zack had a great playoffs scoring 4 points in 9 games and got to play on Moncton's top line with Connor Garland and Ivan Barbashyov.

The next year, Zack made the Wildcats right out of camp in September, so it became a winter of driving to Moncton every week end instead of Amherst...The Confederation Bridge loved us! He had a great year with the Wildcats and learned a lot from Coach Darren Rumble. He moved up and down the line-up and became a very reliable player for the Wildcats. He ended that season on a high note with another strong play-off performance. However, as you know teams are only able to keep 3 over-age players and Moncton was going to be over their limit. So before Zack's last season in the "Q" as an over-ager he was traded to the Gatineau Olympiques. This is where things started to really shape up for Zack and he had a very strong season in Gatineau, which I will get into more detail on in another post because this one is getting too long! I will simply wrap this up by saying, over these few years in Junior, Zack showed me that it's not about the opportunities you are given, it's about making the absolute most out of those opportunities. I will always remember when he created a social media account while playing in Amherst, his tag line said, "Living My Version of The Dream." What great advice for all of us, I think!