A Winner Never Quits

A Winner Never Quits

A winner is a loser who did not give up. I epitomize this statement. My group was one of the hardest working groups I have seen in a long while. They never gave up on their battles. That mentality separates players who make it from players who wonder what could have been. You can have all the skill in the world, but if you quit when it gets hard, someone with less talent and more heart will take your spot.

Train Like the Best, Because They Train Harder Than You Think

What prompted me to write this article was being on the exercise bike next to a professional football player. He was just drafted. Nicest kid. He was competing with me on the bike and I was competing with him on the bike. When I was training, I would put my headphones on and envision my strongest competitor on the bike next to me. I would crank it up to level 12 and refuse to let this imaginary competitor beat me in level or calories burned. That mental trick works. It forces you to push past the point where your body wants to stop.

Tyler Seguin said it well: "When I am at the hardest part of my workout, I picture my competitors doing the exact same workout but flying through it with no fatigue. My competitive drive kicks in, and that inspires me to work harder."

Use that. Every single workout.

Jeremy Roenick in the Heat

Many have heard this story but if not, here it goes again. I used to work out with Jeremy Roenick in the summer at the Cape. We were friends and belonged to the same club. I was battling it out in the minors and he was an NHL All Star. We worked out hard daily to the brink of exhaustion. One day after a brutal workout, I went to the driving range to hit balls. It was in the 90s with what felt like 100% humidity. The air was so thick I could barely breathe. Out of the corner of my eye, I see JR sprinting at full speed up the hills of the course in that heat. I will never ever forget it. He was already an All Star. He had nothing to prove. That is exactly why he was an All Star.

Jaromir Jagr at Age 45

Pittsburgh Penguins. Jaromir Jagr, when I played with him. He was still playing at 45 for the Florida Panthers. This is no surprise to me. After a game he did 500 squats in his stall without weight. He would then put a 45-pound dumbbell on the end of his stick and hold it out, waving it back and forth very slowly to strengthen his wrists. He wore a 35-pound weight vest and skated laps at full speed. Nobody told him to do any of that. He did it because that is who he was. That is the standard.

The Bottom Line on Conditioning

Conditioning does not take skill. It takes commitment. If you are not training, someone else is. NHL stars work way harder than you could ever begin to imagine. Most youth players have no idea what elite preparation actually looks like. Now you do.

Don't Listen to the Haters or Naysayers

I was told plenty. Here are just a few:

• ▸My college coach told me I would never play in the NHL.
  - My second-year pro coach in the AHL told me he would see to it that I never played a game in the NHL, because I was on the ice for the final goal when our team lost the Calder Cup Finals. I was the top defenseman on the team and played my heart out all season. That coach wanted the win for himself to get promoted. I was devastated.
  - I was told my defense was not reliable, and then I was told I did not get enough points as a defenseman. Sometimes you just cannot win.
  - I won the Eddie Shore Award in the AHL, the equivalent of the Norris Trophy, but did not make the All Star Team. A first-round pick with far less to show for it took the spot instead.
  - A youth coach with a son on the team told me I was not quite an A player like his son but that I would get there someday.
  - I was invited to the U16 Olympic Festival in Colorado. We did a Mohawk Drill around a cone. I had never been to camps and could not execute it properly. The coach singled me out in front of everyone and said, "I guess we learned one thing guys, kids from NH don't know how to do Mohawk Turns."
  - The Toronto Maple Leafs told my agent that if I did not sign early and leave college, my chances of making it would lessen. I stayed and got my finance degree.

Every one of those moments could have ended my career if I had let them. None of them did. The people who try to define you are usually protecting their own interests, not yours. Know the difference.

"DON'T GIVE UP. GO BACK IN THE FALL YOU WANT TO BE, NOT THE PLAYER SOME DEFINE OR DEFINED YOU AS."

-Jeff

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I stay motivated when coaches or scouts tell me I am not good enough?

Write it down and use it. Every time someone told me I would not make it, I stored it. That fuel is real. The key is to redirect the hurt into work, not bitterness. Keep your focus on getting better, not on proving anyone wrong, because the moment you are obsessing over a critic you have already given that person too much power over your development.

At what age should a hockey player start taking conditioning seriously?

Earlier than most players think. By the time you are in your early teens, the players who are quietly putting in off-ice work are already building a gap on those who are not. You do not need a fancy gym or a trainer to start. Bodyweight work, skating drills, and consistent effort go a long way at any age.

Is mental toughness something you are born with, or can it be developed?

It can absolutely be developed, and it is developed through repetition just like any skill. You build mental toughness by putting yourself in hard situations repeatedly and choosing not to quit. Every tough workout, every shift after a bad shift, every practice after a coach has criticized you, those are the reps that build it.

What should a youth player take away from the stories of Roenick and Jagr?

The takeaway is simple. The best players in the world did not get there by doing the minimum. They got there by doing extra when nobody was asking them to. If you are waiting for a coach to push you, you are already behind. The players who make it are the ones who push themselves.