I told myself to just watch the game. I left my notepad in the car, and didn’t even carry a pen with me. I told myself I wouldn’t tweet either, since the service at the Garden when filled is seriously lacking.

Despite my attempts to just enjoy the game, I still had two quick notes I had to write up post-game. You can take the tools away from the writer, but you can never make them stop thinking like one. Here they are:

- Speed-  There was a time a few years back when I would attend an NHL game and be instantly impressed at the speed difference between the pro game and the college game. The difference was marked – the pro game moved quicker, players not only skated faster but had better skating skills, and a player’s reflexes were that much more automatic.

The last two times I’ve attended a Bruins game, that difference has drastically decreased. It could be possible that it is because I’m simply not getting to games to make the comparison as often. But it just seems that since 2008, hockey observers have seen a marked improvement in the quality of play of college hockey players. The quality of passes and puck work in the NHL has decreased at the same level the college game has increased. Skating skills and speed in both the pro and college game have woefully decreased (qualities I didn’t learn how to evaluate until I started watching hockey with hockey players, but once I did, you can’t help but notice stride, edge security and speed.)

There is no longer that marked difference, that “wow – this is a different level” feeling, when you watch a NHL game as opposed to a college game. That’s equal parts wonderful for college hockey and a shame on the pro game.

-Seguin’s Shifts Off - Talented Tyler Seguin is still a teenager. Though you cannot deny his playmaking abilities and his contributions thus far to the Bruins, you can’t see his play purely through rose-colored glasses.

Seguin, like other immensely talented young hockey players both before and after him, has two switches. One controls his effort, and the other controls his natural talent. Every shift, a player like him has to decide to turn either one on or both on.

The natural talent switch is stuck on. It’s the switch to that lackluster light in the corner of the living room that provides you with no truely useful lighting source – it’s usually the light your grandmother leaves on a timer to try to convince would-be robbers someone is home.

The effort switch is not a given. It’s the light switch on the wall on the other side of the room. You really don’t feel like shuffling over to that side of the room. It’s out of the way of your final destination: the couch. Unless you are going to read or type and really need that light, there are times where you just don’t want to take the extra amount of energy to flip it on. You’ll rely on the lackluster light and the glow of the television.

Everyone in this world is naturally talented at something, and when it comes to whatever that is, they have those two switches. For Seguin, it’s hockey. Before every shift, he has to make that decision – is he going to expand that extra amount of energy and turn the effort swtich on?

Last Tuesday against the Jets, there were too many shifts where he wasn’t turning on the effort. He’d jump out for a shift and coast. Good plays and meaningful contributions will still happen because he’s talented, but not with the same regularity as they would if he would skate out on a shift with both talent and effort turned on. And that’s why his stats appear streaky at times – he will be on scoring fits and then be seemingly and suddenly extinguished. For example, he went on a six game scoring streak from October 29th until November 12th, amassing eight goals and three assists, and then only scored one assist in the next four games.

Seguin is far from alone. This is the same problem that was always evident to me when Colin Wilson played with BU – he took shifts off, thinking that he could coast on talent, put his stick down on the ice and volia! He’d score or assist magically, without having to try. Charlie Coyle suffered from this more severely. The shifts he turned on the effort shifts were increasingly rare as his BU tenure continued. He relies too much on his wingspan and talent, and doesn’t always put forth the effort that would push his playmaking ability over the edge. Every team has one – the young kid who thinks he’s invincible and superhuman, and can coast on the same talent that made him the star of mites, travel team, high school, and juniors.

Seguin won’t be felled by this for long – he has a tough coach and experienced teammates that won’t allow it. But it nagged me during a few games I watched on television, and when I finally saw a game live and could see the entire ice, it definitely stuck out for me. The “Seguinistas” may sling snowballs at me for pointing it out, but it’s not a death sentence for the talented forward, just a blemish.

Last intersession, I was stuck in my apartment recovering from an awful case of bacterial bronchitis and its complications. I used that week to sit on my couch and write for hours on end. I produced one of my best received pieces ever during that week (Boston Hosted The Last Tuesday NFL Game, In 1946) and got to cover the the New England Patriots being stuck in my hometown of Rochester, NY after a snowstorm interrupted their travel back to Massachusetts (Snow Way and Patriots Trying To Get Back to Foxboro).

I love using my intersession week off to be a full-time writer – it’s the only time in the year I get to do so. With that in mind and no crazy bronchitis this year to derail me, I’m using the intersession again to write away. But I can’t possibly just sit in my apartment. I would go stir crazy. I have tentative plans for Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday I’m working for the Boston Herald. But Thursday is wide open.

Thus, I’m offering my services to cover any college hockey game in New England on Thursday, December 29th, free of charge (unless you want to pay me, then of course, I’d take payment.) I want to travel, and someone has to need a college hockey writer. Right? Right. Consider it my holiday present to the college hockey world.

Here is some work I’ve done covering college hockey in the past. I haven’t had the opportunity to cover much this season because of my full-time job, so that’s why I would love to cover a game on the 29th.
College Hockey Notebook: Andrew Glass, Wahsontiio Stacey Departures Have Fans Shaking Their Heads
College Hockey Notebook: Da Costa, Dumoulin Lead Hockey East’s Top Sophomores
Hockey East Tournament Coverage

Let me know if you’re interested by emailing me at sportsgirlkat AT gmail.com

Now approximately three months into the college hockey season, all three teams are in the mix, but two surprising additions have made noise in Hockey East: Providence College and UMass Lowell. As of the morning of December 10th, here are your league standings (from the Hockey East official website):

Standings are standings – they lack an ability to rank how quality the wins are against each other. After Lowell defeated Boston College 3-2 Friday night, I woke up insanely early Saturday morning with an idea. Using the spirit of the KRACH and Pairwise rankings, why not evaluate these top five teams by their records against each other? So I created a spreadsheet. (Never mind that I should be finishing holiday shopping or doing holiday cards. I have a whole college hockey free week ahead to do that.)

After I put this together, I realized that the five top Hockey East teams have not played enough games against each other for this to be an entirely useful evaluation. And then my husband pointed out that there is already a head-to-head comparison on the Hockey East website – it’s just at the bottom of the standings page.

Well, duh. I knew that. I was just…cutting the fat and pairing down that chart. Right? Right. (Mind you, I also whacked my head pretty hard Friday, so I blame that for me not remembering that the head-to-head exists.)

So what exactly does this comparison show, if anything? For one, it shows how few in-conference games Merrimack has played so far, and in the three games they have played against the top of the conference, they have a losing record. This also helps give Providence a bigger argument for being considered a bigger threat than UMass Lowell. While Lowell has won a few “loud” games (stand alone games – non weekend series games – against BU and BC), they haven’t faced anyone else among this top five, and have only played ten league games total.

It also shows how many more league games the Beanpot schools play earlier on in the season. In addition to the totals above for BC and BU, Northeastern has played 12 league games as of Saturday morning. The only other Hockey East team to play that many league games? New Hampshire, who also played 12.

And now that we’re a month into the season, I immediately and totally regret this decision. I’ve got too much to say. So here are my pent up college hockey thoughts from this weekend- edited and sanitized of course.

Of course, most of this will be about Boston University, and how much physical pain (from banging my head against the wall out of frustration) the Terriers caused me after Saturday evening’s 7-1 loss to UMass Lowell. The Riverhawks chased around the Terriers around the Tsongas Arena ice like my old lab-retriever mix would chase a poor squirrel facing impending doom.

What’s wrong with BU? Here are two of the issues.

Lines, Lines, Everywhere A Line - There has been little consistency to the forward lines from game to game. Surpising? No. BU head coach Jack Parker line changes with the regularity that I drink coffee. Tinkering with lines is Parker’s cure to any and all that may ail his team.

When is the last time that Parker let forward lines gel for a few games? The Terriers national championship season in 2008-09. His top three lines largely remained unchanged from game to game. Lines were allowed time to grow together as a unit. If a line performed poorly, he demoted the entire line instead of changing up its make-up.

I am not saying a coach should set lines the first week of the long college hockey season and then never touch them again. That would be impractical. But Parker himself has admitted in years past that he’s guilty of changing up lines too much (I am trying to find the exact quote, but I believe he said it in 2007-08), and this year is no exception. No one is playing with the same guys from game to game, let alone day to day. In a home and home again UMass Amherst two weekends ago, the lines changed overnight.

The Terriers saw Charlie Coyle and Alex Chiasson paired together for a while, which is a mistake because both are Colin Wilson-esque – they’re long wingspan guys with a lot of natural talent but who need to give more consistent effort. Sahir Gill gets bounced from line to line, and while he’s a good player, he doesn’t have the consistency to be relied to boost lines in that way. Taking the two strong freshman forwards in Evan Rodrigues and Cason Hohmann and changing their lines every game doesn’t help ease them into play or help them get a rhythm going (and both have shown glimpses of being decent contributors.)

The Past Is Calling - This summer, I interviewed Parker for a feature in the Red Hot Hockey game program (coming soon to Madison Square Garden, so be a dear and pick one up on game day.) We spoke at length about the BU championship teams of 1971 and 1972. During the Terriers’ first ever national championship season, Parker was a coach for the freshman squad (in that time, freshmen were not allowed to play on varsity squads.) In his coaching at the time, he was a fan of using a goaltender rotation. Then BU head coach Jack Kelley was a fan of the opposite – naming a number one goaltender and sticking to it.

Kelley chose Tim Regan to be his starting goaltender in 1970-71, until a particularly poor outing by Regan. Parker recalls Regan’s tough game being against Cornell at Lynah Rink. That would point towards the Terriers’ 5-1 loss to Cornell on January 23, 1971. After that game, Kelley decided to start Dan Brady in net. Brady would go on to start the rest of the season and be named the NCAA title game MVP.

The exact quote from Parker in my interview notes: “I think Jack Kelley had the opinion that he wanted a starting goaltender, and Timmy was our number one guy for quite a while. Then he faltered, and it might have been at Ithaca, I think, and Danny had the chance to play.”

Mr. Parker, I think Saturday night was the equivalent of that “perhaps in Ithaca” moment for this year’s squad. Kieran Millan has faltered, and you can no longer lay all the blame on the defense. It’s time to give Grant Rollheiser a greater chance as “the guy” in goal.

Gripe of the Week - It amazes me that some of the most talented members of the college hockey media are still acting like Merrimack College’s recent success was completely unpredictable and unexpected. Merrimack is an example of how long it can take for a recruiting strategy and coaching philosophy to take hold. Head coach Mark Dennehy is in his seventh year in Andover, and thus has five or so years of teams made up of primarily his recruits.

Also, don’t underestimate that the last two years brought an administration at the school who have made Division 1 hockey a priority (for better and worse) – that wasn’t a case in prior years. It was not long ago that Merrimack was on the verge of possibly leaving Hockey East because their facilities were not up to par. While their Lawler Arena still isn’t ideal, it’s as renovated and gussied out as it is able to be.

So to say, “if you saw two years ago that Merrimack would be the last unbeaten team in the nation/a top team in the nation/the top team in Hockey East” is a bit disengenous. Sure, it was touch or go for this program for a while from a facility and schedule stand point. But to say you didn’t see this success coming just means more that you weren’t paying attention to who Merrimack was recruiting three years ago than their rise being truly surprising.

Predicting that the Warriors would struggle without Stephane Da Costa was also a mistake many college hockey media members made early this season. While talented, Da Costa was ineffective for several multi-game spells last season, during which Merrimack won games regardless. Goaltender Joe Cannata and big man Kyle Bigos are back and Ryan Flangian (as College Hockey News’ Joe Meloni points out well in his Monday blog post) is currently one of the best players in Hockey East. So is it shocking that Merrimack is currently the hot hand in the league? No. These are all the next steps in Dennehy’s and his program’s building process – one that’s been in action since 2005.

Why, for the most part, is the New England college hockey scene also quiet today? Why not take advantage of the region being sportless* for the day and showcase some early season action?

Even Boston College, who have created quite the Sunday afternoon game niche at Conte Forum over the past few years, is off today. The only game today is Minnesota hosting Vermont, as the Catamounts try to avoid getting offensively overpowered like they were Friday night. (Dartmouth is hosting Norwich in an exhibition at 7pm, but that doesn’t count.)

The excuse that college hockey schedules are set in a year in advance and thus are inflexible is a weak one. Dates and times are changed several times during the summer and even during the season. A month before this season started, a few games were moved after the second edition of Frozen Fenway was announced. Times are changed during the season to take postseason play by professional teams into account. And if a television broadcast opportunity becomes available, some games will move times to accommodate that.

So the powers that be within Hockey East didn’t take a gander at the NFL and NHL schedules when making this season’s final slate and see a gaping open Sunday? Why not move Boston College’s league tilt against Northeastern from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon? Both the NFL and NHL schedules were known far enough in advance that the change could have been made before tickets were printed and team training schedules were set. Given the Eagles and Huskies proximity to each other, no travel would have to be accounted for. And instead of NESN filling time by broadcasting Fox Sports North’s feed of the Minnesota-Vermont game, they could broadcast a league game between two teams that would draw much higher ratings. (And they could show local commercials, a revenue source they miss out when they simulcast from another channel.)

If Hockey East wants to further promote the idea that they are the “premiere” college hockey league (and the recent addition of Notre Dame was made with that in mind), they need to begin looking for opportunities to expose their sport to new audiences. Waiting for February to catch casual fans with the Beanpot isn’t enough. Channel hopping casual fans could be lured in this afternoon and hooked in for the rest of the season.

The league missed the boat by not having a league game on a Patriots-free Sunday. If they want to grab any more of the very saturated New England sports market, they need to start making the most of rare empty spaces in the seemingly endless sports cycle and promote college hockey in them.

* Sportless – A word I made up. Definition: being without sports. Like being homeless, just must less dire.

Jerry York, head coach of Boston College (who are ranked tops in the country this week by USCHO), took to 98.5 The Sports Hub to speak with The D.A. Show (I can’t find the link on their site, but I’ll keep searching.) During the interview, the station announced that they will be broadcasting select Boston College hockey games this season starting tonight against Denver. This is a giant get for Hockey East, who already have games on NESN and CBS College Sports this season.

Maine head coach Tim Whitehead, who split their opening weekend, losing to Merrimack but winning against Northeastern, spoke to the good people at the Maine Sports Network on Wednesday. Whitehead may be on thin ice in Orono – losing their season opener to a team who had not beat them at home since the Clinton administration is not the way to start. He has to motivate his team to play big and consistent, or Maine fans may strengthen their call to boot him as head coach.

Vermont’s Kevin Sneddon spoke with the Chris and Rich Show on 101.3 ESPN Burlington late Thursday afternoon. Sneddon has a group not unlike last season’s Boston University team – talented youngster heavy. It could be rocky for the Catamounts, who open their season tonight against the U.S. Under 18 Team, but once their freshmen get their feet under them, they could be dangerous. I am eager to see if they can harness sophomore Connor Brickley’s enthusiasm, which last season tended to manifest in big NHL style hits that aren’t exactly kosher in college hockey.

The Sneddon interview is also significant for another reason. I happened to mention to my friend Chris that my fantasy hockey team was once named, “Kevin Sneddon’s Playoff Beard.” I find Sneddon’s post season choice of a playoff goatee as opposed as a full out beard fascinating. It’s meticulously kept, unlike most unruly and grizzly hockey beards. I once wrote that I wanted to name my imaginary garage band after it. But since I’m tone deaf, I named my fantasy hockey team after it instead.

Like a good friend, Chris then mentioned my fantasy hockey team name when introducing Sneddon. The response by the coach is priceless.

Merrimack vs. UNH in March 2011. Photo by Walter Rossini.

I’m a college hockey writer without an online home this season (time is my enemy – I couldn’t commit enough time to any one website, so I bowed out for the season), so more of my random college hockey thoughts will get featured on this blog.

In the Straight Out of Andover department, Merrimack College announced their first ever hockey television coverage deal on Friday. WBIN-TV Channel 18 (formerly MY TV 18 Boston/Manchester, NH) will air three of the Warriors’ home games in December and January. The program’s strong 2010-11 season spurred on this new deal, said WBIN’s general manager Gerry McGavick in a statement:

“Coming off a 25 win season, an NCAA berth last year and entering this season with a top 15 national ranking, the Warriors will be a strong addition to the WBIN team.”

Merrimack will not be the only team WBIN gives college hockey love to this season. University of New Hampshire announced a 12 game deal with the station this week, spanning four of the school’s winter sports. WBIN will air six men’s hockey games, and two games each for the women’s hockey, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams. UNH men’s hockey had been without a television deal since New Hampshire Public TV (WENH) stopped covering their home games in 2008. The deal also gives the America East conference additional television exposure for basketball, which is always coveted.

Here is WBIN’s men’s college hockey schedule thus far:

Fri. Nov. 18 Mass.-Lowell at UNH 7 p.m.
Thu. Dec. 8 Boston U. at UNH 7 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 17 Union at Merrimack 7p.m.
Sat. Jan. 14 Merrimack vs. Maine 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 21 Merrimack at UNH 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 28 Boston College at UNH 7 p.m.
Sun. Jan. 29 Merrimack vs. Providence 4 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 10 Northeastern at UNH 7 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 17 Vermont at UNH 7 p.m.

But in a sad piece of news, WBIN’s rebranding has seemingly signaled the end for my favorite cable TV show, Dollar Bill’s Discount World. Dollar Bill announced himself in September that his show would be ending its over decade long run on the channel and be going web-only. For those of you who never had a chance to watch, Dollar Bill is an overly hyper and occasionally inappropriate salesman who sells closeout and discount wares in his Derry, NH warehouse. I salute you, Dollar Bill, and wish you all the best as you enter the world of online video.

In 2010, BU and BC took center stage in the first Frozen Fenway. (Photo by Kat)

On Friday afternoon, Fenway Park and Hockey East announced the second edition of Frozen Fenway, to be held on January 7, 2012. The outdoor game will feature a men’s hockey doubleheader, with UMass Amherst facing off against University of Vermont and the University of New Hampshire versus the University of Maine.

The game is being sponsored by Hockey East – who owns the event, and thus can decide its participants – and is being heavily bankrolled by Fenway Sports Group. The hope is that the event will bring out crowds of fans from the schools and their alumni bases in Boston.

Hockey East and it’s commissioner Joe Bertagna were eager to schedule up another outdoor game given the popularity of the 2010 edition, which features Boston University and Boston College. But the league wanted to give other non-Boston based schools a chance. Bertanga made that clear in his Friday press conferernce remarks. As reported by BostoInnovation’s Ryan Durling:

“(Bertanga) also acknowledged how generous a gesture it was for FSM to pick up the cost of the event. ‘It’s a bit of a risk to take up the cost, so we really appreciated that. The support from the mayor helped to push it along, too – the game between BU and BC is kind of old news, but bringing four teams from outside of Boston emphasizes our New England roots,’ the commissioner said.”

I have three quick issues with this statement by Hockey East’s commissioner, and the Frozen Fenway 2 in general:

Last I checked, the last two teams to win national championships from the conference were BU and BC. I don’t think any game between two of the best programs in the last decade of college hockey is ever “old news.” Especially when both teams sold out a freezing cold Fenway nearly two years ago, and when they play each other inthe Beanpot, they sell out the Garden, and when they play in their respective home venues, they sell out their venues no matter how awful either’s season is.

You’re taking a giant risk having this game feature teams from outside of Boston. Sure, their fan bases within Boston are relatively strong. However, you’re playing with fire – or more accurately, ice – here. Weather in January is unpredictable, and could impact the travel of those Maine, UNH, UMass and Vermont diehards who will get to those sellout numbers. At least with BU and BC, they have enough fans that can walk or take public transportation to Fenway to fill it.

Then there is the issue of Fenway Sports Group funding Frozen Fenway 2, and not including BC. Fenway Sports Group and the Eagles are joined at the hip. They’re going to have a college hockey event at Fenway Park and not include their prime collegiate partner?

Finally, by having Frozen Fenway 2 consist of two men’s Hockey East games, you run into marginal problems of inequity. Frozen Fenway’s first edition featured a women’s game pitting Northeastern versus UNH. This edition has no women’s component mentioned. The women’s game might not sell tickets, but it’ll never sell if you don’t give it the opportunity to. Plus, you legitimately have more legitimate women’s hockey stars now within Hockey East, players with a bit more name recognition than the league had pre-2010 Olympics. It’s worth a shot, and will save you some angered complaints from Title IX advocates. (Who knows – a women’s hockey game may be in the works and we just don’t know it.)

Is this just me? Please tell me it’s not just me.

Okay, it’s just me. Well, just indulge me for a second.

My favorite repository for flipping through college hockey photos when I’m burnt out  is in some dire straights. HockeyPhotography.com, run by well known college hockey photographer Melissa Wade, will have to be shut down in August because of the massive costs associated with maintaining the site.

The loss of this over 100,000 image archive would be a giant blow for those who love the game of college hockey and to the many journalists and schools who rely on Wade’s archives for their websites, media guides and the like. She covers Division I men’s and women’s hockey, Division III men’s hockey and World Junior teams. Name even the most obscure of college hockey players, and odds are that they have at least a shot or two on HockeyPhotography.com.

In an effort to save the site, HockeyPhotography now has its own Kickstarter page, which hopes to collect enough money in the next nine days to keep the site going for another year. The hosting fees are over $2,000.00 a year, and right now Wade is not even halfway there. Everyone who gives to the site will receive a reward of some sort, be it cards, prints or even View-Finder style reels.

If you’re able, I encourage you to give some money towards HockeyPhotography.com. If you love college hockey, it’s a very worthy cause.

Tyler Seguin scores during Tuesday night's 6-5 Bruins win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. (Photo: NHL.com)

Tuesday evening, Boston Bruins rookie Tyler Seguin put on a clinic against the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring two goals, two assists, and showing flashy skill and playmaking abilities that made even the least enthusiastic of hockey fans stand up and cheer. Seguin had been benched for the playoff run up to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, where he was inserted in the place of an injured Patrice Bergeron. Bruins coach Claude Julien had been noncommittal towards playing his 2010 #1 draft pick in the playoffs, and had used him sparingly as the regular season drew to a close.

When Seguin finally saw playoff ice, he broke out, showing the abilities that made him so highly coveted last year. However, what motivated that after a so-so rookie season where his experienced coach who didn’t feel he was ready to play postseason hockey?

There are always people who rise to the opportunity – who need just a bit more motivation or a bit more sense of occasion to show what they can do. To us non-athletes, they were those kids in school who wouldn’t do their everyday homework, didn’t pick up a review book, but still got a perfect score on the SATs.

Needing a reason to be dynamic can sometimes be viewed as a sign of immaturity. You don’t yet see the reason why you should put your nose down to the grindstone everyday, but when you view it as important, when you know a lot of people will be watching, you turn it on. Maybe it’s not so much immaturity always, but inexperience – when you aren’t used to showing your best every single day, it can be difficult to get into that groove when it’s called upon.

Where have I seen this most? When hockey players make the jump from high school/prep school/juniors to college hockey. It’s easier to be a big fish in a small pond, which admittedly most college hockey players are at the team they play on immediately before college. (I mean, it’s why they got a D1 scholarship and their linemate riding pine didn’t.) Once they join their college team, they either make the realization that they are going to have to give a stronger effort right away, or it may take them a while.

The two biggest examples of this I’ve watched are Colin Wilson and Charlie Coyle when they joined Boston University. Both were greatly talented coming into college, and then had wildly inconsistent freshman years. You saw them play up when they needed to, but in an average game against a basement dweller opponent, they didn’t make the plays they could have right away. Coyle played up for the World Juniors, then slid in production when he came back to BU after that tournament. When you’re young, opportunities need to be more obvious to you. It’s hard for any 18 year old to sense the need to play up for UMass Lowell, when a month ago you were playing the Canadian national team. In Wilson’s case, he seemed distracted during several games his freshman year, and then started giving a more consistent effort as the season went on and the team needed to dig themselves out of a hole standings wise. Wilson sensed the occasion, and that’s when he started to produce.

The Bruins’ Seguin is probably stuck in a similar situation. In the OHL, he was top banana, but the NHL is a new league and situation for him. How do you balance going full tilt in practice everyday against guys with years more experience than you? How do you play at the same intensity level for both a game against the woeful Ottawa Senators and then the arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers? How do you manage the idea internally that you have to consistently push yourself, and can’t have an off-day and still be the best player on your team? That’s a whole new mindset for an 18/19 year old, and no one is immune from struggling with new expectations.

That struggle is going to come across as laziness, lack of ability, and the sense that a player isn’t ready for prime-time. A NHL head coach, for better or worse, doesn’t have a degree in sports or adolescent psych. They aren’t going to take a rookie’s internal recalibration well, or at least they aren’t paid to.

What am I trying to say with this long ramble? While Seguin very well may have been playing to get back at his coach for sitting him all this time, it was most likely much more that in the ups and downs of being a teenage hockey player playing their first year on the next level, Seguin saw the occasion and played up. The reason to play full tilt was obvious, and in a year filled with learning new nuances (which your rookie year is), the obvious opportunities are few and far between. For one of the first times this year, there was a reason, there was a chance, and Seguin took it. And with a major reward at the end (last night’s win) that will be a building block to more consistent high level of performance down the road.