The years of hard work and sacrifice had finally paid off. Scott Walker
had made it -- he was in the NHL.
Then came the brutal realization -- the hard work had only just begun.
Instead of buckling down, the defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks coasted.
After 63 games, he was sent down for 10 games to the minors. Demoted.
"I got a little complacent," Walker admitted later. He's now back in the
NHL with the Nashville Predators. "I stopped doing the things that got me
there in the first place. I guess they tried to wake me up. Now I'm a better
hockey player and I'm lucky. Sometimes they don't give you a second chance."
Walker was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
You don't get a much more typical background than Walker. Born in a small
town, Walker grew up playing hockey. And like his buddies, he dreamed of one
day making it to the big leagues.
"It's a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice," he says. "I've never
lived in one city for more than two years since I was 13 years old."
When he was 15, Walker tried out for a Junior B team and made it. He stayed
there for two years before he was drafted to a junior hockey league. Two years
later, he was drafted to the National Hockey League.
"Most kids that play hockey dream of playing for the NHL, and the more
you move up, the more it feels like you'll never get there." The key is to
keep that focus in mind and never let anyone else persuade you otherwise.
Naturally, you'll also need superior skills and a good dose of inborn talent.
Once Walker strapped on skates with an NHL team, it wasn't the long nights
and tense games that came as a surprise -- it was the fact that Walker, like
so many others in pro sports, became a role model.
In his spare time, he talks with high school students about peer pressure
and staying in school. "I used to think of everybody else as a big star, and
that I'm just the one that wants to play. It was a tough adjustment for me
to make because I never thought of myself as a role model."
Rod Brind'Amour is another NHL player. Brind'Amour is with the Carolina
Hurricanes. Before landing with the Hurricanes, he played with the St. Louis
Blues and the Philadelphia Flyers. He was drafted out of high school and spent
one year in the American college system before joining the NHL.
"I started playing hockey when I was five years old. Then I quit for two
years, but all my friends played so I had to get back into it."
Brind'Amour's passion for the game never let up. His family moved across
the country, but he kept plugging away at his game. He finally got what he
wanted.
"At first, it was the thrill of the game that kept me going. Now it's still
fun; it has to be. But it's also the camaraderie. The guys. It goes a long
way. When I talk to guys who have retired, they always say that's what they
miss the most."
Most people see all the glamour and bright lights of the game. They don't
think too much about the long plane rides, bouncing from one side of the country
to the other.
"Just recently we flew out of Colorado around 12 midnight. We were supposed
to have four days off before the next game and everyone was looking forward
to it." Instead, the plane was grounded in Pittsburgh. They had to sit there
on the runway for hours. "It was a long day."
Brind'Amour says you can get used to the long season away from family and
friends. The real challenge is trying to maintain a professional focus game
after game.
"It's a grind, mentally.... When you're putting all the points up, it's
easy. You have to do a lot of work to keep yourself up."
Maintaining this focus is even more grueling when you're battling in other
ways, too. Women are only now being accepted as talents in this male-dominated
sport. They're still not "pros," however. That means they don't make their
living from it.
Stacy Wilson started playing hockey when she was only eight years old.
Her dedication to the sport paid off. She was the captain of the Canadian
women's hockey team at the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Wilson says, "Right now, it [women's hockey] is a totally amateur sport.
We're not even on the edge of being pro. Five years? It might not be. It all
depends."
This isn't a game for those who aren't totally focused on the sport. "If
you like it and have the talent, it's a great life and lots of fun," says
Brind'Amour. "After all, it's a game."