Do this and give it everything you have.
I can’t believe it’s September already.
Summer flew by.
But moving forward, I’m not even talking about summer anymore.
Labor Day is over.
We are officially in hockey season.
And for a lot of hockey players out there, that means one thing:
Tryouts.
High school tryouts.
AAA tryouts.
Youth hockey tryouts.
Junior camps.
College captain’s practices.
Pro training camps.
And make no mistake about it—even if you already have a spot somewhere, the beginning of a season is still a tryout.
You’re proving yourself.
Pro training camp might be the ultimate version of it.
Same game.
Same pressure.
Just under an even bigger microscope.
So what’s the #1 mentality you should carry into a tryout?
Before I tell you, let me take you back to when I was 18 years old.
I desperately wanted to play junior hockey.
That summer, I went everywhere I could trying to make a team.
North American Hockey League camps.
USHL camps.
Other junior scouting tournaments.
I fought.
I hit.
I scored.
I backchecked.
I blocked shots.
I did all the dirty work I could possibly do.
And I got cut.
Then I went to another tryout.
Cut again.
Another one.
Cut.
By the end of that summer, I had been cut from five junior hockey tryouts.
Five.
And every time, I had to pick myself back up and keep searching for another opportunity.
Finally, toward the end of the summer, I had one more shot.
The Great Falls Americans of the America West Hockey League.
Back in the early 2000s, people called it the “Montana League.”
The A-Dub.
It had a reputation for rugged hockey.
A lot of fighting.
A lot of tough players.
I didn’t know much about the team.
I didn’t know much about the league.
But I knew one thing:
I had to make that team.
And something changed in my head before that tryout.
I told myself:
No one is taking this from me.
That was it.
That was my mentality.
I wasn’t going there hoping I played well.
I wasn’t hoping the coaches liked me.
I wasn’t hoping I caught a lucky break.
I went there believing:
I am going to do whatever it takes, and no one is taking this opportunity from me.
So I played rugged.
I fought.
I checked.
I competed.
I did the dirty work.
In a lot of ways, I did the same things I had done at those other tryouts.
But there was a different edge to me.
A switch had flipped.
I was done asking permission.
I was going to make them notice me.
And I made the team.
That Great Falls team wasn’t the level I originally wanted.
I wanted the USHL.
I wanted the North American League.
But that opportunity became the beginning of my hockey career.
I went there and learned how to become a more complete hockey player.
I competed.
I developed.
I toughened up.
And the following year?
I signed a tender in the USHL.
That door eventually opened.
But first, I had to walk through the door that was actually in front of me.
So if you’re heading into tryouts this September, here’s the mentality I want you to carry:
Give it everything—and don’t let anyone take it from you.
Carry that into every drill.
Every battle.
Every scrimmage.
Every sprint.
Every puck race.
Every shift.
Don’t skate around wondering whether the coach likes you.
Don’t spend the whole practice calculating where you are on the depth chart.
Don’t play scared.
Compete.
Go after it.
Make yourself impossible to ignore.
That doesn’t mean playing selfish hockey.
It doesn’t mean running around trying to destroy people.
It means playing YOUR game with everything you have.
If you’re a scorer, create offense.
If you’re a playmaker, make plays.
If you’re a defenseman, defend.
If you’re a goalie, stop the puck.
If you’re a rugged winger like I was?
Get in there.
Forecheck.
Finish your checks.
Win battles.
Get pucks out.
Get pucks in.
Whatever your game is…
OWN IT.
And when that voice creeps into your head saying:
What if I get cut?
Replace it.
No one is taking this from me.
Then go prove it.
This is the moment we’ve been talking about all summer.
Now we get to find out whether all those workouts, skates, shots, lifts, sprints and extra reps paid off.
And remember:
Just because hockey season has started doesn’t mean training stops.
If anything, this is when the extra work starts to matter even more.
Keep your knuckles up.
Give it everything.
And don’t let anyone take it from you.
Bobby Robins, ex NHL pro, now Email Enforcer for Wraparound, imparting wisdom on a new generation of hockey players.
P.S. When team practice ends, that doesn’t mean your development has to end with it.
For the players trying to make the jump to the next level, sometimes the most valuable work happens after everyone else is done.
Ten extra minutes in the weight room.
Ten extra minutes working on your shot.
Ten extra minutes stickhandling in the garage or driveway.
Grab a Puckaround and keep stacking touches away from the rink.
It’s designed to give you the feel of a real puck on off-ice surfaces, so you can train your hands until controlling the puck becomes instinctive.
The goal is simple:
Eyes up.
Feel the puck.
See the ice.
Make the play.
Those little extra sessions might not look like much today.
But when the puck lands on your stick during a tryout and you have half a second to make the right decision?
That work shows up.
[Grab your Puckaround and put in the extra reps →]