Watching from the boards was worse.
When I was playing for the Tri-City Storm in the USHL, I made some bad decisions.
One night, there was a big party somewhere out in the middle of the Nebraska cornfields.
I knew we had a curfew.
I also knew our coach would randomly call our billet houses to make sure we were home. We called them “curfew checks.”
But he hadn’t called our house in a long time.
So I convinced myself I’d probably get away with it.
I stayed out far past curfew, made plenty of bad decisions, and eventually came stumbling through the door late that night.
As I walked toward the stairs leading down to the basement where I lived, I saw a note waiting for me:
“Coach called at 10:30 for a curfew check.”
My stomach dropped.
I was sick with nerves when I showed up at the rink for our next practice. A few of us had been caught, and we spent the entire day wondering what kind of torture was waiting for us.
How many bag skates?
How many down-and-backs?
How badly were we going to pay?
But our coach had something far more painful planned.
The guilty players were told to sit on the boards.
Then he forced the rest of the team to bag skate.
We didn’t have to skate.
We had to sit there and watch our teammates suffer because of what we had done.
That lesson hit harder than any punishment he could have given us.
My actions didn’t affect only me.
They affected the entire team.
That was an incredibly powerful lesson for a young man coming up through the hockey ranks. And it wasn’t only a hockey lesson.
It was a life lesson.
As I progressed through my career, I began to understand that my decisions, my attitude, and the way I treated people never existed in isolation.
Everything you do either adds something to the people around you—or takes something away from them.
The best teammates understand that.
They do the small things correctly.
They make responsible decisions when nobody is watching.
They bring energy instead of draining it.
They encourage their teammates, protect the culture, and refuse to become the reason the entire group has to suffer.
You may not always be the most talented player on the ice.
You may not score the most goals or receive the most attention.
But when you consistently do the things that bring a team together and move it toward success, you will always have value—no matter what team you are on.
Hockey teaches us lessons that extend far beyond the rink.
At Wraparound, we want to encourage you to keep working, keep growing, and keep becoming the best version of yourself—both as a hockey player and as a person.
Knuckles up,
Bobby Robins, savage motivator, NHL Alum, Writer for Wraparound
P.S. Great teammates do the work their team can depend on—even when nobody is watching. Protect your stick, grab a puck, and put in a few extra reps at home with Wraparound training tools. Every shot, stickhandle, and repetition helps you become a player your teammates can count on.