Legs quaking, heart beating, eyes burning, lungs on fire
Every hockey player remembers their first truly legendary bag skate.
I have been in a few that still live rent free in my mind.
One of the worst came when I was playing in the USHL. A handful of guys broke curfew. I will let you guess whether or not I was one of them. But here is the thing. It did not matter who was guilty.
The entire team was going to skate.
When we walked into the rink, you could feel it in the air. No pucks on the ice. Just open space and fear. We stretched. We circled. And then coach lined us up.
Four groups.
One on each goal line.
One on each side wall.
Down and back. Rotate. Again. And again.
It was pure misery.
The hardest part was watching the guys who did the right thing still have to skate. That lesson stayed with me. Teams pay together.
And yes, I apologized to the entire team afterward. Genuinely.
As I moved up through the ranks, I feared the bag skate. Anytime coach lined us up on the goal line, my mind went straight to exhaustion. Anxiety crept in before my legs even started moving.
Then I turned pro.
I was playing in the American Hockey League for the Binghamton Senators. We were not very good. Our coach was a hard nosed Canadian who believed conditioning fixed everything. After almost every practice, we bag skated.
Hard.
Goal line drills under time. Down and back 3 times under a minute. Repeat 5 times. Legs shaking. Lungs burning. Vision narrowing. Welcome to pro hockey.
My fear of the bag skate grew.
Then something snapped.
During my fourth year pro, while playing in Europe, I had given up on my NHL dream. And then one day, something shifted. A true Savage Shift.
I decided I was coming back to North America to fight my way to the NHL. No more avoiding fear. No more playing small. I committed fully.
I started doing everything extra.
More gym time.
More stretching.
More recovery.
More conditioning.
And the thing I got obsessed with?
Bag skates.
The very thing I feared became my best friend.
After practice, I would pull younger players aside and skate with them. I was training my body, but more importantly, I was training my mind. I learned how to exist past comfort. That changed everything.
As I climbed through the ECHL, the AHL, and eventually to the NHL with the Boston Bruins, I did extra bag skates after practice. Every time.
I learned to love them.
So here is my challenge to you.
Next practice, do a little extra. Push yourself past comfort. Really bag yourself. It is not a bag skate unless you are truly bagged.
Your coaches will notice.
Your teammates will see your leadership.
Your conditioning will rise.
Your mental toughness will sharpen.
And when the third period comes, you will still have another gear.
With the Winter Olympics approaching, it is impossible not to mention the most legendary bag skate of all time. The one known simply as “Herbies.”
Goal line. Blue line. Back. Red line. Back. Far blue. Back. Far goal line. Back.
Again.
Again.
Again.
When Coach Herb Brooks ran his team through Herbies, something magical happened. That bag skate forged belief. It bonded a group of college kids and prepared them to shock the world.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is bag skate.
And when you are done?
Again.
Because when you are bag skating, nothing else exists but the next stride.
That mindset changes everything.
Bobby Robins, savage motivator, ex hockey pro, writer for Wraparound
P.S. To honor that legendary team-first mindset, Wraparound partnered with the 1980 U.S. Olympic Gold Medal team to release a special collaboration. The 1980 Miracle Polarized Sunglasses are inspired by the grit, unity, and belief that defined one of the greatest moments in hockey history. If that story fires you up, this is a piece of that legacy worth carrying with you.