Hustle

Almost from the moment girls and boys lace their first pair of skates, someone is urging them to hustle. Their fathers, mothers, brothers, teammates, and coaches are telling them to "HUSTLE"! They soon discover that hustle is an attitude. It can be described in many ways. In a phrase, it is "being there first." It is maximum effort joyfully expressed. HUSTLE is a driving, vigorous desire to succeed, and that motivation is visible. It is skating like a person on fire and enjoying every eye-watering second of it! Hustle wears many faces. Whoops, hollers, scowls and laughter are all aspects of what motivates hustle. But determination is at the bottom of it all. Hustle is also concentration, singleness of purpose. Hustle eliminates pain and enhances courage. You give a little more than you, or the coach, or your opponent thought you had. It is stops and starts until your lungs jam your rib cage and your breath turns to steam. Hustle is changing shifts on the fly, and heading right for the goal. Hustle is not talk; it is action. Hustle is doing one thing while thinking about the next move and the one after that. It is knowing where your teammate will be and sending the puck to him/her right on the money. When you hustle, you'll know it. Players respect you, coaches use you as examples and kids wait for your smile after the game. You'll feel your teammate's sweaty glove on the back of your neck, and you'll see the crowd jumping in the air. The lights on the scoreboard change and there is a feeling inside that is all your own. You see, hustle is not just a word. It's character, personality and habit all rolled into a way of life. It's just the thing that makes hockey worth every fleeting minute of the effort.