In the spring of 2008, after I had been away from the game of hockey for almost five years, I recieved a call from an old coach of mine who coached me on a midget AAA showcase team during the summers of 2002 and 2003. He explained that he had been hired to coach a new minor league professional hockey team in a new league called the Eastern Professional Hockey League (EPHL). The team was based in Brooklyn, New York, and played in an old World War II airplane hanger on Floyd Bennet Field off of Flatbush Avenue. The team was going to be called the Brooklyn Aces in homage to the fighter pilots who fought to protect the United States during World War II. This all sounded really great and all but I was a bit nervous because I had not really skated at a high level since after I graduated high school. Of course I had no plans of letting this chance to live out a dream I had since I was a little kid, get past me. The fact that I could get paid to play the game that I love was a no brainer and I decided it was time to get back in shape. Fortunately I had about four months worth of notice to get myself in the gym and on the ice. I began training right away five to six days a week while working full time at my summer job at a garden center.
Continue reading after the jump...
