Addison: Fully focused, eager to work

MONTREAL - When you score your first pro goal, you typically feel a sense of excitement. In the case of Jeremiah Addison, however, pure exhilaration was coupled with a real sense of relief.

That isn't surprising, though, given that the 21-year-old left-winger spent the bulk of the 2017-18 season recovering from shoulder surgery, before making a triumphant debut with the Laval Rocket on March 23 at Place Bell against the Charlotte Checkers.
At the 9:56 mark of the second period, Addison announced his comeback in style when his backhander beat Checkers netminder Alex Nedeljkovic. The Brampton, ON native was mobbed by his teammates seconds later.
"That was just relief, because there are just these little fears when you reflect on what you've been through," said Addison, who missed the first 65 games of the year following the procedure, which was performed last September as the Canadiens' training camp began. "You ask yourself - 'Am I going to be the same?' Just to come back and show that I could still play this game, that I could still score, it was just a nice feeling."

Reaching that point was both a physical and mental grind, of course, but Addison wasn't going to let being sidelined keep him down.
While healing up and getting his training program going again, the former OHL standout and 2017 Memorial Cup champ engaged in some serious introspection.
"It was just a year filled with patience and time for me to reflect and take a step back as well. I wanted to just evaluate and see what I was doing, spend time with friends and be with my sisters and be with family," explained Addison, the Canadiens' seventh-round pick - 207th overall - in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. "Being able to take a step back and watch my peers and see what they do to make themselves successful was a positive. There's more of a mental side to hockey than anything, so it was good to reflect."
And, all that thinking helped him come to one very important conclusion.
"More than anything, it's that I want to do this, I'm focused and I know the work that I need to do to get myself where I want to be. More than anything, knowing what kind of guy and what kind of pro I want to be," insisted Addison, whose resolve to make the 2018-19 campaign a success is clearly off the charts. "That makes the difference, being able to stay on that path and stay focused on doing what I need to do."
It also helps to have a good support system, and Addison certainly felt the love from his teammates during his recovery.
"When I first got here and I still had my sling on, many of them came up to me saying - 'Hey, I had that surgery, too. It's a grind, but just keep going.' They were really good about it," shared Addison, who suited up for six games with the Rocket before the season was done. "Just seeing the boys play, I wanted to be out there with them, but they all accepted me. It was nice to just be around a good group."

Going forward, Addison will spend his fourth straight summer working out with renowned strength and conditioning coach Peter Renzetti in Pickering, ON, east of Toronto - and his mindset is crystal clear.
"Rome wasn't built in a day. I've just got to be positive. You've got to think it, put in the work and things are going to happen. That's it," concluded Addison. "If you do the right things and put in the work, good things will come."