This is my first Young Stars tournament and first time to Penticton, which has all the makings of a beautiful city with unreal views of mountains and Okanagan Lake. Sadly there's still a lot of smoke in the air; I'm hearing it might rain Friday, fingers crossed that helps with the fires.
Our hotel is right beside the water and seeing this lake makes me miss Prior Lake back home. I spent a lot of time on the water this summer. I have two jet skies and I like ripping around on them. Some of my buddies have jet skies as well, so there would be as many as six of us out there. Good times.
I was very motivated this summer in preparing for the season. I worked out with a solid group, including T.J. Oshie, Nick Leddy, Justin Faulk, Taylor Chorney and Joe LaBate. Unreal work ethic from this crew. I'm a rookie and I don't have a guaranteed spot on this team, so I pushed myself hard over the last few months and these guys helped a lot.
I also played in Da Beauty League (a league full of beauties, obviously) this summer, which I explained to CanucksTV today after practice.