It's kind of crazy how quickly it goes, it feels like we just got here. Yesterday at times at the skills competition it felt long, and today at times it felt long. But then that's it, and it's just gone. I think with the whole weekend you just have to enjoy every moment, every minute of it, and try to take everything in.
It's obviously fun to win but, at the same time, the whole weekend -- even off the ice -- was about getting to meet everybody and being around the biggest players in the game. You're right there on the ice with them, so you are watching all the little things and their mannerisms. It's cool to see the holes they find or the holes they see and then exploit. To be a part of it gives me confidence. It's crazy that I did this. It's still surreal to me.
I got to play with Troy Terry of the Anaheim Ducks and Nazem Kadri of the Calgary Flames. We only had one defenseman on the team, Erik Karlsson of the San Jose Sharks, so we were rotating forwards a bit. We had a lot of chances, Terry and Kadri each hit two posts, I think. It was just fun to be out there and keep it loose, nobody plays the game like it is for the Stanley Cup; it's just more to feel the puck and have fun. The whole game guys are smiling at one another and giving it to one another.
Now, it is back to work. It's been a fun weekend and everybody had fun with it, but I have got to still play and be myself with the Golden Knights. We are going back to Vegas and then flying out Monday to Nashville to play the Predators on Tuesday to start our father's trip.
We have to play better in the final 31 games of the season. It is a cliché, but we have to take it one game at a time. With our captain
Mark Stone
injured, everybody knows what they need to do to up their game. Everybody has to up their game and we're going to win as many hockey games as we can.
But this weekend has been great. A surreal experience for me, and one I will remember forever. It was great to have my family here; my wife Tasha and our son Ford, my mom Bev and my dad Curt, and my brother Colton were all here to share it with me. Obviously, it would have been nice to win -- the cherry on top of being here -- but being here and everything was quite the experience.
