As a request from @Ducks54 I made my way out to Huntington Beach Inline Thursday night with good friend @HillerNtheNet to hear the Q&A session about life before the NHL and the difference/similarities on playing at the college level or in the junior leagues.

The players present were Ryan Carter, representing the college route, and Joffrey Lupul who is a product of the junior league.  Also on hand, radio play-by-play analyst Steve Carroll, and Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations David McNab.  McNab was there to give insight on the various levels of hockey before the NHL and what it’s like to scout players who play at both the junior and college levels. 

Just a few notes from the intimate session:

Joffrey Lupul played his minor league games in Alberta with the Medicine Hat’s.  He talked about long bus rides, the schedule between games and school not offering much time for anything else.

“There is an education program, but you’re playing 75 games a year.  It’s a grueling schedule.”  

He felt that his experience definitely helped him for a career in the NHL, minus one thing…

“There were a couple of shocking things when I first came here from Medicine Hat.   The first being traffic.  I remember one game I was about an hour late because I had never seen traffic like that before – coming from a place with only 15-20,000 people.”

On the other end of things, Ryan Carter played hockey for Minnesota State-Mankato.  His experience there didn’t begin until he was 20.  He mentioned that the NCAA placed a larger emphasis on school, rather than hockey, so there was more time for classes as they only played 40 games a year.  Fortunately for Carter, David McNab watched him play one game in particular that sparked his interest.  Carter was signed 1 month later.

Some Q&A from some of the younger audience members brought out a few laughs…

Is it hard playing in the NHL?

“Some days…yes.  Yesterday…VERY hard.  We lost our game last night (Wednesday) 4-2.  We didn’t play very well at all until the very end.”  A young child reminded him that he scored a goal.  Lupul laughed, “That makes it easier to know some people saw me score yesterday.”

The next child suggested they should win the game on the 26th.  Lupul asked who they were playing and was informed it was the Toronto Maple Leafs…

“Judging by…ahhhh, I shouldn’t even say it. Never mind.”  This got a big laugh from both Lupul and the crowd, “They’ve had a rough start to the year, let’s just say that.”

It’s fun to hear these kind of stories from the players.   A young child asked Carter what his most memorable game was…

“It was probably my first game.  I didn’t play a lot.  It was in the Western Conference Finals against Detroit.  It was my first taste of the NHL and I remember getting on the ice and really not even knowing what I was supposed to do just skating around and thinking, “oh my gosh, am I really here right now”.  I remember too on my first shift I got on the ice and we were in the offensive zone and the puck gets turned over and I’m skating back as fast as I can and it somehow ends up a 3 on 2.  Chris Chelios is walking down the wall with it (the puck), he’s wide open and I’m like, man I have to go after this guy I can’t just let him skate in.  So I skate at him, he threads the needle between my legs to the backdoor where Todd Bertuzzi taps one in.   First ever shift, minus 1, I thought that was the end for me.”

The crowd laughed at Ryan’s story.  I’m sure he’s glad it wasn’t the end. 

The kids were great, they always ask the questions we adults want to know but are too afraid to ask, like “Who’s the toughest team you’ve played so far this year?”  Both guys agreed,

“St. Louis, mostly just because of the score” – Lupul

“St. Louis, maybe it was just that we weren’t playing that well too, but they seemed to be everywhere.” – Carter

I thought the most impressive piece of information might have come from David McNab regarding the talent of young hockey players across the country…

“There are more good young hockey players in the state of California than the state of Massachusetts.”

So there you have it!  Just because we don’t have a plethora of ice in Southern California doesn’t mean you can’t make it in the NHL!  Get out there and play!

“Play hockey because it’s fun, it’s what we still do to this day.” - Lupul