Hockey Doesn't Always Go as Planned

February 15, 2011 - By Jeff Serowik

Wanted to touch upon a more personal lighter side of things today and tell you about some of my own personal experiences in hockey not always going as planned.

My first NHL game was a perfect example of a host of hockey snafus.

After a long, grueling and nerve wracking first NHL camp, right out of Providence College I made the Toronto Maple Leafs. Our first game was in Calgary against the Flames.

Obviously I was excited, nervous,anxious, and proud to say the least. I couldn’t wait to strap on the blades and play in front of 22,000 people. My dream came true, I was playing in the National Hockey League. I had given so much to the sport over the past sixteen years, been through so many ups and downs, setbacks, and victories to get to this point.

I had been thinking about this moment my entire life, all the hard work and dedication paying off. However things didn’t go according to plan.

Firstly, my name was spelled wrong on the back of my jersey-SEROWICK- instead of SEROWIK. Next, I was waiting for the mispronunciation of Serowik which has been par for the course my entire life(which I am actually used to and is no big deal) FYI…Serowik sounds like heroic. But even worse as I came out of the bathroom stall in the locker room after skating warm ups, Toronto Maple Leafs Coach Doug Carpenter screamed,lectured and accused me of “disrespecting the maple leaf” I think I was in such a fog of nerves as I rushed to the bathroom I must have missed the hook in my stall to hang up my jersey which did in fact FALL TO THE FLOOR. As if I wasn’t nervous enough, believe me being yelled at by the coach rattled my cage beyond conception and in a million years I would NEVER knowingly disrespect the maple leaf.

I took to the ice and preceded to forget to take my helmet off during the national anthem until Team Captain Wendel Clark said “Hey Rook! Take your bucket off.”

The game went on and I played pretty well, I remember getting into it with the ref who made a bad call and then threatened to fight me outside after the game. FYI, that ref is now my friend and golf buddy-the legendary NHL Referee, Paul Stewart.

We won the game 3-2. Leaving the game there was a big fight in the parking lot and a few of our guys were sent out to help break the fight out.

You might call this old time hockey as the game has changed. If you can envision me an American kid fresh out of four years of prep school, and four years of college… The NHL was a wake up call.

All in all, it was my first NHL game and will never be forgotten in my memory bank. I have to admit I did envision a different type of outcome but nevertheless it was great would never trade it in or change the way things went down. It built character. Hockey does that.

The bottom line is, you have to make lemonade out of lemons. You have to work with the cards that you are dealt. Royal flushes are not going to happen.

Overcome the little things to enjoy the big things.

As I wrote about my first NHL game-it started me thinking. Enjoy some of my hockey bloopers(some hysterically funny and some very serious)but all things that definitely did not go as planned.

Squirt year: my mom left me at the rink while loading the majority of my teammates in her station wagon en route to a tournament game. I was noticed missing half hour into their trip and they turned around to get me.
Lawrence Academy: my teammate had a slump of bad games and proceeded to dig a hole on campus, bury his equipment on campus declaring his retirement from the sport. Disciplinary action was taken by the school. I love this guy-one of the beauties I will never forget.
Colorado Springs Olympic trial festival: this one is not funny at all but I hope a lesson is learned. I am sharing because this innocent juvenile situation got me black balled from the Olympics. I snuck out of the dorm late night with some guys, really doing nothing wrong and got caught. Stupid.
First Division One Hockey game at Providence College: this was my worst and hardest transition. The jump from prep school to college was a huge step. The pace, the running around, the hitting. It was like a testosterone factory. Very disorganized hockey. It took a lot of getting used to. Note-I have always said the transition from prep school to college was much harder than college to pro. Travis Roy is now a friend of mine-he speaks at my BU boarding camps. Travis’ message is inspirational and real. Travis was hurt in his first college game. It is important to always remind players at all levels to protect themselves foremost. Know how to take your hits. Never can trust your opponent.
At PC again: a player on my team took his helmet, gloves off in the middle of the game and declared he was quitting the team
Road trip in North Dakota-Providence College: Got into my bed for curfew in the hotel. About to fall asleep, I got a tap on the shoulder from my coach. He angrily asked me” Jeff –What the Hell are you doing? “ I said-“going to sleep Coach”. He said, “That is great but get your butt down the hall, OUT OF MY bed and into your own room” Once again I am still friends with my coach and we forever crack up about this. This is the legendary UNH Dick Umile and my fellow NH Hockey Hall of Fame Inductee. I talked about this during my inductee speech which can be heard on my website in entirety.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Remember that first NHL game I talked about above, well I was sent to the minors weeks later. I had a twelve hour bus ride, thankfully sitting with my buddy from Boston, Joe Sacco (Joe went on to a 14 year NHL career after his stand out years at Boston University and is currently the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche)If you can envision two 6’2 guys crammed next to each other in the seat because as “rookies we could not get two seats to ourselves.” We had a twelve hour ride, played a game and got right back on the bus for another 12 hour ride. I remember the two of us looking at each other and shaking our heads – talking to each other and discussing if we in fact could handle this lifestyle.
Newfoundland: the following year the Leafs moved the farm team to “The Rock” as it was called. An island in the Canadian Maritimes. Once again my buddy Teddy Crowley from Boston College arrived on the rock after finishing with the Olympic team . It snowed every day, we thought we were caught in a time warp and actually living in the song “Brandy.” We managed to decipher the dialect and Newfie slang but all in all the folks on the rock could not have been kinder. We lived the movie Slapshot. That is a whole other article to be written later.
IHL: my skates were forgotten on a road practice and I was forced to wear men's figure skates. 2 hour hard practice after 3 losses, white men's figures skates was not a fun experience and as you can imagine the butt of all my teammates jokes that week.
NHL Bruins - pre-game meal Caesar’s Palace: I was sitting across from Cam Neely. I unscrewed the pepper to pour it onto my steak instead of shaking it out because I like a lot of pepper. Apparently, I forgot to screw it back on. Cam went to use the pepper and the entire bottle of pepper poured onto his plate. This was a pinhead move on my part but he thought I planned it. Once again as a rookie-Cam and the other vets informed me I was cruising for a bruising. We still laugh about this today.
NHL Exhibition game - Chicago Blackhawks locker room: Chelios, Roenick and Amonte invited their good friend into the locker room-the late and great Saturday Night Live Comedian, Chris Farley. After our win, he ran into the locker room-ripped his shirt off and did a few cartwheels then got onto the exercise bike and did his SNL skit where he was peddling as fast as he could and drove through the wall.
NHL Penguins - after making the team: Jagr threw his stick and gloves in the stand during practice. Yelling at me in his thick accent ”SEROWIK, YOU DO NOT SHOOT, YOU ONLY PASS ME THE PUCK.”
NHL Penguins: playing on the first line and power play passed midway through the season with a promising multi-year contract…. I suffered a career ending hit from Peter Worell. Don’t have memory of the actual hit but have scene it on film. That was it. That was my last professional hockey game.

Sincerely,