I was drafted into the SHL at taken 14th overall by the Toronto North Stars before I wound up being traded to the Los Angeles Panthers the very next day. However, on my first day with the North Stars I was assigned the mentor Harry Carpet (@Carpy48). Carpet was tasked with specifically helping me to improve my mental toughness, a skill that is essential to finding success in the SHL as a starter. Being that Carpet had already been through the wringer of battling it out in the SMJ before his ascension to the big leagues, it was determined that Carpet was the best voice to guide me in my transition to the show. What first surprised me about Carpet was that his ego was practically non-existent when dealing with me and I knew right away that Carpet had my best intentions in mind. Carpet told me that his focus was not to tell me what I needed to do but instead to show me how to overcome my mental fragility by placing me in a situation I knew I couldn’t win. Time after time Carpet had me run the same drill with two forwards where regardless of how positionally sound I was I would not be able to stop the oncoming shot from the two forwards, and each time I tried to make a save I had to overcome the fact that the shot was unbeatable. Carpet hammered home the fact that it’s how I perform after the goal goes in that matters, and that as a goalie I require a short memory. Letting goals in are not what we want as a team, but not allowing the ones that get by me to affect my game is what’s important. Unfortunately, I ended up being traded the next day and only got to spend the one training session with Carpet, but it’s a session I’ll remember for the rest of my life.