14. R&R
It’s been a long season for Agate, in her debut in North America. She played a ton of games, practiced even more, and overall has seen a ton of damage to her body. But it feels like good damage, and every time she recovers from something, she feels more capable of handling it better and better the next time. She spends a ton of time trying to rest every aspect of her body. Sometimes that means laying in a dark room in silence, penciled in the middle of the bed, not even under the covers. Sometimes that means making herself a big meal, grabbing a glass of red wine and filling up a nice bath. Sometimes that means going for a 5am run and then having a pretentious green smoothie bowl, that never actually tastes good, and never actually makes a difference, but has a killer placebo effect. Sometimes that means going for a casual skate with her teammates, doing trick shots and low-skating beer-league style scrimmages. And sometimes, that even means going on a shopping spree! Moving to North America without any of her things means redecorating, starting a wardrobe from scratch, and investing in new tools and staples. Something that most days feels like the biggest chore, but some days can be the largest source of rest. There are a lot of ways one can recover from the long hard season, and while they’re all great, there’s nothing quite like playing in the SMJHL, like next season!

16. Goals
Olivija Agate ended the season with 11 goals, 22 assists for 33 points in 66 games. Very easy numbers to calculate ratios for! Hopefully Agate can start pushing towards 20 goals moving forward, and push towards 30-40 assists. Agate insists upon being a strong offensive presence, and while she certainly was no slouch, there is a ton of room left to move upwards. Her main goal however is to remedy her horrific defensive play, conceding 4 goals per 60 minutes, which is just unacceptable for her future. Her unit simply does not suppress shots against enough, nor are they outshooting their opponents by any significant margin. There is a lot room to continue to dominate the shot clock, and actually drive play, tilting the ice in their opponents direction. There was a lot of growth on the team throughout the season, and management will be looking for some of their investments to pay off and have players growing into much larger roles. Agate’s final goal, a bit self-centered perhaps, is to continue to stand above her rival Demir Bellona. Agate got the upper hand this season on a much shallower team, but Agate will need to step up even more to maintain that position as the Kraken continue to improve.

4. Fun Times
The Kraken have decided to give Agate the Fun Director spot for a week over the offseason, and she’s taking them on a camping trip! They all packed their tents, their backpacks and their cars. Agate packs her Subaru up super tight, remembering all of the lessons her parents taught her about packing a ton of stuff in small spaces, a skill she often used on the farm in Latvia. They make their way into the woods, and find a nice spot to lay out all of their goods. They set up and spend the week reading, playing bocce, burning lots of things, eating lots of food and hiking for hours on end, exploring the untouched depths of nature. They make some trips to town, spending a rainy afternoon stocking up on food, hitting the arcade, seeing a movie in a tiny little local movie theatre, and walking through a local art gallery. It can be hard to escape the overwhelming noise that comes with being a professional hockey player, and here, right now, with the team, there is nothing but the laughter of friends enjoying their time together, a strange howling, and silly songs. These are the sorts of memories that the team will remember from their offseasons, and everyone agreed that they would aim to make it an annual thing.

3. Secret Plans
I suppose that by announcing it, it makes it no longer secret, and it probably shouldn’t be a secret at this point anyways, but Agate must round out her game if she hopes to propel herself into a top defender. She’ll be taking the opportunity to focus on her commitment to the team’s defensive systems, and her own chemistry with her possible unit members. Positioning herself better on the ice, making better use of her teammates and reading the fast paced play better are all on the table. We’ll be doing a bit of ice dancing as a team this offseason, getting to know how each other move, spin and use their edges. This will allow us to read our teammates as they move, nailing precise timings and pinpoint passes.

~820 words!

Also, in case you like my skills better than my speech: Milestones