“I want to go pro, I want to play in college, I want to be known”, are all things people heard from Sam. He had so many dreams that he wanted to accomplish in his hockey career, and was willing to put in the work. Sam is my younger brother; he played hockey just about as long as he could walk. He lived on the ice and didn’t want to be anywhere else.

More recently, I remember him complaining about going to practices and tournaments, just completely burnt out from all of the work he was putting in. But despite the complaints and arguably temper tantrums, when he was told he could never play again, he was crushed. He was yelling at my parents and balling at the same time because he was so conflicted between his madness and sadness, at that point though it hadn’t really hit him that never meant never.